99 reasons why earthships are fuc!*ing awesome: Part #1- MY NEW BOOK IN THE MAKING!!

in #ecotrain5 years ago (edited)

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Welcome to this new series! Earthship Biotecture has to be one of the least understood sustainable building and living models around. This is not least because they offer SO many benefits that it is hard to even know them all, let alone explain them all! Let it be said that an Earthship can stay at a comfortable climate at even -20 Celsius or 40 Celsius with no power requirements for heating or cooling systems. The systems of an earthship encounter the forces of nature, mainly the sun, rain, and wind, and funnels them into your home to provide everything you need to live comfortably with annual utility bills of around $200 or less.


So, welcome to my book! I have been inspired to write this book in sections, with you all, and once it is completed I will be compiling it into a single digital and paperback book available to all to learn and be inspired. So without further ado, here is the first part of my 101 reasons why Earthship are fuc!*ing awesome! I’m so curious to see if i start to run out of reasons before the end, or if they just keep coming... let's see!

1. Earthship Biotecture really is a movement


More than simply an approach to sustainable building. It is our answer to the capitalist system, and the only option for us to be able to step out of the rat race and just live our lives.


2. There is no other building model that can deliver a negative carbon footprint, even in hot or cold climates.

This is due to the incredible amount of thermal mass from the tyre walls, the 5 foot thick berm behind the house, a totally sealed building, a greenhouse on the front side to buffer the inside and outside temperatures, orienting the building south to pick up most solar gain, use of stable underground temperatures to cool incoming air in hot climates. The footprint becomes more negative as you reuse waste in the build, and use of renewable energies such as solar power that can feed back into the grid if you live near one.


3. Heat your living space just with your laptop or even body heat

Even your own body heat is enough to bring the room temperature up to 22 degrees, even on freezing cold nights.


4. Virtually No Bills, Period.


 

5. Virtually Zero maintenance.

Most systems are designed to be low tech, low maintenance with a long a lifespan as possible. They are also designed to run all by themselves. The most you need to do is open and close windows or curtains.


6. A solution to a global waste problem, car tyres.

There are billions of used car tyres stored in toxic dumps around the whole planet. Some of them are so big that you would literally look like a pin in a huge mountain. When these dumps catch fire, they cause a huge toxicity problem, and can not be put out. On the flip side, when a used tyre is used as a building brick as in Earthship Biotecture, you could not design a better brick suited to purpose, even if you spent 10 millions dollars trying to design one. It just so happens that car tyres make the absolute perfect building brick, and offer so many benefits... not least that they are also your earthquake resistant foundation, heating system, cooling system, are fireproof, and will last for thousands of years.


7. Can be built anywhere.

Earthships can be made using any kind of dirt or none compostable earth material. Earthships have been built with sand, sandy soil, clay rich soil, limestone, stones, and just about any other kind of dirt. If you can pound it into a tyre, it works!


8. Reliable Organic year round food production.

Earthships have botanical planter cells along the entire front of the home. These planters cells are part of the home, and protect the plants from the harsh outside climate. They tend to flourish and produce fruits and vegetables year round, and feed from waste grey water from the kitchen sink or shower and bath.


9. Overcome water scarcity in ANY place in the world

Earthship can cope with just 8 inches of rainfall a year, even with dry spells that can last months! Since earthships reuse water 4 or even 5 times, they are extremely resource efficient. Toilet flushing is done with second hand water after treatment in botanical cells, and enough water for year round use is ensured by sizing your cisterns to store enough to get you through your longest periods without rain. It is simple math, and cisterns are usually built underground behind the home and buried and protected out of site. Water caught and stored in this way will stay clean indefinitely, and is treated before use using water filters.


10. Becoming self sufficient and off-grid means you have true life long security for you and your family... for millenia to come!

It has been estimated that a tyre wall that has been plastered and sealed would last at least a few thousand years. There is almost no degradation of car tyres or compressed dirt, especially when they are thermally stable and screened from the air and light of the sun.


Ta Daa.. Damn that was easy.. I didn't even have to try yet.. I'm just getting going, that is a good sign.. but as I know so well, Earthships are so amazing that I'm sure im going to have no trouble finding another 91 reasons!

MUST WATCH VIDEOS

Earthship Underground House Tour- Sustainable and Net Zero Living...

Derek "Deek" Diedricksen visits an Earthship (the architectural brainchild of Michael Reynolds) in Taos, New Mexico. The particular model, like many others, features earth berm air intakes, a water recycling system for its grey water, and the luxury of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and even a two car garage! Ashley Turin gives us a full out tour of this, one of the newest Earthship builds on the Taos compound. This sustainable and passive solar home just may give you a few ideas for your own future designs.

WATCH THIS TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND THE GLOBAL MODEL IN ACTION WITH GREAT EXPLANATIONS

MEET A COUPLE WHO ARE NOW LIVING FREE. THIS VIDEO SAYS IT ALL!
BE INSPIRED AND SEE THE TRUTH OF WHAT FREEDOM LOOKS LIKE!

Super Efficient Off-Grid Earthship Built for Early Retirement Plan

LEARN MORE ABOUT BIOTECTURE

Earthship Seminar Transcription Table Of Contents

SESSION 1


Part 1: The Global Model


https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-101-learn-with-michael-reynolds-part-1


Part 2: Staying Cool: The Convection Engine

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-seminar-with-michael-reynolds-transcribed-part-2


Part 3: The Evolution of the Global Model Earthship:


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-seminar-with-michael-reynolds-part-3


Part 4: Heating your home with body heat in Norway, about permits in USA and Europe... How to get them fast


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-pt4-heating-your-home-with-body-heat-in-norway-about-permits-in-usa-and-europe-how-to-get-them


Part 5: How to Retrofit, Getting Permits, Tire Toxicity?

