Encounter Earthship Tour

[@mnickross008]

Great tour. I really enjoy seeing the water system

[@roy.mclean]

My family stayed in an earthship over spring break 5 years ago. It was the Corner Cottage which I think predates the Global model and the Simple Survival model.. The overnight temperature outside was 17F. When we went to bed the interior temp was 68F. In the morning the temperature was 67F. The greenhouse was about 80 during the day and we needed to open the skylights to keep it from getting too hot. The gray water that flushed the toilet was a little stinky on the first few flushes, but we didn't notice it too much after a while. All week we cooked and lived in it as well as we did at home. We haven't experienced the cooling tubes, but I can testify that Mike Reynolds has developed a design that really works.

[@jimgriffiths9071]

This fellow has perfected the greatest advancement in home design in recent human history. His concept is EXACTLY what the world needs right now. Off-grid self sufficiency thru intelligent design and modern technology.

[@williamberger4102]

He has just relearned what we knew in antiquity. Ancient man used these methods. He is trying to educate modern man.

[@jimgriffiths9071]

@@williamberger4102 Right. State of the art water filters and advanced power conditioners. Ancient knowledge....

[@williamberger4102]

@@jimgriffiths9071 : ) typical internet response. And what makes this the greatest advancement in home design???

[@marymoon5767]

Reynolds is a freaking prophet. Imagine if more companies had his conviction?

[@tomaszwieczorek6273]

Mike Reynolds is a visionary, pioneer and so ahead of his time. We are not all modern homes being built like this.

[@katiebeach4760]

Id work for this dude for tablescraps just to gain knowledge honestly, I'm so incredibly interested in this kind of lifestyle and I want to build cob homes and earth ship homes for low income people. I want to make it my career to sustainably house people and educate them

[@nancykisich3263]

I am so enthralled with all this. I believe Mike Reynolds will be considered a hero of the 21st century!

[@AZtoNC]

Mike, I would love to have a “Chevrolet Nova” level Eaethship! 😂 heck that’s a Super Sport big block in my eyes. I went to one of your seminars years back and did the self guided tour. Good to see you still doing your thing.

[@catbrito]

Loved this new encounter concept. Thank you, Michael for all of your work and creativity. Hope you are doing well and get healthier really soon. A hug from Portugal.

[@adbc8213]

I WANT ONE OF THESE!!!!! 🌀❤️🌀

[@Solvent108]

no you don't

[@stephenhale6632]

Nice one !

[@conantdog]

Brilliant design, how architecture ever lost track of passive building I don't know. I'm enjoying our journey.

[@davidstakston1950]

I was expecting the dog to urinate into the rain water cistern intake filter.

[@jedics1]

I was thinking exactly that the whole time he was outside in the video...

[@jacqdanieles]

Me too!😄 I would have the pipe built directly into a cover.

[@vennic]

Oh he will. He will.

[@jlfliberty]

My wife and I though it.

[@Oakheart]

Me too I was thinking fence.

[@TheBurlioz]

Mike, be blessed! You've inspired our self-sustainable house project that most probably, we will start building in Spain in about 1 to 2 months! Thank you so much for all the information that you're putting out and for making the plans for the Encounter this affordable! Now I can buy them and use them as a guide text for our future home! Most probably we will document the entire process so I will make sure you see it! Be here and now Mike and everything will turn out excellent! Namaste, peace and love from Barcelona!

[@lpmoron6258]

Just curious if you got your earthship built?

[@clairbearonabroom]

thank you for your ongoing commitment to GAIA , our beautiful home . thank you for sharing the message , that it is your life's work , i recognise that it is the song of your heart. Namaste friend .

[@EricEllingwood]

May be the best comment

[@mugwortexpresshomestead1878]

Very excited about this simpler model. Building in New York state next year, maybe that'll be it. Thanks for the video 😁

[@Oakheart]

Thanks Mike and all those folks that have helped you and will continue to spread the work.

