Home that’s just fuel of potential ...

A HOME which offers a chance to opt out of the fossil fuel economy and cut out heating bills has gone on the market for £495,000. As well as being cheap to run, it is carbon neutral, making it tick all the boxes for clean, green and cheap living of the fu

A HOME which offers a chance to opt out of the fossil fuel economy and cut out heating bills has gone on the market for £495,000.

As well as being cheap to run, it is carbon neutral, making it tick all the boxes for clean, green and cheap living of the future.

It has been labelled one of the greenest houses in Britain and is the brainchild of architect Jerry Harrall, who turned his project designing an environmentally responsible home and workplace into a PhD doctorate.

Known as the Long Sutton Work/Life Project, the home, in Gedney Road, was designed and built over four years by Mr Harrall. His intention was to see how far he could go opting out of the fossil fuel economy - but on a budget.

"And we achieved it," he said. "The intention was to design out the requirement for heating and for fossil fuels and achieve what we have achieved with no net carbon emissions."

The four-bedroom home is fossil fuel free, requires no heating and uses just 10 per cent of the energy used by a conventional four-bedroom house.

It was designed to make the most of daylight so lights are not left on, and its heating and hot water are sun-powered.

It has two bathrooms, a television room, living room, large garden, separate office building, large play area, fruit trees, vegetable garden and a Mediterranean garden to create a microclimate.

There is no covenant put on the house to stop anyone making it less carbon neutral or energy efficient, but Mr Harrall thinks there would be no reason for people to do that.

He runs his business SEARCH Architects Sustainable Ecological Architecture from the site and is working on a major earth shelter business development, which will include eco-pods building office and a cafe.