Building an Off Grid Earthship

[Bubblingbrooks]

I have a question. Alaska. Extreme and long cold makes building exterior root cellars a no go. The frost heaving is tremendous.
Has any testing been done to see how this style of building would hold up in extended 40 below weather?

 

[offthegridbuild]

I have a question. Alaska. Extreme and long cold makes building exterior root cellars a no go. The frost heaving is tremendous.
Has any testing been done to see how this style of building would hold up in extended 40 below weather?

I don't know if there are any official Earthship Biotecture Earthships in that extreme of a climate. I do know for a fact that there are not any of the newest evolved and most efficient model called the Global in that climate.

From my experience there is no reason why the Global model Earthship would not perform just fine up there. As long as you have good southern exposure and you are built fully into a hillside or earth berm there should be no problem. Here are a few of the main features that I am basing this on.

Double Greenhouse - The sun can heat up the front greenhouse air temp during the day to temperatures over 90 degrees F even in extreme cold. Natural convection currents transport that heat into the living area. The sun will also heat up much of the homes thermal mass which will retain temperature throughout the night.

Passive Geothermal - 10 feet in the ground anywhere in the world is ~56 degrees F. The entire back and sides of the house will take advantage of this heat passively working its way through the walls and floor.

Thermal Wrap - There is a 4" thick wall of rigid foam insulation 4' behind the back tire wall, buried in the berm or hillside. This further seperates the home from frost and moisture in the ground.

We just had -42 degree temps in Taos, NM at night and the newer buildings were virtually unaffected, temps were steady.

Worst case senario: If the temp gets a little low in the Earthship at night in a prolonged cold like that, especially if you have a few days in a row with no sun, you can always supplement with a wood burning stove or other heat source.

Hope that helps!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I have a question. Alaska. Extreme and long cold makes building exterior root cellars a no go. The frost heaving is tremendous.
Has any testing been done to see how this style of building would hold up in extended 40 below weather?

I don't know if there are any official Earthship Biotecture Earthships in that extreme of a climate. I do know for a fact that there are not any of the newest evolved and most efficient model called the Global in that climate.

From my experience there is no reason why the Global model Earthship would not perform just fine up there. As long as you have good southern exposure and you are built fully into a hillside or earth berm there should be no problem. Here are a few of the main features that I am basing this on.

Double Greenhouse - The sun can heat up the front greenhouse air temp during the day to temperatures over 90 degrees F even in extreme cold. Natural convection currents transport that heat into the living area. The sun will also heat up much of the homes thermal mass which will retain temperature throughout the night.

Passive Geothermal - 10 feet in the ground anywhere in the world is ~56 degrees F. The entire back and sides of the house will take advantage of this heat passively working its way through the walls and floor.

Thermal Wrap - There is a 4" thick wall of rigid foam insulation 4' behind the back tire wall, buried in the berm or hillside. This further seperates the home from frost and moisture in the ground.

We just had -42 degree temps in Taos, NM at night and the newer buildings were virtually unaffected, temps were steady.

Worst case senario: If the temp gets a little low in the Earthship at night in a prolonged cold like that, especially if you have a few days in a row with no sun, you can always supplement with a wood burning stove or other heat source.

Hope that helps!

One thing that is forgotten about Alaska, is we get very little sunlight in winter.
The sun for a good length of time is very low on the horizon, and gives off next to no heat.

 

[offthegridbuild]

Hope that helps!

One thing that is forgotten about Alaska, is we get very little sunlight in winter.
The sun for a good length of time is very low on the horizon, and gives off next to no heat.

Right. Well that's a problem. An Earthship relies on the Sun AND Earth. Any home is going to need an energy source to heat it. Earthship capitalize on the big free one in the sky. An Earthship or Earthship style structure will still be your most efficient option, but you are going to need an alternative heat source. If you are using it as a root cellar, and it doesn't need to be 70 degrees, maybe an active geothermal heating system to keep it at a reasonable temp in those winter months without having to be there to throw wood in a stove or burn fuel.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I guess I am just more interested in the frost heave issue, then anything.
The structural integrity of the rammed earth would be my concern.
Wood heat is a give in, because we are talking about weeks on end of sub zero weather.

We have looked at strawbale if we do build, as an option.

 

[abifae]

I have a friend with a straw bale and it's amazing. The temp is steady year round with very little energy put into heating or cooling.

 

[Buster]

Y'all watch the film I posted a link to. I'll tell you if those things aren't structurally sound, then nothing is. You are talking what, two foot walls of earth and rubber. Really really cool.

And in Acres USA this month is a great article on a pastured poultry operation up around Taos. Lots of cool stuff going on around there. We vacation in Santa FE on occasion. This adds two great things to check out on our next one.

WE caught the film on the Sundance channel, but you could likely get it interlibrary loan.

Off The Grid Dude, hats off to you and all involved in these projects!

 

[Wallybear]

I guess I am just more interested in the frost heave issue, then anything.
The structural integrity of the rammed earth would be my concern.
Wood heat is a give in, because we are talking about weeks on end of sub zero weather.

We have looked at strawbale if we do build, as an option.

I built a straw bale home in Idaho and loved it. After I am done with school I am looking at moving to Alaska and looked into building one up there. Right now I am looking at build an above ground earthship using tires and back fill. There is no reason that you can not do this.

You can build it above ground and put enough mass around it to insulate it as if it was in the ground.

 

[Wallybear]

Y'all watch the film I posted a link to. I'll tell you if those things aren't structurally sound, then nothing is. You are talking what, two foot walls of earth and rubber. Really really cool.

And in Acres USA this month is a great article on a pastured poultry operation up around Taos. Lots of cool stuff going on around there. We vacation in Santa FE on occasion. This adds two great things to check out on our next one.

WE caught the film on the Sundance channel, but you could likely get it interlibrary loan.

Off The Grid Dude, hats off to you and all involved in these projects!

In Alaska with perma frost and frost thrust, if the structure is not built to deal with this properly then it can destroy entire buildings. It is not all about size and strength. It has to do with insulating the permafrost.

I really think an earthship built above ground and back filled is the way to go in a situation like this.

 

[offthegridbuild]

Y'all watch the film I posted a link to. I'll tell you if those things aren't structurally sound, then nothing is. You are talking what, two foot walls of earth and rubber. Really really cool.

And in Acres USA this month is a great article on a pastured poultry operation up around Taos. Lots of cool stuff going on around there. We vacation in Santa FE on occasion. This adds two great things to check out on our next one.

WE caught the film on the Sundance channel, but you could likely get it interlibrary loan.

Off The Grid Dude, hats off to you and all involved in these projects!

In Alaska with perma frost and frost thrust, if the structure is not built to deal with this properly then it can destroy entire buildings. It is not all about size and strength. It has to do with insulating the permafrost.

I really think an earthship built above ground and back filled is the way to go in a situation like this.

I had never heard of frost heaving so I just did some reading about it. I can't say for sure since I've never dealt with it, but a tire wall structure has so flexibility in it unlike a cement form wall or concrete block. Those tires can shift and not compromise the structural integrity. You may get some cracks in your adobe walls, but that's easily fixed. I'm also going to say that by using that thermal wrap I talked about earlier buried 4' from the outside of the tirewall, you should be stopping all possibility of frost.