Life in an Earthship
(Page 3 of 4)
April/May 2005
By Ellen Craig
About a year and a half into the project, I finished the bathroom: a lovely free-form, curved wall built out of concrete and aluminum cans, in standard Earthship fashion. The shower and floor were tiled, the toilet and sink installed, so — at last — I had indoor plumbing. My first indoor shower was quite different from the outdoor showers I had been taking. There was no more view of the mountains, but it was breeze-free, with unlimited hot water, thanks to my on-demand water heater: a wonderful energy-efficient appliance that I would recommend to anyone
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The electrical system was my next major project. I had always wanted solar electricity, and I planned to hook up to the rural electric company as a backup. But because I had chosen such a remote location, it was cheaper to go completely off the grid than to bring in power lines.
I designed my own solar setup using ideas in the Solar Living Sourcebook I ordered from Real Goods and some help from its support staff. The water-pumping system is composed of two panels connected to a direct-current (DC) pump with no batteries, which means the pump only works in sunny weather. To compensate, I installed a 600-gallon cistern to store water. When the water level starts to get low, a float switch automatically activates the well pump
The electrical system consists of a dozen 75-watt solar panels, a Trace inverter, an Ananda APT Powercenter to monitor everything and 20 golf cart batteries. I followed the simple directions supplied by Real Goods and installed everything myself. I also bought a very efficient SunFrost refrigerator and a small freezer. All this cost less than having the power company run lines to my house. Since then, my solar system has operated for eight years at no additional cost. I think it was quite a deal.
With the solar power supply in place, it was time to wire the house for electricity. I bought a book called Wiring Simplified by H.P. Richter, drew my own plans and started stringing wire. Much to my delight, I passed both the electrical rough-in inspection and the final inspection on the first try. Not long after that, I got a certificate of occupancy and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing I had cleared the last legal hurdle.
Final Details
Because I built predominately out of pocket, I am still finishing work on the interior of the house. My kitchen is still unpainted, but it’s now completely functional, with a wonderful 1947 Wedgewood stove that I had retrofitted to burn on propane. I discovered that nearly all new gas stoves operate with electronic ignition, which would have drawn too much power from the batteries of my solar system.
