Michael and Denise Pfalzer - Home Owners
Michael was intrigued by the idea of an Earthship when he saw actor Dennis Weaver talk about the Earthship home he had built in 1989 on an appearance on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson years ago. Since getting together in 1996, Michael and Denise have talked and dreamed about building themselves an Earthship home.
They are several aspects to these structures that stand out to them:
The collection of the used materials—over 1,000 tires, about 40,000 aluminum cans and 20,000 glass bottles—has been an enormous effort. It is the excitement of building a home out of them, which keeps them motivated. Michael and Denise believe they would not have made it this far without the help of many people who have gotten involved by collecting and saving and their empty bottles and cans for the project. They are very grateful to the many friends, neighbors, co-workers, and yes, even people they did not know before, helping out.
The challenge of collecting used materials and obtaining building permits point to the need to have the laws addressed to make it easier to build more sustainably. One of their biggest frustrations is that there are many used tires, empty cans and bottles which cannot be legally accessed for recycling because they are deemed to be garbage once deposited at holding facilities for landfills. In addition, the building permit laws are not written to address non-traditional designs or materials. These requirements add to the time and expense of such a project, sometimes even requiring unnecessary or redundant features be built.
Michael and Denise look forward to the completion of their Earthship home and are looking forward to welcoming the many people who have helped along the way!
Bryan Roberts - General Contractor - ECO-TECH Construction
Growing up on a farm in middle Tennessee, living a sustainable lifestyle was second nature to General Contractor Bryan Roberts, of ECO-TECH Construction, currently spearheading the build of the Earthship Florida Project this summer in Manatee County.
The nature of living in a rural community bred sustainability through practicality rather than conscience effort. A large garden provided most of the family’s food; a simple greywater system provided irrigation for the plants. Working alongside his grandfather, a retired army engineer, Bryan learned to use creative techniques to take care of issues on the farm and to troubleshoot equipment to locate a problem and subsequently find a solution. Among other things, they built a simple solar water heater to keep ice from forming in cattle troughs in the wintertime.
Bryan began his construction career as a teenager working alongside a retired homebuilder who still custom built one home per year from the ground up. During and after college he worked as project manager for two midsize contracting firms and later worked as general manager for a heating and air conditioning company. Through these experiences Bryan learned the ins and outs of construction as well as the mechanical and electrical trades.
Early on, Bryan began to realize some of the objections to sustainable building: initial price and aesthetics are major deterrents for builders as well as potential buyers. To that end, Bryan has taken his practical knowledge of many systems and has begun to develop his own techniques. After moving to Florida in 2002 he began remodeling homes putting his ideas into practice. On a bathroom addition hundreds of feet of PEX tubing were attached to the SIPS panels of the roof, concrete was then poured on top to provide thermal mass, the concrete was stamped to look like slate. The thermal mass of concrete stores heat and radiates it into the water tubing which then feeds the hot water heater; thus a solar water heater that doesn’t look like a solar water heater and is comparable in cost to a tile roof. Experience in the heating and air conditioning field led to exploration of geothermal practices for heating and cooling buildings. Often overlooked by other builders, placement of a building to take advantage of passive solar is of paramount importance to ECO-TECH. Greywater recycling, rainwater catchment, and design based upon principals of permaculture round out the complete sustainable package that Bryan wishes to see built into every project.
Bryan is creative and passionate about taking better care of the environment. In today’s times of climate change, soaring energy costs and homeowners struggling to keep up, Bryan Roberts and his company, ECO-TECH Construction is a refreshing change providing a sustainable approach to building that provides for a brighter tomorrow.
Earthships are made out of recycled materials, such as tires and soda cans.
Earthships catch water from the sky and use it up to four times.
Water is heated from either the sun or by natural gas, but they can have city/county water as a backup water supply.
Earthships produce their own electricity, but can have multiple energy sources such as solar and wind-generated energy. The energy is stored in batteries and supplied to electrical outlets in the home.
Earthships contain and reuse all household sewage in indoor and outdoor treatment cells. The waste is used for food production and in landscaping.
Earthship toilets flush with greywater that does not smell.
Because of the way they’re built, Earthships maintain comfortable temperatures in any climate.
— Information obtained from Earthship Biotecture.