[@Laurynski]

I love your concept and dedication to our encounter with Earth and building a home on the foundation of the 6 most important principals. I am a millennial, and I can visualize this sustainable, economic and environmentally conscious way of life integrated in the average American’s home models in the near future for those of my generation and the I-Gens. Our world is currently experiencing an awakening of higher consciousness and our younger siblings and children are the products of this moment in history. We are thinking deeper about our health, environment, morals and finances more than ever before. I encourage you to research 3D printing these incredible structures/machines after laying the foundation to cut costs and make these homes more achievable for the common person to own. Sit tight, in the next 10 years Earthships will become the standard blueprint of building, living, sustaining and encountering the natural phenomena of Earth.

[@BrandonBridgesSrEarl]

Great video Mr Reynolds. Definitely one of the better ones! Well rounded and informative. Thanks for pursuing this

[@pejoly2]

Thanks Mike, good to see you up front. An Earthship is my dream, but not sure how they work in SW FL. I know the one in Myakka is getting closer to completion, but there have been heavy modifications. Will be interested in how that develops.

[@brianjoyce9742]

Yes, very interested for Fla and the humidity issue

[@Machinima5000]

The Chevy Nova was a great car. My brother had a 75 for a while.

[@robynhooddd1]

Thank you so much for the tour!

[@sidiebnou4958]

great job man. we appreciate you

[@brianjoyce9742]

Always enjoy the presentations Michael, well done

[@porkchop0711]

I love this house. I think i want one.

[@kathylovegrove4987]

Love it! 💕

[@roberthayes2027]

This place is beautiful & the finishing too seems wonderful. I so much would like the simple shelter of just one room there for just my tent, and cook stove, etc & to start with & just ONE if those beautiful rooms to move into while I completed, finished and planted the rest, etc. The 70°f year round would be such a blessing. I've been rather expecting trying to be comfortable at the 50°f range for most of my recent years. And, the thought of sitting in front of one of those vents & quiet breeze sure would beat the noisy fan at 90°f where I am now. Thanks so much for all your work. I wish the dignity villages in Austin and Seattle would declare some more ecumenical property for this type of permanent housing. I'd choose to spend my days helping to make this resource happen.

[@one_b]

Good introduction video. I don't know that I would trust the ventilation design. Maybe in a few years of operation it will have proven itself. We were specifically told that the roof vents were needed for the convection to work properly to ventilate or the greenhouse would get too hot. Large volume of hot air rising to draw in the air through the culvert vents. This has a negative roof and ceiling slope toward small transoms. There was even talk of needing "super heaters" (that get even hotter in the sun) to boost the convective action. Maybe it works but I don't have the money to go to Taos again to find out. I would not want the WOM anywhere near where I would try to sleep as they make a fair bit of noise even behind some doors. (It sucks to be a light sleeper.) Glad to see you were able to source a DC fridge... I recall there was some concerns in 2017 that they were getting harder to come by. In my opinion they should just be transparent on the costs to actually build these things and they should have actually designed a cost reduced Global Model - the Earthship design that was supposed to be accessible to everyone. The thing is, after doing the academy, they are tight lipped on specifics. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast and everyone was great to work with. But ask the wrong questions and you get the run around. What does 25% less than a Global Model actually mean Mike? You say a Global costs $300k - 400k... is that with or without land? Why are there no drawings of alternate construction materials to reduce the costs? (Instead they went even BIGGER with the wider greenhouse.) Such options were provided with the Simple Survival for alternate roofs. These are things that may be the difference in somebody building a two bedroom Global or a three bedroom Encounter if the costs work out but who can plan without actual numbers?

