What makes your home a Green or Healthy Home?
The home is totally off-the-grid. Its thermal mass construction naturally heat and cool the home year-round with amazing temperature stability. The carbon foot-print is virtually non-existent. The only "utility" is propane to fuel the kitchen range and on-demand hot water heater.
You may produce and harvest food year-round by virtue of the indoor grey water plant cells; and, you may grow additional food outside during the normal growing season. Lovely outdoor spring, summer, and fall flowering gardens are possible.
This home is healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.Property Description
This Earthship is a beautifully designed home built by Earthship Biotecture, Inc. (the company of Mike Reynolds, who is the progenitor of Earthships) and is known as the “Hybrid Design”. With 60 feet of south-facing vertical windows, this near-zero-carbon-footprint, self-sustaining home heats and cools itself passively and efficiently. Six solar panels provide 100% of electric energy, and all water is collected on the roof and stored in a 1,500 gallon cistern. (Details about the systems are provided below). Earthships are built with environmentally friendly and recycled materials.
This home has everything you need for actualization of sustainable living, while at the same time providing every luxury and modern convenience of a conventional home.
The living room, dining, and kitchen area ceiling has an expanse of 13 large vigas. The remaining rooms have tongue and groove pine ceilings. Wood accents prevail throughout the interiors, adding warmth and beauty. The walls and unique kiva fireplace are plastered and sculpted from adobe and straw, adding to the home's softness, warmth, and comfort. The walls function to keep the home cooler during summer and warmer during winter. The floors are an attractive red brick, and also function to retain heat and coolness when needed. The kitchen and full bath feature accent tiling and wood cabinetry. The indoor jungles, found in both bedrooms and the main living area, provide beauty, humidity in the desert environment, and the opportunity to grow vegetables and herbs year-round on the Mesa. Current plantings include a banana tree, large geranium plants with constant blossoms, and a cactus garden in the master bedroom.
Outside, there is a flagstone patio area, a stone and covered storage space, many well placed decorative large rock treatments, and tasteful fencing enclosing the south and east side grounds of the home with an entry gate. The property enclosed within the fence is quite large for your pets to roam and to protect outside gardens and plants.
Every room has direct current wall and ceiling lighting tastefully done with lovely sconces and small halogens. The home has a generous amount of Alternating Current (110) outlets. It is entirely possible to have all the systems you need for high speed wireless global connectedness, Dish TV, DVD/CD; and of course all traditional kitchen appliances
The power system consists of: (1) Six 135 watt photovoltaic (PV) solar panels producing more than necessary wattage for the home. (2) New Outback charge controller. (3) Trace inverter which is turned on when you need AC/110. (4) A PV Array Ground Fault Protection System. (5) A ProSine Inverter Charger having an output of 2500 watts. (6) A Trace Meter in order to instantly read per cent of battery charge and energy pull. (7) Three brand new top of the line Rolls deep cell batteries having two cells each. In all, $10,000.00 in upgrades to the electrical system have been done within the last year.
Earthships are not built underground, as commonly believed. The home’s north, west, and east sides are shouldered with earth up to the roof. This thermal mass absorbs the warmth of the sun during the winter months, and during the night time hours, the heat is slowly released, keeping the house warm. There are also three venting windows built into the house to help regulate the temperature The home has a full pro-panel roof, necessary for water collection and diverted to underground cisterns having a 1500 gallon capacity. Rain water is filtered through traditional systems for first use (washing hands, showering, tap water, etc), then this “grey water” is filtered once again through the indoor jungles. By the time the water reaches the septic,, it has been used a total of three times within the systems of the house.
The incredibly efficient Staber System 2000 Heavy Duty, Extra Large Capacity washing machine is included with the home.. The utility room also contains the propane on-demand hot water heater, which is an AquaStar Continuous Flow system. The AquaStar only pulls propane (“fires-up”) when a hot water tap is opened anywhere in the house. The propane tank has a 250 gallon capacity, used for the hot water heater and the standard sized kitchen range/oven. It is not uncommon for 250 gallons of propane to last well over a year for occupants of up to four.
