Kindred spirit!! My dream in life is to (get rich enough to) build a completely off-the-grid place in WY. Big'ol is slowly coming around to the idea of being a hermit. But my fantasy house is partially earth-sheltered with the balance being some kind of 'alternative' material: straw bales, tires, something. Then, (if I get really rich) I'll build a winter home in AZ of rammed earth.
I had to teach a year of environmental science and made a lesson out of alternative building materials, passive solar, etc. That's what started the rumors on campus that I was totally nuts.... came in handy when I later had to teach them chemistry.