[@erikroge6310]

I agree and also i would like to know how the earthships hold up in earthquakes, there is almost no information available about this topic. I´d love to build an earthships with volunteers in peru, to serve as a comunity center but the risk of earthquakes is high and i dont want to take responsability if something happens

[@one_b]

​@@erikroge6310 There was some information in the academy provided about earthquakes. (I will have to see if I can dig it up to confirm.) It was a primary concern for me also since we live in WA but as I recall along with the testing for tire off gassing by a university somebody did an engineering study on rammed earth tire bricks. We were told that it was found that they should perform very well due to the incredible mass. And from my own earthquake response training I would expect the natural frequency of an Earthship to be very similar to any hill... it isn't like a stick built home with changes in angles, widths, and mass as the building goes up that makes different layers react at different natural frequencies. This is also the requirement for the 1.5in batter of each row of tires. This is equivalent to a retaining wall of bricks or other masonry. (Perhaps you do a deeper batter?) The tirewall and thermal mass simply moves with the earth as one piece iirc. Also the rebar pins from the bond beam into the top two tire layers helps to make the whole thing laterally secure. For my own piece of mind I think I would do diagonal straps of steel bands across tires to add even more stability or use long screws to tie the tires together. They were required to reinforce long tire wall runs with fairly large buttresses that are constructed of rebar and concrete for some of the Globals but I don't think they actually do it anymore. You can still see the buttresses in the plan of the Global Model on their website.

[@erikroge6310]

@@one_b thank you very very much that's helpful :)

[@one_b]

@@erikroge6310 Good luck and Godspeed with your project.

[@ragingpatriot772]

These homes are great. Mexican citizens started these with adobe homes.

[@melanieortiz712]

Be even cooler to do a system like a home biogas system for cooking.

[@okiebear]

(in the most annoying voice possible)Be even cooler to do a system like a home biogas system for cooking.

[@indieoak]

@@okiebear haha

[@Oakheart]

No reason why you couldn't. He's just trying to get one that can get permitted easily in the most places.

[@StarGazing8461]

Mike you’re starting to look slimmer. Keep up the healthy eating. :)

[@bsew64]

I love all the advances you have done you have come a long way!

[@melaniesmith3954]

Love the design and the affordability.

[@nickrichards8516]

the bottle mosaics are gorgeous

[@ck1425]

wow. whole neighborhoods could be made from these Earthships. Could make bigger community gardens. could be really cool

[@takyrdai2432]

Have you incorporated a biogas digestor in any of your earthship designs?

[@JT-ok6re]

I love your Earthships! How would they hold up in earthquakes?

[@carloskoppen]

like a boss

[@brianmclane8922]

In earthquake prone regions other considertions or building methods might be used. The one we built in puerto rico was very different because of that reason. Lots of rebar and concrete were used. Not to mention there was no greenhouse since its in the tropics

[@GurvanCustom]

Thank you !

[@aborboao]

I just LOVE this encounter model, is by far the must intelligent one, everything seems so damn obvious.

[@elenarynkevic1954]

Wonderful home! Ford Fiestas are good cars for daily life. This house is wonderful-what is the price range?

[@patb686]

Nice Job McFly! That's awesome it's exactly what I need in the coming years it's a must for me .

[@lionofgod5843]

He says the plans are. Available for $9.95 But when I found the link which he does not include under the video the purchase price of plans for this unit is $700.00 U.S dollars. So would like a link for the advertised special in the video please.

[@melindadoennig8372]

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

[@LiniousRHoliday]

Can't wait to joint your online class.

[@jedics1]

Informative with no BS as usual, I knew that living in the desert wasn't for me nor was buying land so I built a truck instead but used some Earthship principles because it is the only sane choice especially given the times we live in.... What reason is there to upload a video at 480p in 2020?

[@MsSedonan]

Nova works for me!!

[@ancaprodan3685]

I dream about living in a house like this

[@gonzaloski]

brilliant hero

[@G-G123]

Thank you very much! I love it, simple and effective.

[@DukeTheSPO0K]

I haven't been able to find an answer to this. What do you use for soap in an earthship? I wouldn't want to kill the plants and I am also thinking about an aquaponics system inside the greenhouse area.

[@rorywynhoff1549]

Thank you, looks awesome!

[@nicklomas6017]

how much did this cost It's fantastic

[@realtruth1448]

Cheap to build yourself, expensive to have someone build one for you!!!

[@BarbellMethod]

I love these-but how do we make the affordable??

