If you’re anything like me, winter rolls around and I’m stunned by my gas bill. Then summer rolls around and I’m stunned by my electric bill. Traditional modern housing completely lacks sustainability, sometimes actually being built with the purpose of using more resources and padding the pockets of big utility companies.
Enter the Earthship. A small community in Taos, New Mexico now lives completely off-grid thanks to these sustainable homes mad from earth and garbage. Michael Reynolds, an architect, came up with the design in the 1970’s with the goal of developing structures that mimic natural processes an make the most of the surrounding environment.
Earthships are built using recycled and natural materials. Often the walls are made from tires, trash, and old beer bottles mixed with concrete. These materials can be found nearly anywhere in the world.
All heat and power is provided through renewable energy like solar and wind. This makes the Earthship completely sustainable with no reliance on public or private utilities.
“An Earthship is the name we have given a building or vessel that we use to live on this planet that is absolutely independent of all public and municipal utilities,” Reynolds told CNN.
Earthships are also geared to producing minimal waste. Their advanced water treatment systems process wastewater and sewage and capture rainwater for use in toilet flushing as well as gardening.
“We get the water from the sky—rain and snowfall—and we use it four times. So, in the end, no water ever leaves the premises that came from the sky,” Reynolds said in an interview with Democracy Now.
Given that these homes are made of trash and other common, natural materials, they’re inexpensive to build, usually costing no more than 20,000 – 50,000 dollars.