Earthship New Zealand

Living for tomorrow, today...

Monthly Archives: August 2011

Long awaited ‘How-to’ Earthship eBook from Michael Reynolds arrives

The global community of Earthship enthusiasts have been holding their breath for the overdue arrival of this eBook from Michael Reynolds.  It is the first in a series of ‘How-to’ books designed to tell you what you need to know about building your own Global Model Earthship.

And its been worth the wait.

Its a nice little book with plenty of pictures and descriptive language to give the Earthship novice or conventional builder what they need to know to build their own Earthship.  Of course it’s fully compatible with the current set of Global Model Earthship plans that Earthship Biotecture currently sell.  In this first book titled “Tire Work”, it covers the staging and laying out your build, then ground prep, through to the finer points of getting a high quality tyre wall built.  Unfortunately for those ‘metrics’ among us, the book refers to everything in US Imperial measurements.  There are also a few local terms that might draw strange looks at your local hardware store, but generally speaking with the pictures and common sense, nothing is beyond our grasp.

By the end of this book, you should have your tyre wall set up, with ventilation tubes and rainwater catchment cisterns in place.  The next book to be published will cover the Concrete Work both on the top and bottom of the tyre wall.  My only concern is that, given the time its taken to publish the first eBook, will you be waiting years to be able to have all the twelve (yes you read correctly!) guides needed to complete your own Earthship?  I certainly hope not for the sake of the reader and the planet.

Compost toilets convenient in Chch | Stuff.co.nz

Composting Loo

Christchurch residents without flushing toilets are being encouraged to turn their brown waste green.

A workshop on building composting toilets is being held in New Brighton tomorrow as householders with earthquake-damaged sewerage seek alternatives to their chemical loos.

Compost toilets combine human waste with a carbon-rich material, usually sawdust, and compost under hot conditions to produce material that is safe to use on the garden. Raw sewage never comes into contact with water or soil, and chemicals are not required.

Construction requires only plywood or particle board, screws, three buckets, and two toilet seats.

Workshop facilitator James Bellamy, who has used a compost toilet at his Whangarei home for about five years, said often the biggest hurdle was for people to feel comfortable putting human waste on their garden.

The compost toilets could be used inside and did not resemble a long drop, he said.

“It’s all about changing that public perception, which is difficult, but once we explain it, a lot of people come around and see how simple it is,” Bellamy said.

The feedback on Christchurch’s chemical toilets was that they were “not nice to deal with”, he said.

“A compost toilet, if it’s done properly, doesn’t smell and it’s not wet. It’s actually really dry because we’re adding sawdust to the mix or a carbon material.”

The free workshop starts at 10am at the New Brighton community gardens, Rawhiti Domain. Visit www.composttoilets.co.nz.

via Compost toilets convenient in Chch | Stuff.co.nz.

Update: Plans & Expertise available to make a start on the next NZ Earthship!

A set of Mike Reynolds plans for a three bedroom Earthship are already in New Zealand just waiting for someone ready to make a start on their build project.  In addition to these plans there is a solid amount of research available to assist with gaining permission for an Earthship build, as well as earthship-experienced professionals and others with international earthship building experience.

So…

  • If you want to live in a house that reflects who you are and what you believe in
  • If you want to decouple yourself from commodity housing and rising utility costs in a Peak Oil world
  • If you want to be free and live the life you deserve…

Get in touch and join the Earthship revolution!

Hey you! Yeah you reading this. Why are you here?

OK its weird. Visits to this website have just gone ballistic and we don’t know why. PLEASE TELL US!

Our friends at traffic management says that almost all of it is from people searching for “Earthships NZ” and variations thereof via google.  Now referrals from another likeminded website I could understand.  But lots of original googling suggests that someone somewhere in the media might have mentioned Earthships in a New Zealand contxt and that has got everyone coming here.

If you are one of those people.  It would be great if you could take a moment to leave a comment below or drop us an email to say ‘Hi’ and ‘why’. Cheers and welcome.

Nga mihi

Rob

No damage or cuts for off-grid Cantabrians – Stuff.co.nz

Steven and Melissa Groom’s home is less than five kilometres from the faultline that broke in September, but barely has a scratch and has never lost power.

The lack of damage remains a mystery, but the reason for continuous power is not.

Since they moved in last May, the Groom’s Darfield house has been running on solar power.

Nineteen rooftop solar panels and three blocks of evacuated tubes provide almost all the electricity and hot water required by the family of five.

The off-grid system is priced at $35,000, with the house costing a total about $425,000.

“It’s quite nice to be in control of your own destiny,” Steven Groom says, “and show you can build a standard house and make it off-grid.”

During summer, the panels generate more power than can be used or stored in the battery bank, but in the winter months, they sometimes fall short.

A diesel generator makes up the difference. So far, it has had only 20 hours use.

Groom hopes earthquake-hit Christchurch homeowners will consider the power system, or a hybrid, in their rebuild. Too often, he says, green living is the domain of do-gooding millionaires and penny-pinching hermits.

“This is the middle ground. I’d like to see a standard family of five like this.”

Inter-connected power, where homeowners feed excess power back into the grid for credit, may be more suitable in built-up areas, he says.

“A lot of people do the bare minimum,” Melissa Groom says, “which is all very well if it’s just you and the dog.

“People go for really small solar [power] systems and then panic and put in gas. Environmentally, that’s the worst thing you can do.”

As they scouted for materials, the couple found mainstream options were limited.

“When we were going around the building companies, I don’t think a lot had got on board really,” Melissa Groom says.

“They all seemed a bit cautious, waiting for other people to do it first.”

Steven Groom registered as an importer and bought solar panels and batteries direct from China, bypassing the “100 per cent margin on everything” some suppliers charge.

The falling US dollar has added to the buyer’s market, he says.

However, there have been some sacrifices.

The Groom house has no air-conditioning, and the family had to give up their tropical fish when they left Sydney two years ago. However, Groom hopes others are prepared to “compromise the corners” and make self-sufficiency the norm.

via No damage or cuts for off-grid family | Stuff.co.nz.