Mike Reynolds in Earthship shows a multi-unit structure going up the side of a hill, like continuous two story models. The stories only partially overlap. Earthships do not use nearly as much portland cement and steel, which are heavy CO2 producers. While The "Mycoplex is a high vertical rise reinforced high portland content concrete and steel structure. The Earthship has some limits with retainment; 1' arc in 18' for 8' retainment, and 2' arc in 18' for 10' retainment. There are compacted earth squared step up designs, too.
The area of self heated gardens for just the vegetable needs of one person is 100 square feet in a sunny area. With total water recycling in an area of 15" of rain per year, each person needs 500 sq. ft. of roof for themselves and the garden, counting the need to have a blackwater system also to get rid of high detergent and grease water that would gum up the filters. The recycling system needs two large tanks. One below floor level and one above after sand filtration, for gravity feed to the garden or pumped through filters and UV to a pressure tank. Blackwater from dishwashing and clothes washing cycles through a Staber type washing machine (low water use, low solar power use) must go to a small septic system, or the biomass system. The rainwater and catchment tanks tend toward cooling the unit down--from experience.The humidity from the gardens condenses on windows and cold tanks, creating mold, so extra power is needed for a dehumidifier.
The area of each persons solar panel or wind generator needs can fit on the 500 sq. ft. of roof per person.
The waste from each person should be used for compost to keep the garden soil healthy. Liquid waste goes to blackwater, and trash to recycling and some to biomass. The biomass per person is insufficient for all cooking and heating needs, and solar thermal gain is necessary for each unit, unless natural gas heat is brought in. Heating and cooling a tall building can not be done by convection mixing, but needs powerful fans to take summer heat and put it under the foundation in water or insulated earth storage for partial heating in winter. Climate and sunlight would be critical, along with actual roof area needed for rainwater catchment. The taller the building, the more living area necessary for each resident. Figure it out. Going up 5 stories tall would require each personal unit below to be 2,500 sq. ft. so that each has 500 sq. ft. of rainwater catchment.
The idea of one person producing enough biomass and compost for the garden and their own power and heat/cooling is wrong.
The Mycoplex idea is based on false assumptions. People also need land area for grains, trees, wetlands, and pastures. Even Biosphere 2 failed.
The problem with both ideas, the Earthship villages and Mycoplexes, is global warming to where outside crops won't always make it, and the global mercury pollution getting into the catchment systems and outside soil. Drought would also ruin the rainwater catchment idea. There has to be several backup systems for everything, including defenses.
Even the most advanced reinforced concrete is not impervious to Richter 9 earthquakes, especially with tall buildings. Tall buildings are especially vulnerable to heatwaves and very high winds of climate change beyond historic. The Earthship village concept can have the multitude of continuing talents and manufacturing ability for sustainability, with oversize and backup systems for making it through times of drought and outside crop failures. Systems for dealing with mercury and other toxics from the atmosphere are a problem of slow filtration and chemical treatment. The activated charcoal, 1 micron filtration, and UV treatment aren't enough. I also wonder about nuclear contamination, just in case.
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