Foam Home Brian (aka Foam-Man)

The external surface bond cement is complete. Snow, snow, snow!

Heating and cooling are not difficult in all most any climate. You need to move from the static to the dynamic in designing the whole system.

High thermal mass in the home makes static calculations inaccurate. The more thermal mass in the home the slower the home changes temperature. Since the home starts at a temperature in the comfort zone it takes a lot of energy to move it out of that zone. If the house is exposed to solar input it can absorb that energy and still be comfortable. If the house is exposed to cooling conditions it will remain comfortable for an extended period with out man induced costly thermal input until the next solar input. The key is having enough mass to stay in the comfort zone at all times.

In most of the United States cooling with air tubes is all that is required. 200 feet of tube in the ground at 4 feet of depth backfilled with sand and a soaker hose over the top. Hook it up to your furnace blower provides for condensation drainage and you will have a system at least 10 times more efficient than a heat pump/compressor type system.

Heating discussions often talk of insulation but seldom talk of moderation. Using a moderator which is a layer that is neither a conductor nor an insulator by nature, dry dirt is a great moderator.

The neat thing about a moderator is that it averages the temperature you see on the house side of the thickness. I.e. a foot of dirt averages about a month's temperatures reducing the worse case temperature by a dramatic number and giving a very temperate exposure to the house. Six feet of dirt gives the house the exposure of the average over the last 6 months. A small amount of insulation beneath 6 feet of dirt provides equivalent to about R-200. Small amounts of insulation on both sides of 1 foot of dirt give similar results.

The next strategy not used in standard houses is a large thermal mass in side the insulation envelope. Such a mass can be heated or cooled using solar or well water. This can easily heat and cool a well insulated tight house.

Another strategy seldom employed is Annualized Solar. Store summer heat and use it in the winter with extreme mass and large moderation material zone along with air tubes and insulation.

All of these systems work the question is how you apply them in the total system to end up with little or no heating and cooling cost.

This is very doable with adequate planning and thoughtful application.

My design goal is a ZEH, Zero Energy Use Home, a home that produced as much energy as it uses. It employs PV, AGS, large thermal mass, super insulation, Bio Diesel, ground air tube exchange, Solar thermal heating, 8000 gallons of active thermal storage, LED lighting and other strategies to be self-sufficient.


Internal the house is starting to look like a house.
This is the cooking center.


HERE YOU CAN SEE THE STUCCO ON THE EXTERNAL WALLS.
Paint is finished, floors are coming.

We are racing again to finish by bank deadlines!


Son Zac Leveling
I still need to level and grade flat. Notice depth for thermal mass storage.


8000 gallons of water, but will it heat the house?


The Tank Complete
8000 Gallons of Thermal Storage ready to go. It took 15 yards of fiber and wire mesh reinforced concrete to form the tank. This was the first time I covered a tank with concrete instead of cement. The extra weight took a lot more playing around to keep the tank evenly loaded. We ended up with a foot of thickness at the top of the tank and a minimum of 6 inches in any spot. It was 95 degrees which reduced the working time substantially. It was a long hard day. You can also see some of the strap details in the images. Subterranean Plumbing, House feeds, Tank, rebar, and forms all passed inspection. The first floor walls go up next week. It is time to bury the tank, and plumbing and get a flat surface for the all the PEX.


The view from the house is magnificant
Sure is beautiful when it snows!

This Designer Showcase section of the OurCoolHouse.com website is maintained by a group of independant contributors. The opinions presented on these pages are not necessarily those of Phil Malone. If you would like to contribute your own design, please contact Phil at Ideas@OurCoolHouse.com.