A powerpoint presentation which discusses Earthships

1. THE EARTHSHIP
PROJECT
Tim McGee Fundamentals of Sustainable Design Fall 2016

2. INTRODUCTION
• The Earthship Project will be a nonprofit organization created to provide
other nonprofits, business, community organizations, NGOs, and homeless
shelters with educational as well as development resources in building
Earthships

3. WHAT IS AN EARTHSHIP?
• Earthships are a type of passive solar house that is made of both natural and
upcycled materials such as earth-packed tires and rammed earth.
• Created by architect Michael Reynolds in the 1970s.

4. EARTHSHIPS ARE DEFINED BY 6
PRINCIPLES
• ". . . the Earthship is the epitome of sustainable design and construction. No
part of sustainable living has been ignored in this ingenious building."
• Thermal/Solar Heating & Cooling
• Solar & Wind Electricity
• Contained Sewage Treatment
• Built with Natural & Recycled Materials
• Water Harvesting
• Food Production

5. SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE
• PEOPLE: earthships provide a more affordable way for people to live. The upfront costs vary and can cost
as much as a conventional home, but they provide ways of living that are more sustainable and don’t
contribute to the degradation of the planet
• PLANET: earthships provide alternative ways of living that don’t add to the degradation of the earth.
Because they don’t heavily rely on fossil fuels for their production this decreases deforestation and the
extraction of virgin materials from earth’s crust. Because they are homes that are made with recycled and
upcycled materials they use what has already been created
• PROFIT: earthships can provide a person with carbon credits, tax incentives and a higher resale value for
the earthship
• PUBLIC: earthship project caters to nonprofits and community organizations, so the public can access this
information as well as the educational opportunities through both. The online open access website will also
allow people interested in constructing an earthship the proper resources on how to build an earthship, and
how to secure funding to build an earthship, as well as coaching throughout the building process

6. RECOMMENDATIONS
• A building block found all over the globe…
• Shipping materials over long distances is not sustainable and uses excessive
amounts of energy. In order for the earthship to be easily accessible to the
common person and to maintain a low impact on the planetary energy
situation, a "building block" found all over the globe must be implemented

7. RECOMMENDATIONS CONT’D
• What could this building block be that most countries have or have the ability to cultivate?
• Mycelium: the mass of branched, tubular filaments (hyphae) of fungi. The mycelium makes up the thallus, or
undifferentiated body, of a typical fungus. It may be microscopic in size or developed into visible structures,
such as brackets, mushrooms, puffballs, rhizomorphs (long strands of hyphae cemented together), sclerotia
(hard, compact masses), stinkhorns, toadstools, and truffles. At a certain stage it produces spores, directly or
through special fruiting bodies.
• Bagasse: also called megass , fibre remaining after the extraction of the sugar-bearing juice from sugarcane.
• Bamboo: subfamily of tall treelike grasses of the family Poaceae, comprising more than 115 genera and
1,400 species. Bamboos are distributed in tropical and subtropical to mild temperate regions, with the
heaviest concentration and largest number of species in East and Southeast Asia and on islands of the
Indian and Pacific oceans.

8. CITATIONS
• Earthship.org
• Encyclopedia Britannica - Mycelium, bagasse, bamboo