Earthships?
An Earthship is a sustainable, ecologically built house, that can provide completely independently for all needs of its residents.
The concept
The concept of an Earthship is based on three ideas :
- autonomy of the residents
- application of sustainable technology
- recycling of waste products
Autonomy is achieved by the fact that Earthships are not connected to the usual grids of electricity, water, gas, etc., nor on the sewage system.
By the use of solar cells, windturbines and rainwater catch systems, the Earthship is a sustainable product that puts no strain on the environment.
Through the use of discarded materials – as there are : automobile tyres, aluminium cans and timber, an Earthship stimulates the recycling of industrial waste.
Advantages
- Ecologically responsible : does not put strain on environment, it is sustainable
- Economic : sparing use of electricity, using cheap construction materials
- Autonomous : the residents are independent of the provision of energy and water from outside
- Safe : healthy materials, resistant to shock, or even earthquakes
- Easy to build yourself
- Esthetic : in harmony with the landscape.
- A combination of archaic ways of building and new technology
- An Earthship functions as a healthy interface between the human living space and the natural fenomena, uses the latter and gives something in return to nature too. It was Michael Reynolds himself, the original architect-inventer of earthships, who called this fenomenon "interfacing".
The designer Michael Reynolds
The father of the earthship is Michael Reynolds, an American architect. He calls the Earthship a sort of "arc of Noah" in which one can survive during hard times or disasters ...
Already 3 volumes were published, in which the architect discusses in detail all systems and aspects about the construction of an Earthship.
By now about a 1000 Earthships have been built worldwide in all different continents.
The construction plans need to be adapted to each different climate and situation. The advantage though is, that Earthships do not need to be build in the near presence of central gridsystems of energy and water, because they provide for it themselves.
Thus, they are not dependant on infrastructure. This makes it possible to build on distant locations and therefore also on cheap parcels.
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