G. Depugh

Interesting replies so far. Thanks!

It is true, the roof surface area is enormous. By my calculations we'd need about $30-40k of solar panels to get to our energy level usage presently... but that's probably a pretty poor idea compared to more passive solar water heating.

Has anyone put any serious work into figuring out methods to use solar heated water systems such as this in the SUMMER to somehow pump cool water or create convection in some fashion to transfer cooler ground temperature on up into the house?

It would be pretty amazing if during the winter the solar water heaters could transfer heat into the house and then a valve flip in the summer could alter the "circuit" to facilitate cooling.

One thing is true, we don't get a lot of sun during the winter, but during the summer we end up getting direct sunlight from about noon to 7 or 8 pm on the front of the house which makes it ridiculously hot. We have started installing trellises and vines for summer shading as well similar to the grape vine suggestion.

Anne, yes, have heard of and have a couple small rocket heaters, but have yet to figure out the mass parts and where to put them. The greenhouse idea was to create shade and a thermal barrier where we could use convection to vent up and pull in cooler ground air either by having it half buried or with earth tubes. We do not really have any porches (a small one that's not appreciable and is "inline" with the external walls).

Peter I may have to look into that more. We might be able to use earth tubes as that is something we've talked about now for a while. We have a hill in front as I mentioned and we could in theory dig into that maybe somehow and use that.

Hmmmm.

Hey folks! I'm very interested in the creative nature of what I see from you awesome people. I'm hoping you might have some creative and off the wall ideas about a problem I'm facing. We live in southern Ohio and it's a generally 6a zone. Our home's in a "holler" with a fairly low flow creek (depends mostly on rain) behind it and a hill in front (to the west) that blocks a lot of southerly and western sun. We have a hill to our east as well with a moderately thick forest on it that the neighbors have been harvesting some.

I have two concerns or goals:

First, I want to reduce our "necessity" elements of our electric bill to zero or near zero. Right now our electric bill is insane just due to heating and cooling alone. Even after doing about all that can be done with insulation, we're still stupid high on the electric bill.

Second, I want to be able to survive at any temperature in a passive manner without any active heating or cooling whatsoever. We care for some family with health considerations and we need to keep the temperature somewhat controlled.

I want to qualify this post to request that while I want to do things "on the cheap" - please do not limit ideas or suggestions based on potential cost. Imagine that cost is no limit, but I also can't afford to build a nuclear bunker to bury our house either.

I have a pretty big one story home. It's roughly 3400 sq ft. We have three "families" living in it. The water table is pretty high and we can only dig down about 1-3 feet (depending on the time of year) until we hit water.

We have contemplated various ideas, but can't seem to lock in on any single plan that feels right.

We've considered:

Greenhouses on the west and south sides. Sadly with a hill in front, we have pretty bad sun exposure during the winter. Also not sure if it will help improve cooling sufficiently without some kind of strong convection planning.

Creating a huge mass by bringing in a lot of dirt to "bury" the sides in ramps/mounds. Problem is vinyl siding and most of the home being a manufactured home with an addition fully attached to it. It seems we'd have to get creative with the plastic sheets or something to keep moisture out in a serious way.

Straw bale sides added with some kind of cover? We don't have good soil/resources to make our own cob, so that's probably not a good match unless we can use another more readily accessible material.

Combinations of the above.

I'm happy to provide photos and/or video for context if needed.

Any ideas to convert such a traditional ranch style home to passive heating and cooling - creative, "crazy" or otherwise?