Super-Insulated House Plans

By The Mother Earth News Editors
Published on May 1, 1982
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Super-insulated homes are able to withstand Saskatoon's harsh winters.
Super-insulated homes are able to withstand Saskatoon's harsh winters.
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Diagram of the super-insulation.
Diagram of the super-insulation.
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Bay-like windows are the only noticeable physical characteristics of super-insulated homes.
Bay-like windows are the only noticeable physical characteristics of super-insulated homes.

In its coverage of energy-efficient housing, this publication has generally focused on homes that rely on active or passive solar heating systems. Recently, however, MOTHER EARTH NEWS began to look into an offshoot of passive solar technology: the super-insulated house — and it seems that such structures have impressively low heating needs, even when they’re situated in extremely cold areas.

To get a closer look at the specialized building techniques involved in super-insulation construction, two of MOTHER EARTH NEWS’ staffers visited Saskatoon (located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan), where 14 such houses have been built as part of a regional Energy Showcase program.

Saskatoon typically experiences close to 11,000 heating degree-days annually (by comparison, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago have — respectively — 4,870, 3,000 and 6,175 degree-days each year), and is therefore an almost ideal spot to test the mettle of any purported energy-efficient housing concept. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Our traveling staffers were quick to report that Saskatoon’s weather can be very severe. On one day during MOTHER EARTH NEWS’ February trip, for example, the temperature stood at -25 degrees Fahrenheit, a figure that didn’t take into account the wind whipping across the prairie. In the course of that day’s shooting, our photographer temporarily set a plastic-coated cable release on the ground . . . only to have the wire snap in two when he tried to pick it up!]

Super-Insulated Homes: A Cooperative Venture

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