Earth covered farm houses in Keldur, Iceland.

Earth covered home in Saenautasel, Iceland.

Earth covered home in Saenautasel, Iceland. Inside view showing the turf layers on the walls.

Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth for external thermal mass against building walls. This is a passive solar practice. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1091 KB) Earth covered farm homes in Keldur, Iceland. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1091 KB) Earth covered farm homes in Keldur, Iceland. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 981 KB) Earth covered building in Sænautasel (Saenautasel) in Iceland, outside view. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 981 KB) Earth covered building in Sænautasel (Saenautasel) in Iceland, outside view. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1196 KB) Earth covered building in Sænautasel (Saenautasel) in Iceland, inside view. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1196 KB) Earth covered building in Sænautasel (Saenautasel) in Iceland, inside view. ... Loess field in Germany Soil horizons are formed by combined biological, chemical and physical alterations. ... Thermal mass, in the most general sense, is any mass that absorbs and holds heat. ... Passive solar is a broad category of techniques for regulating a buildings indoor air and domestic water temperatures, using climate, site features, architectural elements, and landscape materials. ...

Theory

The principle is that the earth, because of its high density, undergoes slow temperature changes and thus presents a fairly constant exterior temperature at the wall. In most of the United States, the average temperature of the earth once well below the frost line is around 55 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13 to 15 degrees Celsius). Thus, at the base of a deep earth berm, the house is heated against an exterior temperature gradient of perhaps ten to fifteen degrees, instead of against a steeper temperature grade where air is on the outside of the wall instead of earth. In the summer, the temperature gradient actually helps to cool the house. Density (symbol: ρ - Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per volume. ... Fig. ... The frost line is the level down to which the soil will normally freeze each winter in a given area. ... Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale. ... A berm is a level space or shelf separating two features. ...

Earth sheltering may take one of several forms:

• Earth berming: Earth is piled up against exterior walls and packed, sloping down away from the house. Due to the building being above grade, less moisture problem is expected with earth berming rather than underground consttruction.
• In-hill construction: The house is set into a south-facing slope or hillside so that the north (for the Northern Hemisphere), and possibly part or all of east and west walls, are sheltered.
• Underground construction: The ground is excavated, and the house is set in below grade.

In some cases earth is used to cover the roof of an earth-sheltered structure, but more often this is not done due to the difficulty of keeping moisture from leaking through into the structure below. Insert non-formatted text here The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planets surface (or celestial sphere) that is north of the equator (the word hemisphere literally means half ball). On the Earth, the Northern Hemisphere contains most of the land and population. ...

Earth-sheltered homes

Totally underground houses are uncommon, but are usually built around a central atrium which is open to the sky, much like similar homes sometimes built by the Romans. House - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Looking up inside the 32-story atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, part of the Jin Mao Building. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...

The majority of earth-sheltered homes use earth sheltering around three of the sides and over the roof. The remaining side (facing south in temperate areas of the northern hemisphere and north in temperate areas of the southern hemisphere) is entirely covered with windows to allow passive solar heating and a maximum of natural light from the sun. Passive solar is a broad category of techniques for regulating a buildings indoor air and domestic water temperatures, using climate, site features, architectural elements, and landscape materials. ...

In the 1970s and 1980s, Earth-sheltered homes were popularized by the back to the land movement as a form of self-sufficient homes. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... Today, the phrase back to the land movement usually refers to a North American social phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s (which is discussed further, below in this article). ... A self-sufficient house is one that operates without need for external electricity, natural gas, sewage, or other utilities. ...

The most famous and probably the largest earth-sheltered home is the residence of Bill Gates, who had it built over a period of several years on a heavily-wooded site on the shore of Lake Washington. It is an excellent example of the lack of obtrusiveness of this kind of home, since it appears much smaller than it actually is, when seen from the lake. Bill Gates house is a huge earth-sheltered mansion in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina, Washington (47°3740N, 122°1434W). ... Lake Washington is the second largest natural lake in Washington state, USA, behind Lake Chelan, and the largest lake in King County. ...

