Earthship Brighton: crowdfunding appeal

Earthship Brighton Bottle Wall by Jo D'Ambra

Yes there are Earthships right here in the UK and this one in Brighton is open to the public so you can go and visit!

 

The Low Carbon Trust is launching a crowdfunding campaign to upgrade vital energy and water systems for its award winning Earthship Brighton environmental education centre. The Earthship was designed and built by the Low Carbon Trust as a project to create a model low-carbon building community centre for courses and school visits.

 

One of Brighton’s most iconic buildings, the Earthship was the first of its kind to be built in England in 2006 and is one of only two Earthships in the UK (the other is in Fife, Scotland). Stanmer Park, one of Brighton’s most visited green spaces, is home to the award-winning building.

 

Earthships by design are off-grid buildings, made using waste car tyres and other various recycled materials all homogeneously and artistically combined to create some of the most wonderful structures you may ever see.

 

Using natural systems to provide all their own services (solar energy for heat and power, and rain for water etc.) the buildings heat and cool themselves naturally, even using living plants, both inside and outside, to treat ‘grey water’ (water that has only been used for bathing, showering and general washing).

 

Working as a demonstration site this particular Earthship is not actually a home but it illustrates beautifully that smart design and careful planning can ensure that the buildings we live in and occupy can have a very low impact on the planet whilst being both beautiful, inspiring and very, very comfortable.

 

 

The key feature of any Earthship is that they are self-sufficient and autonomous. Not relying on mains water or energy from the national or local supply networks, Earthships are self-contained living vessels. Thousands of people visit Earthship Brighton each year and now some of the vital systems need upgrading to cope with the throughput.

 

The Low Carbon Trust now needs to raise £20,000 to acquire a new UV water filtration system to purify rainwater for use inside the building, purchase new batteries to store electricity generated by the solar panels and to build a straw bale unit to securely house the new batteries.

 

With these new systems in place the building will be able to host many more events and courses and open the building up to the local community to use it for their own projects and events whilst continuing to demonstrate cutting edge renewable technologies alongside elegant ecological building design. The Buzzbnk campaign launches on Tuesday 13th of October 2015 and will last for 30 days only.

 

Visit the campaign website now to find out more information about how you can help.

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