WHY EARTH TUBES?

Why Earth Tubes? When I first stumbled upon earth tubes, I was searching for a natural and passive means of air conditioning for homes. I remember seeing a photo of such a system in an arabic country in one of the many green architecture books I have read. I couldn't find that system, but was very pleased with what I had found. Earth tubes are a method to precondition the air for your home or building. The system is very simple, .tubes are buried under the ground where the temperature stays relativelly constant. There is an inlet for the ambient air to enter the system. As it travels through the tubes, it is conditioned by the temperature under ground. In the winter the air is warmed, in the summer it is cooled. The air then enters your building by an outlet using a small fan to keep the air flowing. Thus your air is pre conditioned.



Who am I? My name is Chris Carrier. I am a husband, a father, a student at Thompson Rivers University, an employee with the city of Kamloops, and have been a number of different things at different times and stages of my life. I am not a typical student, since I am in my early forties. I have been interested in green buildings and architecture since my days as a tree house dweller in Uclulet, BC. I am also a budding writer. My published works include "Dragon Problem's" by Hur publishing and an article entitled "Of Kids and Hobbits" published in Kamloops Momma, a local parenting magazine.



What is the goal of the research? The main goal of my research is to determine if earth tubes are a viable option for Kamloops, BC. In addition to this, I would like to find low impact technologies that could be used in the construction industry that could be used to lessen the environmental impacts of the way we do things in the construction industry. As the planet continues to warm, a leaner, meaner, way of constructing homes and buildings can be achieved, today. The technology exists to change course. I have taken my LEED Green Associate course and hope to incorporate some of the technologies into my research.



As part of my research, I have been building a small cabin on a relatives property. I have built an earth tube system and have been testing it throughout the summer. The cabin will become a sort of testing ground for different systems I am interested in. The cabin has been built old school, using a hand saw, a cordless drill, and a hammer and nails. I have been posting pictures on the blog to keep people updated with my project.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Good news and bad news!!

Well here we are already into the Month of August. I guess that could be bad news as the summer is coming to an end. The good news is that I have finished my LEED green associate course and will sign up for the exam as soon as I get my confirmation number. The course was very interesting and I would highly recommend it. We learned alot of the concepts in our various courses. Anyways, the bad news is that I lost a months worth of Data on my data loggers. I should have put in new batteries before going to New Brunswick, but I didn't. And so I have no data to show for the month of July. I will have to continue collecting data through September, so hopefully it will be hot. The cabin is comming along, but I am way over budget. I will end up with a small writers cabin out of the deal so I don't mind. On a side note, I met Paul Fletcher from Riverside Energy. They did the solar system on the Dream home. Very interesting guy, I priced out a small system for my cabin, which hopefully, I'll be able to get later in the year.
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