Earthships

I am still trying to get familiar with all these notions, never considered this field till maybe a couple months ago, I came across the 10000 degree year notion in several places still trying to figure out what that is.

as for the insulation, not sure if I mentioned this but I work in the food industry and in the fall there are these fancy table grapes that come in styrofoam boxes, makes a perfect brick aprox 18x12x6 there are lots of them at every fruit market they all end up at the dump, I can get them by the truck load and I own semi's ( keep that on the down low 5mpg, part of the reason I am such a fanatic in my spare time ) somebodyelse allready spent the 45 000 btus you mentioned just to get those grapes here from california, might as well try to make some use of it, having a pole foundation alows me to do all sorts of crazy stuff with the framing so that is why I was not considering the initial cost or enviroemental effects of the insulation since I was planning to recycle anyhow and do the landfills a favor

much of the materials I plan on reusing, the poles, I have a local utility yard $1/foot used ones, lumber, my lots are wooded I plan on buying a mill, I am funny like that I do lots myself, the rammed earth walls I am hopping to have decent soil on site maybe bring in some to adjust the mix but there are gravel pitts nearby, I am looking for ways to use minimal concrete/cement, even the glass part of the reason I am holding off on the math is because I haven't figured out what glass I'll be using either way same mentality looking into repurposed glass, part of it is the tree hugger in me I burned more than my fare share, part of it is economics, either way it's the only option for this project, I would not consired all that insulation if I had to order it from 1000 miles away.

as far as the heat loss through the glass, there are supposed to be 2 glass walls, the outside perpendicular to winter solstice and another inside dividing the living space from the greenhouse/buffer zone, the air in between the 2 has an r value too and it's about 8 feet worth I believe

george

 

I love your input althogh it is contradictory to what I had in mind it's still things to consider.
I thought concrete was about 30% cement and most purists insist cement is not needed for rammed earth, my interest in it was more for the thermal mass the idea was that on the outside walls and the bottom where the footings would otherwise be mix in some cement and lime, I used to do something similar for tile showers proved to be waterproof, the idea was to have pure rammed earth on the interior, maybe some cement mixed in on the top layer of the floor so I can stick tiles to it, besides I kind of like the look of it, no need for drywall paint trim etc all that adds up financially as we'll as enviromentally I often find cheap stuff is usually environmentally conscious too
Angling the windows not sure if it does much for solar gain if anything area decreases toward the top in the summer speeds up the hot air rise to the vents, helps hitch the cooling ground hog system if anything, my whole idea here is that I'd rather deal with shades than furnaces, I am trying to avoid stacks of all kinds not planing on any gas in the house the idea is if we'll insulated some modest electric heaters could be a backup
Today is a very sunny winter day and my house faces the street and I am in the shade so frustrating.

 

I may not be verry good at putting my thoughts into words or drawings for that matter, but look at the side view of my drawing, the whole building is actually made out of 2 structures, some of the Earthship material explain this better, the living space is the north side of the building, the greenhouse/buffer is the southside, in between the middle poles there is supposed to be a glass wall defining the 2 sections, also another glass wall at the moment perpendicular to the winter solstice. the modern earthships you spoke of with vertical galls are actually missing this second glass wall and buffer space.

the buffer space narrows towards the top, that is what I was refrencing, grented the buffer space will be cold in the winter with all the glass heat losses, and hot in the summer, the idea is for the light to shine through to the livings space mostly uninterupted through the 2 glass walls in the winter and blast the rammed earth walls.

in the summer at solstice sun angle the light does not reach the living space but barely the bottom of that interior glass wall, angles are shown, the greenhouse will get hot maybe unbearable, air stratifies and starts to move upwards, they call this a convection engine and it escapes out the roof vents, the only benefit I can forsee from having the outside window wall at an angle, as the hot air rises tis area decreases therefore its velocity will increase, inverted funnel type, this design banks on the greenhouse getting hot and provided the rest of the house is sealed it will draw air from the underground tubes showed in the closets, northeren buffer if you will that is the concept behind summer ac.

hope that explains it

 

at the moment this is the direction I am heading, rather than balance, thou several people pointed out balance, my idea was to colect as much heat in the winter as possible I'll deal with the excess, I am however trying not to get too atteched and consider all possibilities, but I'd prefer to have all that glass when I need it most and shade it when I dont than the opposite, I really don't want to resourse to any kind of combustion in this project, solar watter collectors are pretty much implied some pv, maybe a wind mill, which could run some electric heaters, but that all comes later, just looking at structure at the moment

 

you are right that is a good point the sollar gain may be offset by the window loss, the whole though arround that is to gather the heat in the floor and the back rammed earth walls of the living space, away from the outside windows hopefully is far enough so it doesnt loose it all at night.

either way I am no where near to putting shovel to ground yet, cleared an acre last year the goal for this summer is to clear the rest grade it , pull all the couny poermits, perk test survey, that is probably most I will get to do before fall, so there is time to debate all these aspects and tweak it, maybe I could fork out some good money to get some of those R10 glass on the wall dividing the buffer from the living space, if anything I am not yet ready to give up all that glass any such concerns that were brought up so far I am looking at ways to adress them without giving up fenestration

 

the inside glass should not get that cold I hope, in this particular design I am only reffering to the house/ living space as the area north of the middle row of poles it's in between those poles the homes south wall of glass would be and that is the one I was considering spending a pretty penny on if it comes to, the green house I expect to have some wild swings as low as outside temperature just before dawn and probably pushing 100 F at high noon, that area is just an oversized solar collector if you will, now those temp swings may prove to be an issue, the south area hardly has any thermal mass or insulation for that matter, now that you brought it up yeah it will swing widely, definately something to consider, how stable will the living space be? that is left to be debated.
also keep in mind unlike your average person I do not expect comfort over everything else, I'd be perfectly happy in my ranch home with my digital thermostat otherwise, honestly if watter does not freeze on the kitchen table in the winter and it does not boil in the summer I would consider it an acomplishment

 

while we agree on much of the possible issues you mentioned, I have a diffrent view on how to go about it, most of it has been brought up to my attention like the heat loss through all that glass, I am not yet willing to sacrifice fenestration, the frame wall that supports it is ment to be 6x2, if need be the common plastic they sell at homedepot for window winterisation or something of the sorts, if I have to install something like that every fall I'm fine with it granted an insulated wall will have a higher R value but when looking to adress window heat loss I'd rather investigate all other solutions but reducing the fenestration, that is a last resort