[@gregorymarrone3666]

Mike what is your thoughts about the green digestor for gas Production!?!? Make your own gas from green waste???

[@charonsiouxsie949]

Thank you so much for sharing. Have you assessed the imact of solar panel and lithium battery production (i.e. countries of origin of the materials)? I have not yet delved deeply enough, but I understand countries like Argentina are making deals with corporations for the necessary resources for lithium, resulting in the force of "simple folk" to essentially lose their way of life. What I've researched thus far has me concerned about participating in this specific commerce, buying the latest solar and battery technology. Again, thank you. I'm always learning with your guidance.

[@leifcian4288]

It's one of those things isn't it same as electric vehicles. I suppose the great thing about these earthship designs is even if you built one that was connected to the gas and electric grid the usage will still be much much lower. In fact that would be one less expense initially for those on a budget, although the tricky thing is the standing charges. If your using much less gas and electric but paying the same standing rates as someone using loads in a way your helping to subsidise their connection over time. That's kind of by the by though the most important thing is getting the principles implemented as broadly as possible.

[@CorEbuzzBee]

The open sourced drawings that he talks about for $9.95 now range from $800 to $1100, but say they we're $6000! 🦈🦈🦈

[@garagemancave666]

I would imagine a rain gutter modular grow system would be ideal for earthships. It could reduce the labor cost of building the greenhouse planter cell.

[@MyLevelheaded]

yes! have you conquered the depth problems if earthship will enter the market for ever, depth issues are a problem the global models and the simpler designs have a very narrow trailer type of feel can you conquer this depth issue to two or even 3 rooms and get the encounter effect? would not the increase of square footage increase the life experience of your homes? As folks are looking to encounter work from home , larger utility spaces and sustainable water usage what is the major blockage to your homes having the two or three room depth ?

[@carloskoppen]

I like the ziggurat berm

[@BushImports]

Are you going to have the $9.95 drawings/plans of/for the Encounter on .pdf ? I don't have a smartphone so the app is worthless to me, but I do have a computer. I really don't like the look of the Earthships, but I love what they are supposed to do, that is really awesome.

[@yeshuaisthewaythetruthandt515]

Thanku. Can earthship work in rainy areaa?

[@lonewolfbackcountry3734]

Is there a link for the archive app? Or drawings? I would love to design and build one of my own!!!

[@Pablodell]

Hola. Por favor, podrían habilitar la opción del traductor? Mi ingles no es muy bueno y eso ayuda a entender mejor. Desde ya muchas gracias y un saludo desde Uruguay!

[@RokDAWG1]

I’m curious as to the cost of building one of these

[@roxannadill4537]

We live in middle TN in the rolling hills and would like to go to classes on how to build an earth ship

[@MidnightIam]

An Arduino and some cheap temperature sensors and you could make the running of that house fully automated year round.

[@brianmclane8922]

I wonder if the shape of the rooms or some acoustic features would reduce echo. Consult a music studio person...?

[@lauriepatrick2182]

In the deep south where the air is so humid, are the cooling tubes a problem? It seems condensation would make them not even an option.

[@meadmaker4525]

I suspect the cooling tubes would still work the same way, but you'd want to build a bit of downward slope into them, away from the house, so that any condensation would run out the back side instead of into the house. Unlike air conditioners, though, the ambient humidity inside and outside are going to be the same.

[@victorgustavoolivera2465]

Hello, i would like to ask you a few questions, there in the desert it rains very ofton, what is sown inside the ship for how many months does it reach, abrazó

[@whatahowl1]

Do you need to dig down to hard ground or will this be good on top of loose ground

[@ragingpatriot772]

I think I would include ceiling fans in each room and the atrium.

[@fudogwhisperer3590]

Love it!! Is there any reason why the WOM and the solar cant be put in the living room wall instead of the bedroom? Is it because of the concrete buttress not allowing enough room? It would seem the water pump would be noisy and wake people being in the bedroom.

[@one_b]

I thought the same thing. Seems a 3 or 4 bedroom version is in order where the systems closets could be in the room utilized as an office.

