(17 November 2012, 20:09)PrepperJohn Wrote: (17 November 2012, 19:53)Scythe13 Wrote: I love Earthships! Been looking at them and getting one passed for the last 5 years. Seems to be near impossible over in the UK to have one as a home. Exhibition centre....doable. But not a home.
They're made from 50% recycled materials, and cost almost as much as a normal house.
Why are they so expensive to build Scythe?
The cost of the materials is huge! Although they're 50% recycled, they huge ultra efficient materials and devices, and they cost a bucket. Solar panels are expensive, the planters, grease filters and the alike are all on site. While we flush crap away and don't need to filter stuff, all filtration is done on site. On top of that, water is not from the mains, it's collected on site (rain water collection), cleaned on site, and all that. The power systems are not plugged into the mains. You have a bank of home sized batteries. They weigh like 90kg each! They're HUGE!!! If you have a wind turbine (although there are some really cool conversions I'm looking at currently from washing machines) they cost a bucket. The glass panels on the front are hugely expensive and double glased...oh, and there are 2 layers of them! One outside and one inside. You have to fully insulate (insulation boards/solid foam) the whole outside of the home, outside of the tyre wall. Also, unlike a normal home, you also have to have a specialised (solar) septic tank. The wiring is pretty normal, but the plumbing system is very different!!!
If it costs £60'000 to build a house, you can expect to pay about £65'000 for an earthship. That's ignoring the cost of the land and planning permission.....which you won't get in the UK.
Having said all that, I want one! The total utility cost for a year is about....£30.00
Check out this vid for the materials needed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2so9hyNWxc
In the Video:
The bright pink stuff is the insulating material. The cooler the climate, the more you need.
Grey blocks are the tyres
White pipes at the start are the cool air intakes (for hotter climates), note the pink insulation for when they enter the house.
The light blue blocks at the back are all rainwater collection tanks
The Light Grey (almost white) stuff is concrete
Brown is wood
Creamy colour can be wood but can be plastic (depends how you have your windows set and laid in)
White tubes are wood
Black cover is PVC or equivalent, for extra waterproofing.
The light green is usually a cement mix, needs to be 100% waterproof
The Darker blue are solar panels
The interior yellow and browns are cob or similar construction material (bottle walls etc, because they're not load bearing)
Everything else is self explanatory
(as you can tell, I've been watching the video and putting down the materials as I pause the video)
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