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RE: Building the first Earthship Ashram with 30 Volunteers and NO Budget! Part 1: The Beginning!
Cool but earthships are not great in the Netherlands. We don't need much mass for temperature control, our climate is stable and wet. Strawbale house plans make much more sense in a mild sea climate.
I d say strawbale houses have much less thermal mass and you would still have to heat the house in winter. Earthships don t need heating.
Incorrect. Thermal mass has as a function to stabilize the heat. In the Netherlands its not often above 21 degrees and the temperature has no big lows or highs. So even on the hottest moment of the day your not storing energy.
Second big issues is that building a earthship is very hard in a cloudy/wet climate. There are earthships in Olst and 1 is built in Zwolle. So it's possible!
Earthships are much better suited for a landclimate, desert or hot area's. If you don't believe me here is a article:
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/earthship-hype-and-earthship-reality
Clara is right! Thermal mass will bring temperatures up from -5 degrees celcius and less right up to 15 degrees and more with no additional heating.. EVEN in the damp cold UK ! You cant do that with straw!
Most of the issues in European Earthships are due to poor design and modifications to the climate.. Thankfully I was able to help and see a new Earthship in the UK called Earthship Sheppey. This was designed Properly and is now completed. The owner was telling me last month that they were totally comfortable with no heating (wood burner wasnt ready yet) in at -5 degrees..
When you insulate properly, have enough solar gain from windows, and do the burial you can get enough solar gain to stay comfortable even in Holland!
Ive been to Zwolle and know some of the builders, but that was complicated situation! I would use Earthship Sheppey as an example of how it Can not only be done properly, but better than the existing examples..
Hope that helps!
CHeck out their FB page, you can say Hi and ask her questions
https://www.facebook.com/GroundhouseShepey1/
An earthship for sure stores heat in the tires walls from the sunlight coming in through south facing windows. You can check out the earthships in New mexico where Michael Reynolds lives. It freezes there and they don t need heating. Have you ever lived in an earthship? I have. Even in winter in the mountains of India where temperature doesn t rise above 21 degrees either our walls store heat and we walk around in t shirts while the people in other houses have to wear sweaters and put the fire on.
Earthships might not store as much heat in Holland as in other countries but I'm pretty sure they still do judging by my experience. What do you think @eco-alex? Yes, I know about the Zwolle earthship project, I also visited the one in Olst.
The ones in The Netherlands all have heat sources. The one in Olst burns wood. Otherwise it would be 15 degrees, there design is even adapted to the climate with a completely insulated floor.
but let's not split hairs strawbale and eartships are way more efficient than the average brick house.
Here are some Very recent stats from Earthship (Groundhouse) Sheppey. These are official Government reports!
To put into perspective- the average household causes 6 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year drum roll.......... Groundhouse Sheppey causes minus yes-0.01!!!!! tonnes we can still improve by a further 2.3 tonnes and we will in time. For your interest please see attached pictures of H M government test result carried out by Mecserve sustainable team. We have been told THIS RESULT IS RARE! lets hope it becomes the norm. Objective achieved