[@Lucky_LUKe1995]

❤️This is My dream

[@dr.trashbag]

i looked up the drawings on the earthship website and they are thousands of dollars not 9.95 :P

[@Michaelibre]

what about adding a biogas biodigestor?

[@ChauHuh]

Cold beer seems important here...

[@krazykathysiron5806]

Do you know of any government Grant's for a project like this?

[@BushImports]

The only App that is available for download is the simple Survival Model, where is the Encounter like Mike said in the video? Also will the App run on Android 10(Go edition)? OK, if Google is telling the truth it will work on Android 10(Go edition), it says Android "Go" is fully compatible with all apps on Google Play, but another Google response says that not all apps made for Iphone will work on Android and the earthship web page says the app was designed for Iphone so I don't know..

[@ragingpatriot772]

I want to build one of these.

[@melaniesmith3954]

Do you recommend gas clothes dryer?

[@check1024]

Will this work in hot humid tropical countries like the Philippines?

[@pangajackterhor]

There are already earthships here. I think in Cebu. And to answer your question directly yes, yes they do and imagine no more meralco bills!!!!!! If you are in manila that is. They have built plenty in Asia already :D

[@sbl17jackson37]

Why not an electric water heater as a back up, in stead of a dirty gas one?

[@davidr9589]

Electric water heater would never run on solar and batteries. People have no concept of how many kilowatts a dryer, furnace, oven and water heater use.

[@suezzzeee1]

i want to retire in an earthship near you what do i need to do to make this dream come true? a huge garden and aquaponics.

[@vivianp5962]

I have the same question.

[@KeepOnSmashing]

He has a fish pond in the garage. That circulated water to the garden. I think it was the global model.

[@Solvent108]

it's crock of shit don't buy into it

[@romainring]

I want to learn how to build one

[@soilbellefarm3710]

Do you recommend for northwest fl??

[@vivianp5962]

Wow, i feel like a failure as i have 5 fans running in my bedroom because i cant afford the electric bill for a/c running which only cools 1 room in the apartment (livingroom). Im still sucking up electric & its $$$$.

[@lpmoron6258]

How do we access the plans for this earthship?

[@Toots22]

how many gallons is the cistern?

[@varietasVeritas]

This was impressive twenty years ago. Impress me again by making one for $50,000.

[@meadmaker4525]

They already exist. It's called: Take the 1-month Earthship Biotecture course and then go build it yourself.

[@romainring]

How much money do I need to build one

[@mikeycbaby]

How much would this model cost to build?

[@one_b]

They won't tell you. They never give specifics on costs either from individual materials or on average total costs.

[@one_b]

@SaraDrawPlox There is no need to give exact numbers and certainly not for land. Yet there is no reason why there is no bill of materials for a Global Model (or now for an Encounter) listing what was used and how much so that the potential builder / buyer can research the relative costs in their area. How else are you even supposed to begin planning? Want to know why this is a bit of a burning issue for me? In our 2017 academy we were tasked with estimating the amounts of cement and other materials needed for a specific construction as a group project. No instruction was given on how and worse, after the projects were handed in and we were graded we were not given the correct answers nor how they were arrived at. Furthermore it was a similar experience on a build site with one of our instructors. How much cement do we need for this wall? Well we will just go until we run out and then order another pallet of 50lb bags. Excuse me? You don't have a reasonable estimation method for something as simple as bottle wall of x feet long by y feet tall and z feet thick for how much cement it will take to mix up the adobe? I understand perfectly well why he won't give specifics and he personally explained it to use in class - he has been burned in the past by vengeful parties who didn't understand what they were buying. I think those people were wrong for bringing lawsuits against him but then I believe in personal responsibility. Yet, I deal with construction and maintenance vendors on an almost daily basis and in my contracts it is clearly stated what the estimated costs of materials will be, approximate labor costs, projections for potential overruns, and which party is responsible for what in the event that some unforeseen curve ball comes along. It is due diligence for all involved parties and when somebody asks "How much?" that is the first step in their responsibilities of due diligence. So, when I tell people they won't tell you it is the truth and at this point I think it is a bit inexcusable to keep hand waiving and saying to trust them because they are the experts.

