5 Benefits Of Living In An Earthship (Plus A Great Video On Earthships)

Are you anticipating a ‘shit hits the fan-scenario’? Or do you just appreciate smarter, self sufficient buildings to live in?

Regardless of your motivations, residing in an earthship has quite some perks. Earthships, the innovative structures half buried into the ground do not only look futuristic, their clever design makes these houses perfectly geared for future dwelling.

Here are 5 main benefits of living in these progressive houses.

• Earthships will feed you. The latest designs have so called greenhouse interaction zones. These frontally situated greenhouse areas allow you to grow all kinds of foods. From bananas, to figs, tomatoes to grapes and herbs.  Some earthships even have tilapia ponds. Here, the plants are watered with shower water and fed with fish poo (aquaponics) Of course a few green fingers are helpful but the presence of free food all year long and the fact that you don’t even have to water the plants may appeal to many. Since most earthships are situated in rural areas there’s plenty of room for chicken coops and pig pens.

• Earthships will keep you warm in winter and cool in summer. Thanks to the fact that these buildings are partially situated in earth, thermal mass is created. In other words, the earth as well as the mass of the car tires and trash keeps a constant temperature that is less influenced by the weather then conventional structures.

• Earthships have free airco.  I had you at free food didn’t I? Well, having an airconditioning system that doesn’t run on electricity is a major sales pitch too don’t you think? A simple but effective mechanical system of pipes running through the earth mass from the back of the structure into the heated front let you cool the place (natural cross ventilation). The pipes, aka cooling tubes, can be opened up with valves after which they suck cool outside air inside due to thermal draught (Stack effect). The greenhouse interaction zones can be used to regulate temperature as well. In summer the doors are kept close to keep the heat in the greenhouse area while in winter they are opened to let the warm air flow into the rest of the house.

• Earthships, contrary to conventional houses, are self sufficient. These houses are almost completely self sufficient and off-grid and rely on solar and wind energy.  There’s no need for being hooked up to the grid and many earthships are designed to contain sewage taking away thesewer connection. The incorporated black and grey water filtration system makes optimal use of the rain water that is harvested.

• Earthships are easy to build. You can build an earthship largely with trash such as soda and beer cans, tires, glass bottles as well as salvaged wood and windows. These homes are easy to build and if you put in a lot of labor yourself they are relatively cheap to build. The Earthship acadamy provides internships for people who want to learn how to build an earthship

Earthships are great because they take care you instead of you having to take care of your home. There are various types such as minimal earthship pods, luxurious family homes, two story buildings, ‘simple survival Earthships’, and more.

Watch this interesting video to take a tour in the Greater World Earthship Community in Taos, New Mexico, United States.

Image by RONg