cooling and heating

We live in the foothills of the Manzano Mountains in New Mexico. The summers are very hot and winters can be very cold. I was wondering what the options are for cooling and heating.

Summer: Good insulation, passive ventilation, and parking under trees and/or near water.


Winter: Good insulation, curtains, wood burner, and parking in places that are protected from the cold (wind direction, frost direction).

For an existing Tiny House that has decent insulation a ductless mini-split may be all you need. It's an air-air heat ex changer that runs ~97% efficient and is reasonable priced, easy to install(no ducts). Check Mitsubishi and Fuji they can help size the unit. If you tie them to PV they can get you off the grid.

Are you off grid?

If you have access to electricity, a simple space heater will likely be fine for your winters. We've found that a single baseboard heater increase the temperature in our 200sqft tiny house by about 60*. On the days it dipped below freezing, we simply had to cook something and our place got nice and toasty.

I'm not sure about cooling options, since it doesn't often get above 85* here.

For On-Grid cooling we usually install a small window unit into the wall of the house. They usually cost less than $100 and a really easy to install and use. We have also installed mini-split systems for people but those run about $2000 installed. Then if you have a service call it's $150, which is more that an entire window unit. But some people like them because they look a little nicer (but you pay for it!)

Air flushing by way of windows will not work in many climate zones throughout the world with humid freezing and/or humid hot , toxic, outdoor environments that by doing so can make matters much worse. Some stay above 70 Relative Humidity (RH) levels all year which is the floor level for microbial generation on building materials that needs to dry out in 48 hours. The ideal RH for humans and building’s is 30-40% that should be maintained at all times, AC is one way, a hydronic radiation space heater is another especially if there is interior mass to couple it with. If not there may be more health related and building repair expenses in time that far exceeds active devices. We cover this extensively with input from PHD’s in my thread here: https://permies.com/t/48019/natural-building/Indoor-Air-Quality-Healthy-Building

In New Mexico, there is generally a good diurnal range, meaning that the night temperatures are considerably cooler than the day temperature.

 If this is true you're case,  much of your energy needs can be met simply by ventilating during the appropriate time of day. You must have adequate thermal mass.

 Generally speaking,  in areas that have a suitable diurnal range,  only those who have an improperly built house need to run an air conditioner.