THE OWNER BUILT HOME & HOMESTEAD
(Page 9 of 15)
January/February 1971
By Ken Kern
o In Stockholm, at the Swedish Institute of Technology, Gunnar Pleijel has published extremely interesting material on the use of the "cold sink" as cooling. Cold spots in the north sky have been scientifically determined and temperatures accurately measured. The reflection of the north sky against a wall has an effective sky temperature of 75° F.—which is 45° lower than the average of about 120° for the south sky. The mirror-like reflection of the north sky explains why livestock will stand in the shade of high-walled buildings in preference to conventional overhead shades. Professor Pleijel's more recent work involves studies in natural lighting and window protection. Protection, that is, from heat losses from inside the building or from unwanted heat gain from outside.
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o Architect Jacques Couelle, director of the Centre de Recherches des Structures Naturelles, in Paris, has built a number of low cost, naturally air conditioned houses in Morocco. Ground-tempered air is channeled through an inside air space and released at the opposite end of the house.
o Dr. Ernst Schmidt, professor of thermodynamics at the University of Brunswick, has given considerable study to night-air cooling. His work has special value for use in desert locations where electric current is not available for refrigeration.
o At Forman Christian College, Labore (now in Pakistan), Professor W. C. Thoburn built several experimental cottages which use a subterranean temperature. In one building, outside air is drawn into the windows of the cellar and then down an air-well to a 14-foot-deep underground tunnel which makes a rectangular circuit of 120 feet of running length. Air is pulled up through a central duct by means of a low power fan and distributed into each room above. This system of "lithosphere building" proved to be especially efficient for summer cooling, as the earth temperature at 15 feet below the ground tends to remain constant throughout the year (76° F. at Lahore).
o Wendell Thomas experimented with a simplified version of lithospheric building in two different houses in Celo Community, near Celo, N.C. In one the basement, and in the other the crawl space provided the ground-tempering contact as well as the duct system. Cold air from the exterior house walls circulates into the basement or crawl space through slots between walls and floor. The air is warmed by contact with the lower level and then permitted to rise through a grill located in the center of the house. Both houses, in addition, have solar heating; and the crawl space house is protected from heat and cold by earth banks. In this house the temperature (without overnight-artificial heat) seldom falls, on cold winter mornings, below 60° F.
o Near El Rito, N.M., Peter van Dresser has spent much time and energy developing a low cost solar heating installation. His own solar house engages a complete heat collecting and heat storage system, but in more recent work he is perfecting a partial "sun-tempered" arrangement.
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