I'm completely sold on the Earthship. Have been ever since I first learned about them. I am now finally the proud owner of a 1 acre plot of wooded land in Pennsylvania with big dreams of living in an Earthship there. While researching green building, I've come across a whole host of fantastic alternatives to modern wasteful construction, but I get the feeling that the Earthship is the king of them all. What I would like to see is a definitive chart comparing all the advantages of the Earthship, specifically the rammed earth tires, to other green construction methods such as cob, earth bag, hay bale, etc. because most of the Earthship systems can be retrofitted into just about any other construction method. What I believe sets the Earthship head-and-shoulders above the rest is the advantages of the rammed earth tire. If such a chart exists, please let me know. If not, I'll be working on building my own:

Material	Thermal Mass	|Simplicity	|Maintenance	|Cost	|Speed
Rammed Earth Tire	Excellent	High	Low	Low	Slow
Adobe, grouted, reinforced, 9"	Moderate	Low	Moderate	$13.70/sf	Slow
Hay Bale	Low	High	Moderate	$1.40/sf	Moderate

Sources:
michigan.gov/documents/Vol2-32UIP5WallCosts_121077_7.pdf
www.solarhaven.org/Budget-BuildingProjects.htm

Can you mention some abode materials for buildings?

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Don't forget R-values and overall costs, as well as feasibility.

Hay bales are excellent insulators and can be built with without access to many yards of clay-rich, stone-light soil.

Rammed earth tire walls are only inexpensive if you have tons of free labor. If you include labor costs, an Earthship can cost just as much as a stick-built house. Of course, there are methods available for reducing the amount of labor required. They also are poor insulators and some additional insulation (polyisocyanurate or polystyrene) are required. Rarely are these insulations recycled material. Another downside wold be if you wanted to build in any area with sandy, rocky, or loamy soil.

Earth bag walls have many of the same issues as above, except even lower insulation value, and you have to buy the bags.

In my opinion, however, what makes an Earthship an Earthship is the passive solar design coupled with the water collection and reuse and off-grid power. If you aren't blessed with easy-to-dig soil there are many methods you could use to build an Earthship, even using "traditional but efficient" methods like SIP or ICF, and have all your thermal mass in the floor.