Heating from the Sun
Cooling from the Earth
Don Stevens has made some amazing breakthroughs with annualized geo-solar heating in a location that is mostly cloudy and gets very little sun. Jeff Vail has taken the concept and applied it to cooling in Phoenix. We are incorporating geo-solar heating and cooling into our building designs.
A key to using geo-solar heating and cooling is super insulation. With 12-16 inch thick walls at R-3 per inch, rice hull buildings are ideal for geo-solar HVAC.
Not Just Annualized Geo-Solar
The original annualized geo-solar concept which Don Stevens created requires a building with a large footprint to store enough summer heat to last through the winter. In locations with very little winter sun, this is very important.
For locations that get more winter sun, the winter sun's heat can be captured and used right away, and also be stored to last for many days. This system can heat smaller buildings, which do not have a large enough footprint to store enough summer heat to last all winter.
Controlled Passive Heating and Cooling
The original passive solar heating concepts were 100% passive. The building got as much heat as the design captured from the sun and transferred, no more, no less, often too much in the summer and not enough in the winter.
Don Stevens came up with the brilliant enhancement of still receiving the heat passively, but controlling its flow with dampers. The dampers can be controlled manually or electrically.
For low budget buildings, manual dampers would be used. For the greatest comfort and thermal efficiancy, electrically controlled dampers with sophisticated sensors and a programmable brain would be used. The environmental impact of operating such a system is negligible, and is far offset by the reduced impact of using passive heating and cooling.
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No Heat Pumps
Minimal Photo Voltaics
Some people confuse geo-solar heating with using heat pumps or turning the sun's energy into electricity using photo voltaics. Geo-solar heating simply captures radiant heat from the suns and stores it in the earth, usually under the building. No heat pumps are used. Photo voltaics, if used at all, are simply for running the sensors, brain, and dampers. This is an ideal combination for a building that is off the grid.
Efficient Ventilation
One of the problems with many modern houses is a lack of fresh air. Fresh air is usually more expensive to heat and cool than the stale air that is already in the building.
With efficient heat transfer between the new air coming in and the exhaust air going out, plenty of fresh air can be brought into the building with negligible impact on the heating and cooling systems.
Stay Tuned
As we develop more technology on these systems, we will publish more details. This is an area where we greatly appreciate volunteers and funding.
Come Build with Recycled Rice
Get hands on experience building with rice hulls.
Come do an internship at the HeartLand Aramaic Mission in Missouri.
Come Build an Earthbag Tipi with us on the Pine Ridge Reservation
Get hands on experience building with earthbags while helping those in need.
In conjunction with Nature's Compassion, we are planning on building an earthbag tipi and an Eco-dome on the Pine Ridge Reservation beginning June 14, 2009. Come join us.
Geo-solar HVAC