Keep Your Cool
A well designed solar house is both warm when you want it and cool when you want it; that is to say, the temperature tends to stay fairly even. Another good way to keep your cool is to dig into the earth. About six feet under the earth, you will find that the temperature varies by only a few degrees year round. While this temperature (about 50-55 degrees F.) might be too cool for general living comfort, you can use the stability of the earth's temperature to moderate the thermal fluctuations of the house. If you dig into a south-facing hillside to build, or berm the north part of the house with soil, you can take advantage of this. The part of the house that is underground needs to be well insulated, or the earth will continually suck warmth out of the house.
ARTICLES:
Digging In for Comfort
Shaping Buildings for the Humid Tropics
EXPERT
ADVICE
with Rob Roy
EARTHSHELTERED QUESTIONS ANSWERED
How
to build underground
Waterproofing
Insulation
Design
PSP
Miscellaneous
Plans
Earth Tempered Tiny House
Angus Macdonald, Architect
Earth sheltering is one of the most reliable ways of conserving energy. By reducing exposed roof and wall area, heat loss/gain is reduced. By earth tempering I mean using this principle along with super insulation and specific materials for the building envelope to reduce heat gain/loss, conduct constant subgrade temperatures into the interior for cooling and supplement heating with passive solar orientation and design. We have designed homes using these principles that require no fossil fuel consumption for interior comfort year round. Enclosed area = 632 sq.ft.; Veranda is about 100 sq.ft.; Total footprint = 732 sq.ft.
For more information about this plan, and many others, visit our sister site www.dreamgreenhomes.com, where you will find a wide range of plans for sustainable homes, greenhouses, small buildings, garages, and food storage space for sale. Dream Green Homes is a consortium of outstanding architects and designers, who have pooled their talent and expertise for your benefit.
Informative Links
General
undergroundhousing.com This links to information about Mike's book and videos, presented by the publisher.
bigrentz.com this infographic presentation explains the advantages and differences between the different types of earth-sheltered homes.
redfin.com What is an Underground House? Innovative Design for Sustainable Living
todayshomeowner.com Some suggestions for how to cool a house without air conditioning.
Green Roofs
greenroofs.com very informative site featuring a variety of concepts for growing roofs.
schundler.com/greenroofs a discussion with photos and links about various green roof applications utilizing perlite.
hopesandfears.com an illustrated history of green roofs.
Concepts
undergroundhousing.com links to information about Mike Oehler's book and videos, presented by the publisher.
greenmagichomes.com makes composit components that connect to create vaults that can be buried.
Specific Earthworks
solterra.info The Semrock's vision and ongoing constrcution of their earthsheltered home.
ourcoolhouse showcases a couples' exploration of earthberming.
marant1946.blogspot.com this blog is very informative about the construction of this Texas earth-sheltered home.
formworksbuilding.com shows interior and exterior images of several of their underground or bermed ferrocement buildings.
trendir.com here is wonderful example of underground architecture in Switzerland.
beingsomewhere.net a lovely example of using local natural materials to build a comfortable and beautiful home that is recessed into a hill.
Passive Annual Heat Storage
norishouse.com describes how a PAHS house can keep an underground house comfortable year round with no additional heat source.
diygreenbuildingwithjerry.blogspot.com a blog about building a year-round passive solar (traditional winter-centric solar and Annualized GeoSolar in the summer) house.
Geothermal
Seabird Island Project shows unique design for the solar heating of water and space through warm air collection and geothermal heat tubes.
Chart of Underground Temperatures
This Chart shows underground temperatures in the United States and around the world.
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Established in 2001, GreenHomeBuilding.com is primarily a labor of love. Kelly, and the GreenHomeBuilding team of experts, have answered thousands of questions for readers over the years, and we continue to publish up-to-date information about increasingly important sustainable architecture. If you feel moved to assist us in this work, your kind donation would be much appreciated; this can be easily done through our PayPal account:
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I specifically disclaim any warranty, either expressed or implied, concerning the information on these pages. Neither I nor any of the advisor/consultants associated with this site will have liability for loss, damage, or injury, resulting from the use of any information found on this, or any other page at this site. Kelly Hart, Hartworks LLC.
