Housing has been taken away from people. For the past 20 years architect Michael Reynolds has been developing a building system which will, in effect, free people from the tyranny of costly mortgages, energy bills and even part of their grocery bills. Reynolds, who runs a company called Solar Survival Architecture in Taos, New Mexico, personally tested each experimental structure along the way. The result is a house design that satisfies his rigorous criteria. Earthships can be constructed by unskilled builders and inhabited free from any dependence on the power grid.
Power is gleaned from the sun or wind.
Reynolds' quest for sustainable housing began with baling tin cans with wire into small blocks. The design was patented but never utilized because it was too labour-intensive. Instead, he began laying cans directly into cement mortar. This evolved into using cans alone in dome-style construction. When the energy crunch hit in the mid-70s, Reynolds began to explore the concept of mass.