Photo by Flickr user smeltermountain (I forget to get a wide angle shot)

This past Monday, I visited the Earthships site in Taos, New Mexico. This was meant to be my big Blog Action Day post, but alas bandwidth and internet connectivity did not allow. See our Flickr set.

Earthship Visitor Center Entrance

The South Side

“Sloped glass allows maximum winter sun into building for passive solar heating. The glass is standard patio door replacement glass which is 2 pane of 1/4″ glass with 1/2″ insulating airspace.

“Bermed Earth wraps the North, West and East sides of the building. A plastic moisture barrier skirts the building, extending out 20′ , to protect the building’s walls from the ground, moisture and rain”

This solar water heater is incorporated into the general design of the building and provides 80 gallons of hot water without the use of electricity or gas.

Building with Used Aluminum Cans. The Cans provide structure but not strength.

120 Watt Windmill

Roof (and water catchment area). Note solar panels and cantilevered skylights.

Grey Water Planter

Tire walls create thermal mass that passively heat and cool the building. These incredibly strong walls are made out us used automobile tires rammed with earth, then plastered over with mud.

The next trend after exposed brick?

This galvanized steel tank holds water collected from roof. Capacity: 3000 gallon.

Videos

Other Resources

The Earshships Site
Earthships videos
Earthship flash demo

How did they do it given building codes and regulations. It seems that they embraced participatory democracy and got a law passed,

Code & Regulations: Sustainable Development Testing Site Act
New Mexico, USA: HBO269

Relating to the conservation of natural resources; enacting the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act; Providing for the approval of areas to be used for nonindustrial research and testing designed to reduce the consumption of and dependence on natural resources by residential development; providing that specified county codes, ordinances, rules and permits are not applicable to certain research activities within an approved area.

Earthships and the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act in New Mexico

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