Workshop TA

I'd like to build the Earthship on a large plot of land with a lot of trees (>10 acres at least 20% forested). Before starting the earthship, I'll spend some time constructing the workshop. The timeline is going to be to get this set up much sooner and spend years expanding it before starting on the earthship.

The first decision that needs to be made here is if the shop is permanent or temporary. If permanent, it will need to be near the earthship and designed to eventually house all the systems (water, power, climate).

The shop will be a cob construction with a basic roof. It needs to be long enough to mill 10' boards. The shop will operate off solar and wood gasification. It's probably just easiest to use an electric generator, though it may be worth looking at direct drive in some cases.

The operational plan is to cut down trees and run them through the mill. All wood will be solar dried and the wood chips will be run through the CEB press to make fuel bricks. The dried scraps will feed to the generator for power and the boards will be used to construct the house (and other parts of the shop). Saw dust will be collected and used for mushroom farming.

The only major tool I'm missing is a CEB press. I'll also need some metal fabrication tools - welding and a metal brake, possible a lathe and mill.

A lot of this can be taken from Open Source Ecology. They use a 27hp engine, I was able to find a few in that range for around $700. Looking at this, and the price of steel ($150 / ton) I think the best starting point would be a small foundry and a cnc mill that machine steel plates. I can do a sort of multi-pass process. I can machine wax, then make a sand casting, then finish the casting - for instance, cooling fins can't be cast, but they can be machined.

Areas

Office

Computer desk and electronics desk, 12x12 should be fine

Bathroom

Not a large area consideration, but adds the complexity of a cesspool or methane digester.

Kitchen

Doesn't need to be fancy, but I'll need it to process some of the food and to eat while I'm onsite.

Shop

Holds all the tools and I need room to work. On the larger side 15x60?

Systems Area

Hold water tanks, water pump, wood stove, gasifier, sewage handling. Should probably be close to the office because that's where all the automation hardware will live.

Mushrooms

Should be fairly small, but getting the systems setup will be tricky.

Aquaponics

The fish tanks will be indoors so they will be easier to climate control

Systems

Electrical

Solar and wood gasification. The system needs to be able to maintain itself on solar. Gasification can be use when I'm there to provide extra power to run the shop. It may also be worth putting a few wind mills along the peak of the roof.

I'll need deep cycle batteries to store the power, though I shouldn't need much. I'll need a way to dissipate excess power safely.

There will need to be transformer equipment to step power up to 110 and I'll need an electrical box. I should try to run as much off DC power as possible.

Thermal

Semi passive cooling should be enough (pumping air through under ground passages to cool it) to keep it functionally cool in the summer.

For heating, when I'm not there, I really just need to keep the fish tank warm. When I am onsite, there will be plenty of wood fuel. I'll also setup a solar water heater and circulate that through a radiator system.

Water

While the system will eventually require a lot of water, it cycle rate is very low. I think I can get by with rain water collection.

Sewage

My earlier tests with methane were unsuccessful, but they were also limited. I think I can get a system working here.

Build Order

I'm not sure what the overall shape will be, probably like a barn. I'm also not sure where the earth from the CEB will come from - if there is a good hill, I can use that. It may also make sense to just dig down and have the floor of the workshop be below the surrounding ground level.

Based on the site get the main building perimeter laid out and setup the CEB press under a tarp. I'll need to begin work in late spring. Make bricks, get them wrapped up and leave them out to dry. Get an estimate on how many are needed - make some extras. And that's it for a while. Make sure to sample the bricks during the drying process to see how things are going. Once all the bricks are cast and dried, build the primary walls.