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Earthships
Earthships were pioneered by American architect,
Michael Reynolds, who challenged the traditional style
of home building and living, by using recyclable materials
such as discarded tyres and aluminium cans, a technique
was developed to provide a truly self-sufficient home.
How earthships work:
Earthships are designed & incorporate systems in
a way that they can be self-sustaining.
The basic Earthship U and multiple U design give it
the qualities of comfort, efficiency & self-sustainability.
The design can then be tailored and modified to fit
ones personal needs, and can be very flexible in shape.
The U design is based on three tyre
walls, built on the North, East and West sides while
on the south side is glazed and slightly angled.
The south facing glazed window is angled in such a way
that it receives the maximum winter sun which the earthship
converts and stores as thermal heat.
There are also vents to cool the building down when
there is too much heat.
The main walls of an Earthship are built from old car
tyres full of rammed earth, these are the load-bearing
walls (these create the thermal mass), the spaces in between
the tyres are filled with cans, bottles and wire, on to
this mud, cement or adobe plaster is added.
Key elements of the building:
*Catchwater - Earthship roofs catch water when it
rains and store it for later use in a cistern.
*Recycled greywater and blackwater - used water is fed
into a garden where the waste is welcomed as nutrients
to plants, and acts as a filter.
*Thermal Mass - Using the building walls and windows to
collect solar energy during the day, the walls of a earthship
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