Earthships, while primarily built in arid areas like New Mexico, are sustainable homes built to fulfill all of their occupants’ basic needs — while operating off the grid.

Built using recycled materials such as old car tires, scrap metal, aluminum cans and glass bottles; Earthship homes provide residents with natural insulation, and independent energy and waste management. And according to Michael Reynolds, founder of Earthship Biotecture in Taos, New Mexico — residents “live in Earthships year-round, and they maintain 70 degrees fahrenheit year-round without fuel.”

Reynolds has been working around Earthships for more than fifty years. He’s known as the creator of the building concept, and opened his company Earthship Biotecture after being approached by locals to help them build their own. The company’s main selling point has since turned to the idea that your home can act as one vessel, enabling you to take care of all your essential needs.

“To live in an Earthship is living with a vessel that will meet all of your six crucial needs, and those six crucial needs are electricity, comfortable shelter without fossil fuel, water, treating of sewage and dealing with garbage and growing food,” says Reynolds. “Everybody, every town, every city, every village has to deal with these things. The Earthship deals with it for you, and that’s a little bit of comfort to know that your six major things about staying alive are dealt with by the vessel you live in.”

Sustainability can come in many forms when it comes to constructing homes. In the case of Earthships, it’s not just the materials used, but the long-lasting impact one can have on their surroundings.

See All Remnants’ alternative materials category if you’re looking for sustainable products to make your own earthship. Design and build with (re) purpose.