The charity is now working towards creating a zero waste and zero

The charity is now working towards creating a “zero waste and zero energy” self-build Earthship development of 12 homes Brighton, too, may see more Earthships. But that may be set to change, as local councils wake up to environmentally friendly, cost-effective housing. You need to check batteries and clean filters, every two or three months.” One of the main barriers to Earthship construction in the UK has been our draconian planning laws. “But we realised we couldn’t make the general public accept the maintenance issues.

So, over the last 10 years, we have designed out all the maintenance. “In the early days it was like being on a yacht; you had to know a lot,” he says. Energy is stored in battery banks for the days when not enough electricity has been generated “We have a capacity of 10 or 12 days,” explains Hewitt. He adds that generating one’s own power makes one use it more sparingly.Reynolds has worked hard to make Earthships low maintenance. “They complement each other, because if it’s not sunny it tends to be windy,” says Hewitt. We have more than enough sun; you can walk in on a cold day and it’s warm inside, even though there is no visible form of heating.” The Earthship also has a stove that runs on pellets made from waste wood for back-up heating; the stove also backs up the solar water-heating system.To generate electricity, Earthship Brighton has a set of photovoltaic panels to harvest power from the sun, and a small wind-turbine. “It is colder here than New Mexico, but it hasn’t been that much of a problem.

Stanmer Park in Brighton is not arid! But the amount of rain we can harvest is awesome; 73,000 litres a year.”More rain means less sun “The thick walls act as huge storage heaters,” says Hewitt. The UK’s second Earthship, also designed by Reynolds, will be completed this summer. Earthship Brighton has been built by the Low Carbon Network.”It was a challenge to translate the Earthship into English architectural language, and I think it looks beautiful,” says the project manager, Mischa Hewitt “The biggest issue was damp-proofing Many American Earthships are built in high, arid areas. It was built by Sustainable Communities Initiatives (SCI), a registered charity, and was constructed to housing standards, although it is being used as a demonstration, education and research building. It contains 700 tyres (rammed full of earth), 1,500 cans, reclaimed timber and other natural products such as sheep’s-wool insulation, clay membranes and earth plaster More than 200 volunteers worked on the two-year project. Housing, sewage, water, power, garbage, food: it is a living method that addresses all those issues.”One of the beauties of the Earthship design is that it can be adapted to suit other climates. Reynolds has worked in Bolivia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Belgium and India.