The Construction Of Earthships - An Alternative To Housing

EARTHSHIPS Name Subject Date Earthships Introduction The concept of earth ships was introduced in the late 20th century by Michael Reynolds an engineer with Earthship Biotectures. These are sustainable buildings made out of everyday recycled materials such as old vehicle tires, discarded aluminum and even beverage cans to create a green structure. The components of the structure include self-heating and cooling as well as water generation. This paper examines the construction of earthships as practical alternatives to conventional housing that will offer sustainability in terms of self-generation of energy, water, and food, using green and affordable sources. The earthship The idea of housing has been the same for many centuries because it basically is meant to shelter human beings from external elements and aggression by creating compartments. The compartments needed to have relative comfort, such necessities as water, fire and light. In as much as systems have changed from heating homes using firewood to the sophistication of nuclear power plants, the needs for shelter remain the same and the idea of the compartment is still the same.[Kruis, Nathanael J., and Matthew K. Heun p.4] The systems are of importance in housing and human beings have developed vulnerability in the absence of their failure. The current housing architecture cannot function without the systems. The contemporary systems are prone to vagaries of radioactive waste, acid rain, receding oceans, polluted rivers and vanishing wildlife, which makes ii difficult to sustain livelihoods. The existing housing model brings up many queries because of the vulnerabilities and dependency limitations. Existing housing systems have the characteristics of electric energy, water systems, sewerage systems, gas systems, food systems material systems and the monetary systems. These systems constitute the contemporary human habitat.[Reynolds, Michael E. Earthship: How to build your own. Vol. 1. Earthship Biotecture, 1990. Pp 6-8] The earthship is designed to provide comfort to the user by availing its own energy and water resources. Energy is harnessed from the sun which is the source of both heating and cooling needs of the ship and the earth is designed to work as the battery. This is explained by the example of a cast iron skillet and a tin pan on a stove. The shelter needs of the current age require energy and provisions must be made for energy resources to be deployed for both temperature and appliances requirements. The electrical appliances used in these deployments are of standard nature and are designed to be deployed immediately with current technology.[Reynolds,1990, p. 11] Use of batteries is utilized for storage of energy from the sun and wind sources for later use. Temperature is also arrested the same way as energy. A glass wall is used in the rear side of the building to transmit energy to the house behind it for storage. The entire house is used as a battery to store energy as a thermal mass. Thermal mass has been used for many centuries although the use of modern technologies has overshadowed its use. The battery is a universal phenomenon in which defines the relationship between matter and energy. In this relationship, matter is stored energy while energy is evaporated energy, whereby matter is basically a battery. Just the same way matter stores energy, dense mass stores temperature and the denser it is the more temperature it stores. According to this concept, a house made up of dense mass is able to store more temperature regardless of the original source of temperature. Further to explain this idea, most houses do not have thick mass hence do not store temperature. As a consequence of temperature storage indoors, measures must be made to bring in energy from outside using wires and pipes to regulate the internal temperature. Insulation can be used to keep the heated air from escaping although it does not retain or absorb heat. Instead of using mass to control temperatures, air is continuously heated and cooled to achieve these effects. To retain the heat generated into the house, the building must be surrounded by mass to work as batteries and the more the density of the mass used to build the houses the more temperature is stored. This idea can be ...