Earthships are regenerative buildings. The epitome of sustainable design & construction.
Ingenious structural design.
40 years ago, architect Mike Reynolds began experimenting to create the spectacular, highly functional, and internationally acclaimed off-grid communities. Earthship Headquarters & the Greater World community are located 15 minutes from Taos in northern New Mexico.
Earthship Biotecture follows 6 design principles:
Alternative Energy Earthships only use the Earth’s energy to produce electricity for the building. Solar and wind technologies produce their own electricity they collect the sun and wind’s energy and store it in batteries untill the energy is needed. The energy is then converted from DC current into AC electricity current through the use of Earthship’s Power Organizing Modules to power everyday household appliances.
Building with Natural and Recycled Materials Earthships are constructed of reused, recycled and adaptive materials such as earth, cans, bottles and tires to form and secure the building’s design. By using the world’s by-products, these buildings mitigate more waste from polluting our environment.
Food Production Earthships provide the capability for food production inside and outside of the building. Greywater from washing is recycled and purified by feeding into an indoor planter. Blackwater water cell collects water from the toilet and is used by plants to be filtered and provide nutrients for outdoor plants. Many varieties of plants can be grown: bananas, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, berries, broccoli, lettuces, herbs, flowers, etc. at all times of the year!
Solar/Thermal Heating and Cooling Earthships maintain comfortable temperatures in any climate. The Earth is thermally stabilizing mass that delivers a constant temperature without wires or pipes. The sun also provides another source of temperature control. With these two sources of energy, a building can passively be heated and cooled. Earthships use distinctive designs to maximize the efficiency of these natural heating and cooling methods so the building never needs to be connected to the grid for energy use.
Water Harvesting Earthships catch water from the sky and collect it into cisterns. The water goes through a filtering system, called a Water Organizing Module and is used four times throughout the house: to wash, to provide water to interior plants, which filter water for greywater use in toilets, then finally is moved to a blackwater system outside the house to provide nutrients to exterior botanical cells. Solar hot water heaters are also used to heat the catchment water for the building.
Sanitary Contained Sewage Treatment Indoor and outdoor treatment cells contain, use and reuse all household sewage (greywater and blackwater). These treatment cells have the ability to produce food, and filter water and air.