Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] growing oranges in Nebraska: the PitGreenhouse link

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Barbara Fischer" <cen12205@centurytel.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] growing oranges in Nebraska: the PitGreenhouse link
  • Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 12:46:44 -0600

I live in AR and when I built my home 18 years ago I put in two geothermal furnaces.....small to heat the basement and large to heat the upstairs.  I have found them very good and heatall you could want.  Right now, after all those years I am having to replace the compressor and coil in the big one.
 
Barbara
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 3:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] growing oranges in Nebraska: the PitGreenhouse link

Bobby,
 
I don’t have any experience with underground structures,
but I’m not sure that you’ll get enough sun-exposure if you
cover your greenhouse with an earth-roof. It may be OK to
dig the N, NNW, and NNE directions partly or completely
into the ground; however, anymore than that is likely to
result in one-sided growth.
 
Personally, I have been thinking about a passive-heated
greenhouse for a number of years, but so far haven’t had
the time to put it into practice.
 
My thinking goes in the direction of using the principle of the
trombe wall for building a greenhouse base of black stones
on a South-facing slope. Specifically, I would create a level
base on the slope by building a base of black stones that
would extend beneath the entire width of the greenhouse,
thereby warming the soil from below. A glass pane provided
at a distance in front of the South-facing base of black stones
would increase the amount of heat energy first stored by the
black stones during the day and then gradually released during
the night.
 
The only thing I haven’t figures out is if the black stones would
need to be in one piece across the width of the greenhouse,
or if the heat would be transmitted from one stone to another
if these touch each other or if they are bound by some sort of
medium, like sand for example. Any ideas?
 
Regards,
Dieter Brand, Portugal
 
PS: Geothermal heat pumps can be tricky.  A neighbour who got
a very fancy geothermal system for heating the house installed
at great expense, finally got a wood stove after freezing for 3 winters.
 
 
On 2/23/2007 at 12:01 PM Bobby G wrote:

>http://www.earthtoys.com/emagazine.php?issue_number=03.08.01&article=finch
>
>While growing oranges in Nebraska is a bit more of a
>novelty than this list is all about, it does show the
>value of this type of greenhouse design.
>
>i am thinking that the earth-sheltered greenhouse
>would be definitely among the first-year projects our
>land co-op would undertake. not to grow oranges in
>Wisconsin, but because of the huge advantage in
>season-extending combined with the intensive
>mini-agriculture approach.
>
>almost all the greenhouses in our area are the
>above-ground structures that gobble energy like crazy.
>the goal i have in mind would be a greenhouse that
>allows for (almost) year-round growing PLUS only
>"sips" energy.
>
>what i'm thinking is, it should be dug down into the
>earth quite a ways, with only the SSE, S, and SSW
>sides exposed to the sun. the trench system for
>geo-thermal heat-pumping is a great feature, but i
>fear it would add enormously to the costs of such a
>greenhouse. the idea is to start netting profit from
>use of a greenhouse almost right from the beginning,
>not to invest huge amounts in sunk costs, literally.
>
>if there is no hillside on the land we end up
>acquiring, the second notion i've had is to use the
>excavation dirt from a pond which is excavated, to
>create an artificial "hill" to shelter the
>earth-sheltered buildings.
>
>am i thinking in the right direction here? i'll
>probably keep drifting in these directions unless
>y'all knock me on the head by showing me where my
>thinking is daft...
>
>bobby g
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
_________
>Yahoo! Music Unlimited
>Access over 1 million songs.
>http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited
>_______________________________________________
>Livingontheland mailing list
>Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland




_______________________________________________
Livingontheland mailing list
Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland


Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.


_______________________________________________
Livingontheland mailing list
Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page