Dirtbag, I am also looking into building an earthship in southern AZ. My wife and I visited Greater World in Taos in mid March and stayed in on of the earthship rental units. We also toured the new Phoenix house which I must confess is totally awesmoe. We spent two nights in the studio house and totally fell in love with the entire earthship concept. The earthship stayed very comfortable, high 60's at night even though it was in the low 30's outside. We live in PIMA county and are currently working with a realator to purchase land where we can build our earthship. While two nights is by far not enough time to make an educated decisio, we were convinced that the concept of an earthship home is the way to go for us. Our plan is to sink a well as a secondary means of water for the home. Other than that we will be off the grid. We are playing with the idea of connection to an electric power provider but only to sell unused power back to the grid. As soon as we find property we plan on contacting Michael Reynolds for a consoltation and to help up design our dream home. We plan on building a 3 BDM home with a great room.
Feel free to contact me