CalEarth’s Eco-Dome can be built out of nothing more than dirt, barbed wire, and the same kind of polyethylene bags used to make sandbags to contain floods. The house will probably last longer if you mix some cement with the dirt, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

The bags come in the form of a continuous tube, and the house is constructed of layers of dirt-filled “snakes,” with barbed wire laid between them to keep them from moving. This 400 sq. ft. home is one of CalEarth’s plans that can be built from the dirt on your land.

It’s 21st-century adobe: faster and easier than traditional adobe construction, because you don’t have to make and dry individual bricks. This construction technique can be learned quickly by anyone, and is about the cheapest possible way to build lasting shelter. But these are by no means temporary buildings; they are so robust that they meet California building codes.

Plans and a DVD and bags are available at the CalEarth’s Eco-Dome web site.

Eco-Dome video of the construction:

Eco-Dome pictures of the structure.

Simon and Jasmine Saville have built a very unusual eco-house in Wales. This is not your transportable home but one built right into the land. Very different and not your run of the mill home.

Simon and his wife Jasmine had the offer to use this land if they built an eco-friendly house and were were offerd 2,000 pounds to help construct it. Simon with the help of Jasmine’s father built the home in four months. A total of 3,000 pounds and a lot of manpower and effort in finding eco-friendly products they built this beautiful home.

To read an interview with Jasmine and see the construction of the home, be sure and visit there website.

Click on the plans below to enlarge.

Some key points of the design and construction:

• • Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
  • Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
  • Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
  • Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthetically fantastic and very easy to do
  • Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
  • Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
  • Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
  • Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
  • Anything you could possibly want is in a rubbish pile somewhere (windows, burner, plumbing, wiring…)
  • Wood burner for heating - renewable and locally plentiful
  • Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
  • Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
  • Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
  • Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
  • Water by gravity from nearby spring
  • Compost toilet
  • Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

Eco-house pictures of the inside of the house. Please visit Simon’s Website for more information and pictures of the construction of the house.

Kitchen

Living Room

Complete View

Visit Simon’s Website Here.