The asking price of $249,000.00 for this home is fair, considering the land alone in this section of the community is priced at $40,000.00 for an acre and half. At the current building rates for Earthships, it would cost at least $240K to build this home; not including the price of land.
The most efficient way to increase your understanding of this home, how it functions, how the homes are delightfully occupied year-round is to have an initial phone conversation. You may also spend up to a week in the home at current vacation rental rates in order to take it for a “test sail” and receive thorough orientation and discussion sessions. This is a rare opportunity, indeed!!!
On the mesa, there is absolutely no noise or light pollution. The 360 degree views of the entire Taos Valley, and far beyond, are simply astounding. The sunrises and sunsets are sublime. At night, the intensity of the stars almost knock you down! Rainbows are frequent and the lightning shows upon the mesa are mesmerizing.
Join us on face book - Beautiful Taos Earthship for sale.
more photos at:
http://ronwbarnes.smugmug.com/Other/taosearthship/14264359_hXGeR
Owner Financing is now available! With a reasonable down, seller will finance buyer for a pre determined number of years. Call for details.Neighborhood Description
The home is located in Greater World Community. For many reasons, this is the only community like it in the world. Near the Rio Grande Gorge/River 25 minutes from the town of Taos, from where you shall escape from it all. There are no power lines, gas lines, water lines, phone lines. Greater World Community comprises 600 acres of land; is a very private community with protective covenants in place to maintain property values, peace of mind, aesthetics, shared decision making, and preservation of open spaces.
There are approximately 60 Earthships in the community with assurance all future development is controlled. Areas have been set aside for large scale community agricultural endeavors, commercial endeavors such as clean air cottage industry, and areas for horses and livestock.
The location of THIS home is particularly advantageous due to its setting on the acreage, distance from other homes, and superb views. You have a protected privacy.Market Area
Taos is a world famous art, literary, cultural destination site. Many renowned artists, writers, musicians, thinkers, and visionaries have lived, and still reside in Taos.
Taos hosts a plethora of remarkable destination sites for vacationers, historians, anthropologists, educators, photographers, outdoor enthusiasts; and is home to world-class skiing at the Taos Ski Valley.
The Taos Indian Pueblo nearby is a World Heritage Site, so designated by UNESCO. In Taos, there remains to be a strong sense of community, has the quaitness of a village, yet offers dynamic wonders on many levels. A signficant number of residents in this area are sincerely interested in preserving cultural traditions, values, and legacies. Taos is also known for attracting very independent, strong, and extremely creative individuals no matter their professions and life pursuits.School District
Taos Public Schools. There also exists several excellent private and charter schools.Community
Location of Home or Land
Rural
Elevation of Home
Mountain
Air Quality
| Agriculture in Area | yes |
| Industry in Area | no |
| Air Pollution in Area | no |
| Pesticide Free | yes |
| Fragrance Free | yes |
| Cleaned with Green Products | yes |
Interior Environment
| Heating System | Fireplace |
| Cooling System | Geothermal |
| Ventilation System | Part of Cooling System |
| Whole House Filtration | None |
| Whole House Vacuum | no |
Energy & Water
| Energy System | Photovoltaic (PV) |
| Water System | Rain Water Collection |
| Wastewater System | Septic System |
Construction Information
| Construction Type | Adobe |
| Exterior Finish | Masonry Metal Plaster - Earth |
| Interior Finish | Earthen Plaster |
| Interior Paint | No VOC |
| Floor Material | Other |
| Roof Material | Metal |
| Window Material | Metal Dual Glazed |
| Insulation Material | Other |
Garage / Car Port
| Garage / Carport | no |
| Garage Type | detached |
| Number of Cars | 2 |
