Earthship Biotectures

At a glance..

The Greater World Earthship Community is located 12 miles northwest of the town of Taos, New Mexico on highway 64, 1.5 miles past the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. The community is an experimental subdivision designed to create an ideal condition from which a sustainable community can grow and flourish.

The details..

The Greater World Earthship Community is an innovative housing development located in Taos, New Mexico. The community consists of approximately 200 people living in independent homes built primarily by their owners. They are committed to exploring sustainable living practices through building techniques that do not rely on municipal services such as electricity, water or sewage.

Earthships are the primary type of home found within this community. These structures use various strategies for sustainable housing including recycled materials from local sources and renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. In addition, these low-tech building methods keep costs down while looking after the environment at the same time.

Passive solar heating combined with thermal mass architecture provides self-contained heating during winter months without using fossil fuels. During summer months when temperatures rise steeply outside, radiant cooling effect from earth keeps interiors cool along with passive ventilation systems which maintain a comfortable temperature inside.

Rainwater collected from roof catchment system supplies all water needs for residents; grey water filtered through indoor planters called botanical cells can be used again for growing plants before being recycled into flushing toilets; black water treated via septic system then passed through intermediate botanical cell outside home before reaching leech field.