Avoiding air conditioning?

[Tex]

Dr. Prepared - I will use as much shade as possible without interfering with PV or wind electric production.
We had an evaporative cooler when we lived in New Mexico, and our highest electric bill was $35 in 1993.

BobS - I like the wind catcher idea, but a true windcatcher only is effective in dry climates. What do you guys think of a variation of the wind catcher, where air is forced through ductwork in the ground and out of the top of the house?

Or a system that can be switched to a closed system, where air goes from the house, through an underground duct and back into the other end of the house? A small air conditioner/heater can then fine tune the temperature and humidity once it is circulated through the ground for rough cooling. Here's a crude picture to explain it better.


I'm trying to avoid using water because pumping water uses a lot of energy. Blowing air is necessary anyway, so why not pre condition it by using the ground's constant temperature?

Am I missing something?

[dtompsett]

Yes, that could work, but to ensure that you actually transfer heat to/from the ground into the air, you need to run a decent amount of pipe (copper, aluminium). Then there is the problem of condensate forming in the pipe, you may need some sort of drain. And the heat transfer to/from the air will be much less efficient than to a water-based geothermal system.

A critical part of keeping your house cool in the summer and warm in the winter is the design... limit the number/size of north/east/west facing windows. More south facing windows to bring in heat in the winter (low-lying sun), but an appropriate overhang on the roof to prevent too much sun coming in during the summer.

Well insulated walls and attic, a large mass to store heat/cool temps inside the house (concrete floor, inner adobe wall), windows high up and low down to circulate the air at night when temps are cool. heat rises... open windows up high and down low at night... cool air is drawn into the house and warm air leaves. You can even include a mount for a fan in the upper window... forcing the hot air out helps draw in cool air.

A well designed house, with money invested in insulation, good windows, and a proper layout for keeping summer heat out... will drasticly reduce or eliminate a/c and heating costs.

[Tex]

I was surfing the web and found "my idea" for cooling a house. It's called "earth tube cooling". They use a bunch of small PVC pipes to cool the air. They leave nylon ropes in the tubes to drag bleach soaked rags through the pipes periodically to clean them. You can put fans in the pipes or put a big fan at the manifold to force air through them. It's an unproven cooling method, but I think it would work.

Another idea is to install a concrete tunnel from one end of the house to the other. An air handler will pull air up from one end and distribute air through the house. The other end will have an opening with a ladder. The tunnel could double as a storage room and could be hidden and used as a "safe room".

The Monolithic Dome Institute has a process for building a tunnel that is much like their dome home building process. It can be sprayed in place and will have a flat floor and be at least 6 feet tall. It can be covered with dirt and the house's slab can be poured over it, leaving access openings at each end of the tunnel.

[Rancher]

One of the most energy efficient methods of cooling a home is underground pipes in conjunction with a solar chimney built into the roof or as part of a south facing wall.

Solar chimney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Tex]

I like the solar chimney idea, but I think that pulling in outside air will lead to humidity and mold problems. That would have worked great when I lived in New Mexico. Earth tubes can be a closed system which will not add any moisture to the house. I think I won't be happy unless I can switch my air from "fresh" to "recirculate" like a car. Maybe I can do an Earth Tube/Solar Chimney Hybrid system.