[@elizabethgaytan3314]

Joshua Dolan Well put. I would reiterate, there is a huge difference between telling someone what a project will cost versus saying how much a project did cost. That said, thank you to both the poster of this video and you for sharing your experience which has greatly benefited my own learning.

[@elizabethhatch211]

The detailed costs are available on their app, itemized.

[@one_b]

@@elizabethhatch211 The new app? I haven't had a chance to look. Didn't see them when the files started partially loading on the original Simple Survival App. Great to see them taking this often posted / asked question seriously.

[@charliedevine6869]

Yes the heat is endless but the water is not! Burn!

[@troyavery8312]

% cheaper this, % cheaper that, but never mentions average price. Sure costs and expenses change, but you can at least mention what it costs at that point in time otherwise the % is meaningless. I went and looked at their site and found a model listed at $515K. This brings me back to an old question: Why are these so expensive when they have so much ‘garbage’ integrated into them? What component causes it to be so expensive for what they are vs normal homes? (I’m not factoring day to day costs into that, just construction costs)

[@meadmaker4525]

Labor. If you take their course and then go build one on your own, it would be considerably cheaper, a fraction of what it costs to buy one built by the people at Earthship Biotecture, but the manual labor involved is significant. Search this channel and review their methods for packing earth into each tire, how much time and work that takes, and then building a wall out of those tires. Then there's making the mortar and plaster from scratch and applying it all by hand, waiting for it to cure, then adding more, until you get to the finished product. You could probably build 2 or 3 cinder block or wood homes using cheap "modern" construction methods and materials in the time it would take to build one earth ship, but those homes won't do what an earth ship does, and in some cases they'll cost just as much based on location and square footage. The time and labor that go into earth ships is significant, but it's almost all unskilled labor that anyone can learn. So, if you want to just buy one that's already done, you're going to pay a premium for all of the hard work that went into building that custom, one-of-a-kind home. If you want to build one yourself, you're just paying for the plot of land and materials. Your choice.

[@EricEllingwood]

Just be an owner builder that’ll reduce the expense, As little as zero utility bills to offset the increased price, again if you have a building crew build it for you it’ll cost substantially more,They can grow a variable amount of food further reducing price,

[@YouTubeRanch]

anyone notice that the dog gives the new future owners that fresh urine smell on every air intake tube while he talks?

[@EricEllingwood]

Just plant fragrant plants like lilacs

[@MichelLoisel]

I didn't see yet a video of an Encounter showing direct sunlight on the botanical cells... Everything's always in the shadow... In my Earthship at noon in summer, with the SS Greenhouse, all the botanical cells receive direct sunlight... I totally dig that model, but I have my doubts concerning that straight faced greenhouse since fruiting plants need that direct sunlight to thrive.

[@mugwortexpresshomestead1878]

ah good point.

[@deadoralive26]

I do think that is a good point. I wonder if maybe, depending on where you are, you can probably grow food that needs direct sun outdoors in the summer months, and of course in the winter, the sun should be shining in to be able to grow those same outdoor and even more types of plants for food. Just throwing that out there.

[@deadoralive26]

Maybe that's the logic, I'm saying.

[@EricEllingwood]

The thing is they were built such as to minimize sunlight penetration in the summertime to keep cool but so the sun will penetrate deep into the house way past the greenhouse in the winter time. Admittedly I’d like to see a picture of that as well, I have confidence that it’s going to be awesome there’s a more recent picture of the greenhouse on the KZbin channel Kirsten Dirksen new earth ships capture more water food energy at lower cost

[@ck1425]

how much does this house cost? I want 5

[@VRtechman]

I expected to see pocket doors at least on Bedroom openings. 🤔

[@goransvraka3171]

Seems more of a closed design. The there is no access from living to the bedroom

[@dalevarney7890]

this is based off the sun. Right! what happens if the earth is darken?

[@KeepOnSmashing]

Like a nuclear winter ?