Bilbo Baggin's hobbit hole, Bag End, in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy

Perhaps now equally famous due to the popular Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is Bag End, the fictional home of Bilbo Baggins and his cousin Frodo in the stories of Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (960x404, 78 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (960x404, 78 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie poster (2001) The Lord of the Rings film trilogy comprises three live action fantasy epic films; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord... The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie poster (2001) The Lord of the Rings film trilogy comprises three live action fantasy epic films; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord... Bag End, as it is represented in a Lord of the Rings computer game. ... A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda. ...

One of the oldest examples, dating from some 5,000 years ago, can be found at Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands off northern Scotland. Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located in the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of mainland Orkney, Scotland. ... The Orkney Islands, usually called simply Orkney, are one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

Problems with Earth Sheltering

In practice it is very difficult to design and implement such a house given the issues of water seepage, internal condensation, cave-like acoustics, and the lack of construction companies with experience in building residences underground. Water vapor condensing over a cup of hot tea Condensation is the change in matter of a substance to a denser phase, such as a gas (or vapor) to a liquid. ... Acoustics is a branch of physics and is the study of sound, mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids. ...

Earth sheltering with solar heating

Earth sheltering is often combined with solar heating system since the soil temperature in most areas is below 74 degrees Fahrenheit (23.3 degrees Celsius) which humans feel most comfortable as an annual average temperature. Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale. ...

This solar heating system can be a simple south facing window (passive solar) or a solar collector with fan or convection to pull constant 74 degree Fahrenheit temperature air into earth tubes and then into the house living space. This also provides fresh air to occupants and the air exchange required by ASHRE. Combining solar heating with earth sheltering is referred to as "Annualized Geo-Solar Design", "Passive annual heat storage", or sometimes as an "Umbrella house". See Nick Pine's posting on usenet alt.homepower and alt.solar.thermal groups about this type of house. The R value of dry soil is about R1 per foot of soil. Styrofoam extending around 23 feet radius from underground walls keep the earth at a constant temperature. 6 inches of soil covers plastic film (to prevent Sun damage to plastic) and the plastic film covers the styrofoam to form a sloping umbrella to keep cold rain water from cooling the soil. Passive solar is a broad category of techniques for regulating a buildings indoor air and domestic water temperatures, using climate, site features, architectural elements, and landscape materials. ... A laundromat in California with solar collectors on the roof. ...

See also

• Coober Pedy, an Australian opal mining town famous for its underground buildings
• Bill Gates' house, a very large earth-sheltered home
• Earthship
• Underground living
• Malcolm Wells, proponent of earth-sheltered building
• Passive solar

Applications: An abandoned movie space ship prop in downtown Coober Pedy Location of Coober Pedy in South Australia (red) Coober Pedy (), population 3,500, is a small town in South Australia, 846 kilometres north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. ... For other articles with similar names, see Opal (disambiguation). ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Bill Gates house is a huge earth-sheltered mansion in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina, Washington (47°3740N, 122°1434W). ... Earthships are earth-sheltered autonomous buildings made of tyres rammed with earth, which are usually arranged in a U or horseshoe shape. ... Underground living refers simply to living below the grounds surface, whether in naturally occurring caves or in built structures. ... Malcolm Wells (1926- ) is sometimes regarded as the father of modern earth-sheltered architecture. ... Passive solar is a broad category of techniques for regulating a buildings indoor air and domestic water temperatures, using climate, site features, architectural elements, and landscape materials. ...

• Hurricane proof building
• Radiation shielding

Tornadoes, cyclones, and other strong winds damage or destroy many buildings. ... Radiation protection, sometimes known as radiological protection, is the science of protecting people and the environment from the harmful effects of both particle radiation and ionizing radiation. ...

External links

• British Earth Sheltering Association

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