Earth Ship

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

apophasis, I fixed it, you were in the “visual” tab and it posted code as well as the text… next time try being in the text tab and see if that doesn’t work better for ya, I also don’t mind fixing these things when necessary :)

Wretha

[Ayreos]

Thank you again for this great information, Apophasis. At the very least it should prove that Earthships are far from being problem free and much less easy to implement for those seeking a more “natural” and debt-free way to build themselves an off-grid house!

That said, recent Earthship models seem to contain various tweaks to improve on some of the problems you have pointed out, as can be seen in the “Phoenix” model i linked to in my previous post. The key word here being “improve”, not “solve”. Regardless of the validity of the Eartship model, those very tweaks and workarounds are still great lessons and ideas for everyone, as you have pointed out.

Personally, i believe a sustainable and cheap building model should first focus on putting to good use materials which are easy to source on location, even before looking for garbage to recycle. A simple rocket stove might be a simpler and vastly more efficient form of heating in an area with a mild climate and seasonal availability of dry tree branches, compared to the effort and expense of adopting the earthship model as a whole, for instance.

[apophasis]

Thanks for fixing that, Wretha! Trying text tab this time…

Ayreos said: “That said, recent Earthship models seem to contain various tweaks to improve on some of the problems you have pointed out, as can be seen in the “Phoenix” model i linked to in my previous post. The key word here being “improve”, not “solve”. Regardless of the validity of the Eartship model, those very tweaks and workarounds are still great lessons and ideas for everyone, as you have pointed out.”

I just googled “Phoenix earthship” and found the MLS for this monstrosity. $1.5 million US dollars.  No, seriously:  $1,500,000.00. Excuse my rudeness, but WTF does a multimillion-dollar palace for trustafarian idiots have to do with off-grid, sustainable, or anything else worth talking about? It’s a one-percenter palace. Nice that you get a bit of insulation for your million and a half, though. “Validity of the model”??  “Tweaks and workarounds” like making it a giant, grotesque, utterly unaffordable fantasy palace rather than an affordable, sustainable structure like it was originally advertised? LOL!

“Personally, i believe a sustainable and cheap building model”…

I’ll stop you there for a sec to say it again: $1.5 million. Dollars. Hello?

“…should first focus on putting to good use materials which are easy to source on location, even before looking for garbage to recycle. A simple rocket stove might be a simpler and vastly more efficient form of heating in an area with a mild climate and seasonal availability of dry tree branches, compared to the effort and expense of adopting the earthship model as a whole, for instance.”

We agree on that :)  And I do believe you made my point better than I ever could have.

[caroline1]

Um, so it’s not just me that thinks that this is a big rip off by a con man…  just think what could be built with 1.5million….

[kevmo]

I’m sad to see so much vitriol directed at Michael Reynolds. I just attended a one day seminar in Madison, WI, where Reynolds was extremely humble, openly admitted the many mistakes he’s made, and discussed some of the very honorable humanitarian missions he and his crew have been pursuing. Having never seen an Earthship in person, I cannot comment on their effectiveness, but I feel he is at least being honest about wanting to create something great.

Kevmo

[littlebang]

I’m in somewhat of the same boat as kevmo, except that I haven’t been to one of his seminars. Apoph, while I definitely are inclined to believe you’re stories, based on the amount of experience you’ve had, I wonder though if you don’t fully agree with what MR says that “mistakes will be made, this is what we need to do research” etc blah blah. Also a couple questions about the greenhouse:

The south facing windows that let in light now have a buffer “zone” between your house and the glass. Basically its just a green house, in front of your house haha, which to be 100% when i saw it i thought “that doesn’t really seem all that inovative. But, it does have opening in the roof of this greenhouse that can be opened and closed so that the heat from the greenhouse escapes from the roof rather than going into the house if so desired. I have watched some videos of MR explaining that this “Global Model” earthship is by far the best, and if he could replace every other earthship he’s built with this model he would. He seems pretty confident in saying that he’s really got something that works, well or at least is acceptable. I’m sure its not without problems, it just seems as you said you haven’t given any thought about earthships since long ago, i wonder what your opinion would be if you took another look at this. I am glad i read what you had to say, as I figured in the back of my mind that the Earthships can’t be the only viable option out there, or the best, but i didn’t really know why and what other options there were. I hope i can hear some more feedback from you, as actually you are really giving great information. Thanks.

[littlebang]

Hi, a little off topic. I did not put a picure of myself in my profile, i did not do anything. My email does not have a picture, and i have no idea how there is that really old picture of me up for my profile picture. Can somebody please explain? Its actually a little creepy

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

Hi littlebang, you can learn how to change your avatar here

https://offgriddev.wpengine.com/forums/topic/add-your-own-avatarpicture-to-posts-and-comments/

Wretha

[littlebang]

THanks alot. I must’ve signed up for another forum long ago and forgot and it had my picture.

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

Wow littlebang, I like your new avatar :)

Wretha

[littlebang]

Thanks Wretha. Its actually an aerial view of the “Spiral Jett” located in the Great Salt Lake, in Salt lake city UT, where i’m from. I just changed the color of the water from blue to red for fun. Its actualy a bigger picture but i had to resize it.

 

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