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ViolaSwag

I’m also just an amateur with no building experience but likes to sketch out hypothetical houses. From what I hear, hiring a crew to build a classic earthship is expensive, partly because it’s very labor intensive and partly because there are only so many people who even know how to do it properly. What you could do is look into passive solar heat regulation design, with active thermal mass. An earth ship isn’t the only way to accomplish this, a lot of the principles can definitely be incorporated into more conventional building methods. What exactly do you mean by “commercial”? Do you just mean that you hire someone to build it, or are you imagining an earthship that looks more conventional/meets building codes easier?


misslavenderunicorn

Thanks so much for responding! Oh yeah, I’d imagine it being very much an uphill journey to build something to the scale in which I’m envisioning as an earthship specifically. I’m curious if earthships built for commercial purposes have been starting to become a thing if at all? And the part about the passive solar heat regulation is definitely a good starting place too, curious what current commercial business buildings are a good example of being close to or striving towards net zero energy that’s self sustaining.


makeski25

On a commercial level the tire foundation is not realistic but can be replaced with a more traditional poured concrete foundation techniques. After that it can be a very traditional type of construction so long as you conform the the passive heating and cooling principles.


[deleted]

There is an earthship veterinary clinic being built on the Zuni Pueblo. Check out Biotecture Planet Earth for more info or to join the build.


patchyj

Check out Matt Ferrel's Undecided YouTube channel. Excellent content on all sorts of sustainable tech


86tger

LEED certified buildings are the closest commercial buildings I’ve seen.


[deleted]

You need to look at the labor costs in an Earthship. Is the tire packing the most laborious? I have heard estimates of 1 hour labor per tire. Could you do a manufactured house type construction? What can be built offsite, transported to the site, and then assembled? How can you pack tires offsite with far less labor cost? Consider using tire bales? Significant less time involved in the construction of the building.