An earth friendly house you might find interesting.
Anyone think Hobbits?
3 comments
Yes.
I’ve thought that building into the ground like that would be interesting, especially from a cooling/heating standpoint. I’ve wondered if putting a few pipes into the ground for water cooling would be enough to cool a house down and be cheaper than regular air-conditioning. I know that they have systems like that here in austin for some buildings.
And I wonder if I could have a special line, or otherwise tap the system, for computer water cooling purposes. (another thing I know some people have done, but I don’t know what it cost them to do)
When Carrie was planning to build i found some sites by companies that do that underground cooling and sent them to her. The did not go with it, but i think they should have looked at it more. The cost to set it up is higher than running in electricity and installing an air conditioner and heater but the cost of running a ground system is so low that it will pay for itself in time and with global warming and cost of power going up, i think it would pay for itself faster than predicted, and maybe even make it possible to have air conditioning and heating in the future.
The way the one that i thought made sense for Carrie is instlled when you drill your water well. In the same hole, you run a pipe down and it makes a U down deep in the water. The pipe system can be filled with water (or a mix of water and antifreeze, if i remember correctly – supposed to make the water a better carrier of heat and cool, but no matter how wonderfully secure, i would worry abt a leak into the ground water). There is a pump that circulates the water into the ground water and up into the house. They say you might need to supplement it with ac or heat, but normally it will keep the house nice and comefortable. Groundwater has a constant temp which is about the same of an area’s average yearly air temp.
If i were building i would give up something else to have this kind of heating and cooling.
I also want a wind turban… or, at least solar panels.
And, though these hobbit houses may be a little more creative than i want, i like the idea of building into the ground. Free insulation. There is a house on the road on the way to freeport where they have the front open and the sides and back buried in a hill of dirt. That is probably the best one could do here. In hillier country, you could do more.
I suspect that a house built into a hill would have the best chance of being sustainable.
Building totally underground would quickly run into problems with hitting the water table. The foundation would need to be deeper, and I’m not sure what people would do about multiple floors. Also a concern about trees busting up walls with roots.
Building into a hill, however, would have you a nice wind break on one side, one side would have a better ‘constant temp’, and you’d be working with the land on water runoff. (or should be) Root systems are also less of a worry as most of the house isn’t underground.
Yes.
I’ve thought that building into the ground like that would be interesting, especially from a cooling/heating standpoint. I’ve wondered if putting a few pipes into the ground for water cooling would be enough to cool a house down and be cheaper than regular air-conditioning. I know that they have systems like that here in austin for some buildings.
And I wonder if I could have a special line, or otherwise tap the system, for computer water cooling purposes. (another thing I know some people have done, but I don’t know what it cost them to do)
When Carrie was planning to build i found some sites by companies that do that underground cooling and sent them to her. The did not go with it, but i think they should have looked at it more. The cost to set it up is higher than running in electricity and installing an air conditioner and heater but the cost of running a ground system is so low that it will pay for itself in time and with global warming and cost of power going up, i think it would pay for itself faster than predicted, and maybe even make it possible to have air conditioning and heating in the future.
The way the one that i thought made sense for Carrie is instlled when you drill your water well. In the same hole, you run a pipe down and it makes a U down deep in the water. The pipe system can be filled with water (or a mix of water and antifreeze, if i remember correctly – supposed to make the water a better carrier of heat and cool, but no matter how wonderfully secure, i would worry abt a leak into the ground water). There is a pump that circulates the water into the ground water and up into the house. They say you might need to supplement it with ac or heat, but normally it will keep the house nice and comefortable. Groundwater has a constant temp which is about the same of an area’s average yearly air temp.
If i were building i would give up something else to have this kind of heating and cooling.
I also want a wind turban… or, at least solar panels.
And, though these hobbit houses may be a little more creative than i want, i like the idea of building into the ground. Free insulation. There is a house on the road on the way to freeport where they have the front open and the sides and back buried in a hill of dirt. That is probably the best one could do here. In hillier country, you could do more.
I suspect that a house built into a hill would have the best chance of being sustainable.
Building totally underground would quickly run into problems with hitting the water table. The foundation would need to be deeper, and I’m not sure what people would do about multiple floors. Also a concern about trees busting up walls with roots.
Building into a hill, however, would have you a nice wind break on one side, one side would have a better ‘constant temp’, and you’d be working with the land on water runoff. (or should be) Root systems are also less of a worry as most of the house isn’t underground.