An earthship-style home in Santa Fe could be yours for
What’s an earthship?
Architect Michael Reynolds, founder of eco-construction company Earthship Biotecture, came up with the concept in the 1970s.
He saw 2 problems — lack of affordable housing and too much trash — and figured he could build homes out of discarded materials.
This idea evolved into the “earthship,” a self-sufficient, eco-friendly house with
- Natural or repurposed building materials (e.g., used tires, mud, reclaimed wood or metal)
- Thermal or solar heating and cooling (not electricity or gas)
- Solar- and wind-powered
- Water collected from rain and snowmelt
- Contained sewage treatment (i.e., gray water is used and treated by plants, then collected in a well and pumped to toilets for flushing)
- Interior, in-home farming
Essentially, live in one of these babies as intended, and you’re pretty much set for off-the-grid life.
Why so expensive?
This particular home, known as Desert Flower, wasn’t built by Reynolds, but designer
Earthships are also rare, with less than 10 on the US market now, per Realtor.com.
Several are located in the
For the earthship-curious…
… you can
BTW: Here’s Reynolds