Earthship buildings: opinions on their contribution towards sustainable alternative housing in the UK

Earthship buildings are marketed as being an epitome of sustainable alternative housing. Built by reusing or repurposing mostly reclaimed urban waste products, their design includes the utilisation of low-embodied-energy materials, passive solar heating and cooling, photovoltaic power systems, rainw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Management, procurement and law procurement and law, 2023-10, Vol.176 (4), p.192-198
Main Authors: Booth, Colin A, Horry, Rosemary, Isaac, Cameron, Mahamadu, Abdul-Majeed, Manu, Patrick, Awuah, Kwasi G B, Aboagye-Nimo, Emmanuel, Georgakis, Panagiotis, Prabhakaran, Abhinesh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Buildings
Energy resources
Energy sources
Environmental impact
Greywater
Heating
Hot water heating
Housing
Municipal waste management
Photovoltaics
Rain
Rain water
Rainwater recovery systems
Renewable energy
Renewable resources
Social media
Solar energy
Solar heating
Sustainability
Uptake
Water harvesting
Water heating
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Summary:Earthship buildings are marketed as being an epitome of sustainable alternative housing. Built by reusing or repurposing mostly reclaimed urban waste products, their design includes the utilisation of low-embodied-energy materials, passive solar heating and cooling, photovoltaic power systems, rainwater harvesting and solar hot water heating, along with black- and greywater-treatment systems. This study explores stakeholder opinions of whether Earthship buildings can contribute towards the future of alternative housing in the UK. Opinions were sought through a questionnaire completed by UK members of online social media groups whose shared focus is related to sustainability (n = 50). The results reveal that the public believe that the main benefits are their minimal environmental impact and also their reliance on renewable energy resources, while the main barriers are identifying suitable building plots and obtaining the necessary planning permissions. Notwithstanding that the participants included in this study already have sustainability interests, it is surmised that the public deem that the general principles of Earthships are an acceptable choice of alternative home/living. However, while the uptake of Earthship homes proves increasingly popular in some parts of the world, the utmost concern within the UK setting is the reality of finding somewhere suitable to build an Earthship and acquiring necessary authorisations to construct the building.
ISSN:1751-4304
1751-4312
DOI:10.1680/jmapl.22.00026