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-pt-5-how-to-retrofit-getting-permits-tire-toxicity


Part 6: Bottle / Can Walls, Tyre Foundations / Snow Water

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-pt-6-q-and-a-bottle-can-walls-tyre-foundations-snow-water


Part 7: Can you insure an earthship?, the double/triple greenhouse, the global model evolution + more


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-pt-7-q-and-a-can-you-insure-an-earthship-the-double-triple-greenhouse-the-global-model


Part 8: Final: Year round fruiting trees, sizing greenhouses + more


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-pt-8-final-q-and-a-year-round-fruiting-trees-sizing-greenhouses-more

SESSION 2


Part 1: Water, how to size your roof, choosing the right materials for water catchment.

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-1-water-how-to-size-your-roof-choosing-the-right-materials-for-water-catchment


Part 2: Cisterns, Filtering Water, Designing Down & Layered Thinking.

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-2-cisterns-filtering-water-designing-down-and-layered-thinking


Part 3: Water! Be Self Sufficient Secure & Sustainable.

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-3-water-be-self-sufficient-secure-and-sustainable


Part 4: Botanical Cells, Using Water 4 Times, Food Production.

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-4-botanical-cells-using-water-4-times-food-production


Part 5 : The Solar Toilet, Making Mistakes and Evolving is Part of the Process.


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-5-the-solar-toilet-making-mistakes-and-evolving-is-part-of-the-process


Part 6: Black Water Treatment In Any Climate, Food Production.


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part6-black-water-treatment-in-any-climate-food-production


Part 7: Q&A: Water, Botanical Cells, Water Treatment

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-7-q-and-a-water-botanical-cells-water-treatment


Part 8: About Solar Power, Doing It Yourself? Solar Vs Wind.


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part8-about-solar-power-doing-it-yourself-solar-vs-wind


Part 9: Solar Power: Designing Down, Making Smart Choices.

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-9-solar-power-designing-down-making-smart-choices


Part 10: Decentralisation means security and self sufficiency


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-10-decentralisation-means-security-and-self-sufficiency


Part 11: Biotecture Is a movement

https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-s2-p11-biotecture-is-a-movement


Part 12: Power Q&A: Batteries, Options, Power Choices.


https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-12-power-q-and-a-batteries-options-power-choices

Living off-grid in an Earthship home is about many things. It is not just an ethical choice or a building type choice, it is also a lifestyle choice. When you start to live off-grid, and self-sufficiently, you embark on a break out from the matrix/zeitgeist. You start to unplug yourself from the normal, dependent, vulnerable, and highly controlled way of life that many people are used to in cities and highly developed countries. When you are truly self-sufficient and out of debt you take away some of the main sources of stress: buying food, paying the bills, covering the mortgage or rent, and needing to work full-time to allow this to continue. We can also look at environmental issues and great need to build smarter and in a more connected way, especially in the face of climate change. Our global population is rising and with it the poverty level and inequality of wealth in all forms. To compound this issue, the cost of living is also hurtling up! We are moving toward a very unsafe and unsustainable future if we continue to build and live in the same way that we have been doing.

Did you know, I built four Earthships in India as well as being instrumental the creation of the first Earthship in the UK, Earthship Brighton. If you are also on this path and would like to read my story, I have recently published a book. It is not only a great story, but a valuable resource for you to learn from. I had no experience or training when I embarked on my mission, but managed to successfully build a gorgeous home called Earthship Karuna.

You can buy this book with Steem on the homesteaders co-op. Whilst you are there please do have a look at some of the other products as there are all kinds of great things there!



https://homesteaderscoop.com/product/earthship-chronicles-ebook/

If you don't have any Steem you can also buy the ebook and paperback on amazon.
http://mybook.to/Earthship-Chronicles
or
https://www.amazon.com/Earthship-Chronicles-sufficient-luxurious-experience-ebook/dp/B07MYCBXYB


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Wow! Thank you so much for that. I think I mentioned to you before that we wanted to build with rammed earth, but the timing got away from us. Perhaps in the future this would be a great option for us. I love the idea of living in a cold climate and not having to work so hard to stay warm...not to mention growing the food inside! Be well.

We invite you to use the community tag #innerblocks, and join us on the best Self Reliant Dapp on the blockchain! You can also find us here on Discord

yep! im also hoping to build a hybrid, rammed earthbag with tyres as a base.. it could work well if the climate isnt too extreme and you round houses +)

best of luck with that, it took me 15 years to get started.. no hurry! now im basically earning almost nothing but im totally OK as i got power, hot water, and some food growing.. with bills of around $6 per month... ;-)

There is so much of knowledge you share with us Alex. I am wanting to make these lifestyle changes once I am back in India in my own home. The sustainable living model is not only economical but also a healthy way of living life. Good Luck with your book my dear.


@ecotrain

thank you! you said it, its the answer to so many of our stresses and problems.. im here to advise if you ever do it!

What an awesome resource this is!

THANK YOU

I wonder how easy it would be to get planning permission for them in cities here. 🤔

Posted using Partiko Android

well, its been done in most cities,, it is harder and depends on which city. // but also Eartshships arent really well suited to city life.. it makes more sense to build near one and then travel in to have fun and then escape to your ship ;-)

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