Guests naturally at home in Earthship near Taos

BY DAVID ZIZZO, from newsok.com

TAOS, N.M. — It’s 2 a.m., and moonlight streams through the foliage. But it’s the sound I notice most. There isn’t any.

So, this is what you get when you take a bunch of trash and add dirt. Forty years ago, Michael Reynolds came up with the idea of building things this way. The Kentucky-raised architect figured out how to make things we needed (living spaces) from things we didn’t (garbage) and to do it in a way that didn’t use much of the stuff that is running short: energy, water and food.

The result: Earthship.

"Living in an Earthship is a lot quieter because you’re not listening to heating or air conditioning,” said Kirsten Jacobsen, an Earthship owner and education director for Earthship Biotecture. "All the rooms are very massive with the earth surrounding you.”

Because Earthships use only solar energy for heat and power, Jacobsen said, "You become in tune with the seasons and the sun. It’s really as much like living outside as you can get living inside.”

Here on the high plains west of Taos, "biotect” Reynolds’ founded the Greater World Earthship Community, a proving ground for his plan to help save the planet. This 650-acre subdivision with mountain views contains only Earthships — 60 so far, with 120 more to come, each designed by Reynolds. Every one features main walls made of used car tires sledgehammered full of dirt and stacked like bricks, then covered with a mixture of dirt, sand, straw and water that hardens like concrete.

Earthships feature bermed earthen outer walls with a greenhouse on the south separated from living space by a glass wall. Also, there are cisterns to store rain and snow runoff, and walls that glow with colorful circles created by light shining through recycled bottles embedded in the earthen mixture. Many use roof tiles made from sheet metal cut from discarded appliances in all the once-popular kitchen colors.

Every home makes its own power, heats and cools itself, and treats its own wastewater. "Every home is off the grid,” Jacobsen said. "That’s the Earthship concept.”

Using a "power organization module,” Earthships convert solar and wind energy into electrical power that can run appliances, satellite TV and Internet service. Gray water from sinks nourishes the greenhouse and flushes toilets.

It’s a concept the "Garbage Warrior,” as Reynolds came to be known for his battles with authorities to win permits for his experimental village, has taken around the world. He has built Earthships in every state, in Europe and South America, and is working on one in Mexico.

Jacobsen worked alone on her Earthship for six years before hiring help for two years, finishing it in 2006. Earthship is an evolving concept, she said, with refinements constantly being added.

"Every house we build is working better than the last,” Jacobsen said.

To see for ourselves, my wife, Debbie, and I spent a night at the Phoenix, a showpiece Earthship with a large greenhouse that includes a fish pond and birds separated by a glass wall from the main house and a smaller greenhouse inside. It has artistic touches, from a fountain that cascades in front of the fireplace to stained glass over doorways.

Renting a place like this requires an orientation. Our guide, Rose, explained that before using the shower, you must activate a timed recirculation pump. To watch TV, you must turn on a timed electrical feed to the satellite system. Close the greenhouse doors at night to keep the heat in, she said, and put compostable materials in the bucket in the refrigerator. The modern cookstove runs on propane, which, along with a backup tankless propane water heater, accounts for the total annual utility cost of about $50.

As Jacobsen explained earlier about Earthships, "You have to want to interact with your house for it to work.”

Once Debbie and I are alone, we’re really alone. At Greater World, darkness isn’t the urban kind with that glow from a strip mall parking lot. Our Earthship neighbors in the distance aren’t wasting their energy on exterior lighting, either. And if you are a conscientious Earthling and turn out unnecessary lights inside, the place can seem a little like a botanical garden at the Overlook Hotel.

But Phoenix’s solace soon engulfs us. And despite temperatures that dip to 20 degrees outside, inside it’s a cozy 67. All too soon, morning light streams through our interior jungle. We eat breakfast in the greenhouse amid sounds of a small waterfall and chirping birds. Soon it’s time to leave.

Too soon.

from newsok.com

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