{"id":23368,"date":"2021-10-08T08:54:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T06:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/?p=23368"},"modified":"2021-11-22T14:47:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T12:47:12","slug":"earthship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/08\/earthship\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian national Evie Verdini Fensom<\/em> has been into sustainable living right from school when she helped build a model house from straw bale and bamboo.<\/p>\n

Now she has a three year old daughter, Audrey<\/em>, that early experience is paying dividends as she and her partner, Tristan<\/em> seek innovative ways to build themselves a family home.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Their project began six years ago when they bought 110 acres of bushland. They developed most of it to run sheep, and they’ve planted crops for home consumption. Their interest in a sustainably-built, zero-energy home led her to the concept of Earthships – an architectural design which stores the sun’s energy in an ‘earth shelter’; provides non-mechanical ventilation to replace air-conditioning; protects the occupants from extreme heat; and<\/em> provides them with warmth at night and during the winter.<\/p>\n

The architectural drawing of their Earthship home is featured at the head of this article.<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/a> Air conduits buried in the wall flow naturally, removing the need for air conditioning.<\/p><\/div>\n

They stayed in an Earthship prior to building one, and became convinced of the wisdom of the design when they enjoyed a steady indoor temperature of 18\u00b0C whilst overnight temperatures had fallen to 7\u00b0C outside. The design incorporates ‘earth tubes’ through which air travels by natural convection to maintain a ‘chill room’ at a temperature of 10\u00b0C …in spite of soaring desert temperatures.<\/p>\n

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Energy harvest, storage, and supply.<\/p><\/div>\n

Evie and Tristan’s land is remote from the electricity grid – they didn’t even ask the energy supplier to quote for connection to the electricity grid when they learned that their neighbour – a few years previously – had a grid-connection quote for over a quarter of a million dollars. Enough said.<\/p>\n

They decided to install off-grid solar-based private power – a system which is expected to provide 15000kWh of free energy per year. The System has been installed by MyEnergy<\/a>\u00a0who have over ten years experience of providing residential and commercial power solutions. It comprises:<\/p>\n