Excellent Podcast on hybrid Earthships

I am a big fan of Jack Spirko's show, The Survival Podcast. I just finished listening to yesterday's show that was about hybrid earthships with monolithic domes. I thought the information was excellent although I never really thought of building an earthship myself. The podcast guest, Mark Kirkwood, talked about a contraption to pack tires with soil and now I might consider earthships, although I still have concerns with off-gazing from the tires.

Anyway, here is a link to the podcast and one to Mark Kirkwood's website.

There is really no such thing as a "hybrid" Earthship. An Earthship is an Earthship no matter what materials you use, and many of the current designs use ferrocement domes instead of joists.

Those little huts that Earthship Biotecture built in Haiti are really just a circle of tires with a ferrocement dome, but they are still Earthships, because Earthship Biotectures says they are.

Outgassing of the tires is a concern that I have heard many times. Fact is, though, you are not using brand-new tires in a tire wall. You are using end-of-life tires, so there will be no outgassing anymore, even if you didn't cover them up with 6 inches of plaster (which you would).

I am also conserned about the tire off gassing. I would like to see an updated study of tires offgasing in a controlled environment such as an earthship. I believe the one done that Micheal Reynolds refers to was done in the 90s. If there was another study I would like to hear about it.

^^

I second that. Besides the first study all I have to go on is the "No news; is good news". If it was horribly toxic the people in them since the 80s would have started to show, maybe.

Dave Turpin wrote:There is really no such thing as a "hybrid" Earthship. An Earthship is an Earthship no matter what materials you use, and many of the current designs use ferrocement domes instead of joists.

Those little huts that Earthship Biotecture built in Haiti are really just a circle of tires with a ferrocement dome, but they are still Earthships, because Earthship Biotectures says they are.

Outgassing of the tires is a concern that I have heard many times. Fact is, though, you are not using brand-new tires in a tire wall. You are using end-of-life tires, so there will be no outgassing anymore, even if you didn't cover them up with 6 inches of plaster (which you would).

So a superdome made from rammed tires would still be called an earthship?

Remember that "Earthship" is a name invented by Michael Reynolds for the designs that he created. Fundamentally, anything that meets the basic principles of an Earthship is an Earthship:

-Constructed from Reused or Recycled Material
-Passive Heating and Cooling
-Produces its own electricity
-Collects its own water
-Treats its own sewage onsite
-"Grows food"

But, it is only an Earthship if Michael Reynolds and Earthship Biotecture agrees that it is so. Whether you want to call your rammed tire dome an Earthship or not depends on you.