Never Heard of EarthShip Before? It Might Just Be Time For You To Find Out.
Earthships are homes that are built out of earthen material and man-made materials (think: trash and recyclables) creating one of kind structures with minimal environmental impact. Typically they are built out of earthen filled used automobile tires and accented with other man-made items, like glass bottles and aluminum cans. They’re sustainable ecosystems in and of themselves, like your very own BioDome, and pretty inexpensive to build. And the list goes on and on…
In case that’s not enough, here’s 6 more reasons why you should consider one
1. Sustainability does not mean living primitively
When you think about offgrid living, what comes to mind? 18th century candle light living? Not the case. As you can see, just because you’re living sustainably doesn’t mean you’re living in a cave without running water or anything.
2. There’s the free food.
An earthship’s passive solar unit can double as a greenhouse for year-round vegetables. You can also utilize your home’s abilities to catch rain water for watering and other graywater uses.
3. They’re warm even in the winter and provide top notch shelter.
Earthships often sit comfortably at 70 degrees Fahrenheight year round. Solar heat is absorbed and stored via thermal mass, or tires full of dirt. These tires make up the home’s structure. The thermal mass acts like a heat sink, slowly letting heat into the home.
4. Free energy.
Earthships are often designed with low energy use in mind. That means it only takes a few solar panels and maybe a little wind turbine to power them. No fossil fuels, no chopped up birds, just free energy.
5. They’re made of recycled material.
Making them both simple and affordable to build. As we mentioned before, many earthships are structurally made of tires full of dirt. Often, they cost no more than $70,000 at their fanciest and you can make a solid one for $10,000.
6. They make you think outside the box.
Like why not have a super cool mosaic of glass bottles to lend some funky light inside? Yeah, exactly.
Oh and in case you missed it, check out this video with an Earthship right outside of Vancouver, BC.