Mother Earth to Earth Ship: Sustainable Living Concepts

Everywhere I look someone is doing something creative and inventive to conserve energy, help the planet and offset their carbon footprint. I watched a great documentary on earth ships the other day and decided to do a little research. These green homes not only save energy and work with the natural environment, they save money too.

As explained by earthship.net, you can use the term “earth ship” to describe your green home if it adheres to a set of six basic principles. These are: utilizing solar and wind energy alone to heat and cool the building, creating a contained sewage system, harvesting rain water consistently, building the frame and walls out of recycled and sustainable materials and having designated areas for self production of food.

The ships are built low or into the ground, offering subterranean living. They have solar panels on the roof and walls, have an assortment of rain barrels around the perimeter to catch run off room the roof and often have full fledged gardens growing on the inside of the structure. I’ve seen some with walls made from glass bottles and others made from reclaim rocks. They are experiments in green design which offer both a place to life as well as a sustainable lifestyle.

Earth ships are beginning to pop up across the States and Europe with some people building a single structure on private land and others creating earth ship communities. The carbon footprint of such communities and the amount of emissions their lifestyles incur compared to classic living quarters is minimal. Creating your own heat and food also cuts down on living expenses.

In practical terms, earth ships take a lot of time and care to manage so it’s not a feasible thing to do if you live alone and commute several hours to the office everyday; unless of course you hire a little green help. All told an earth ship, including labor and materials, costs about $200 per square foot to build. The labor is same as traditional construction, the difference in cost is earth ships have top construct their own utility supplies where in traditional homes to rent these from utility companies. Its one of those, cost effective over time things.

I love the idea of underground heating, growing my own food and having no utility bills. But in practical terms, it’s a lot of work. Good thing is for the lazy greenies like myself, there are rental properties available. Some earth ships act as educational centers so you can see the potential we have to make real change, reduce greenhouse gases and lower our carbon footprints.

Earth ships may be the home of the future but until then, a few carbon credits to offset my unsustainable lifestyle methinks.