Heat is more important than light. The creatures of the abyss live without light, but close to volcanic chimneys. The development of the embryo starts by the heart, the brain comes after. It follows a path on the tree of life, a path of the evolution.
What's the use of having a lot of knowledge, if you lack love ? Cruel experiments have shown that a baby raised without affection is condemned to die.
It has been proven that the hotter the air, the faster the heart rate. The traveller who has gone in hot and cold countries knows it from experience. People in hot countries are hot, people in cold countries are cold. Without a surprise, it has been proved that sexual arousal is associated with fast heart rate.
It's natural you wish the human heat of somebody else in your house. Living in family, or in community, makes you warm. Abandoning the cold, distant relationship of telecoms, allows you to experience the neben-leben, the human heat of a real person.
The thermal system is a question for the air, for the water, and for cooking. Now, let's see how to get the nice temperature.
1- Air
Life only exists between 0 °C and 60 °C, where water is liquid. The temperature of the human body is 37 °C, but we feel comfortable around 20 °C for the air.
There are several techniques to reach the ideal temperature.
1) Thermal insulation
1) Thermal insulation
Why is thermal insulation so important ? Because a well insulated building consumes up to 10 times less heat than a bad insulated building 1Changeons d'énergies, Association Négawatt, Actes Sud, 2013, p. 45.
Industrial buildings were made thin, in order to save money. We noticed then that they needed renovation, because they were bad insulated. In the past, people used to make houses with thick stone walls, that were well insulated from the beginning 2Xavier PY, lessons of thermal storage, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, 2016.
A traditional stone house with a thick wall.
It's cheaper to build than to renovate, especially if you want the house of your dreams. A good tabula rasa allows you a great freedom. I suggest you build your autonomous house from scratch.
There are plenty of thermal insulating materials. But their effectiveness are similar, and differ from 1 or 2 cm of thickness. The first criterion will be the price 3Régis OLIVÈS, lessons of sustainable development, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, 2016.
Straw is cheap and natural. I suggest you go into straw, or soil.
2) Termite mound system
Biomimicry is the science that imitates nature to make new technologies. Social insects are a good inspiration in terms of efficiency. Termites are perfectionist builders, making towers up to 10 m high. That would be a 2 km high skyscraper for us.
The advantages of the termite mound system are :
- Cheaper construction, because you dig the local soil and build your house with it ;
- Cool air in the summer, mild air in the winter. Actually, it takes the air from the underground that is always at the annual mean temperature of the surface 4According to Claudia LORENZ-LADENER in Construire une serre, Ulmer, 2013, p. 36, at 12 m underground, the temperature equals the annual mean of the surface. ;
- The solar chimney 5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar\_chimney and the badgir 6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher spontaneously take the air from the underground, offering a natural ventilation.
The air flowing horizontally outside sucks the air from the underground by Venturi effect. Besides, the sunlight warms the tower, that warms the air of the chimney, and goes up with the air from the underground.
This system suits best with hot countries, because the annual mean temperature is comfortable.
The termites are social insects, who have evolved into a model of efficiency. Some people will try to sell you expensive, electrical air conditioning systems. You are intelligent. Don't buy their shit.
Remember : the more ecological the house, the cheaper it is 7Petit manuel de l'habitat bioclimatique, François TANGUAY, Éditions de Mortagne, 1988, p. 22. Why ? Because ecology is the natural economy 8Petit manuel de l'habitat bioclimatique, François TANGUAY, Éditions de Mortagne, 1988, p. 60. When you replace ego by eco, you save a lot of money :-) .
3) Black wall
In cold countries, we want to catch the most sunlight as possible. Therefore, painting an outside house wall in black offers more heat in the house.
A house in Norway with a black wall.
4) White wall
On the other side, in hot countries, we want to reject sunlight to make the inside cool. Therefore, painting an outside house wall in white offers more coolness in the house.
A church in Santorini with a white wall.
5) Solar glass
Solar glass and solar mask are part of what is known as passive architecture. It corresponds to zero energy buildings.
Active architecture is a process of production. It corresponds to plus energy buildings, that produce more energy than they consume.
I think that plus energy buildings are superior to zero energy buildings. However, passive architecture offers good sense tips that may be forgotten in a debauchery of energy. Therefore, we should use both the technologies of active and passive architecture.
A picture window allows sunlight to enter your house, and provides a significant amount of heat. Ancient Romans commonly used them in their \textit{thermae} to take a hot bath. You can do it with your bathroom.
A picture window.
The window can be made of glass, or plexiglas. Plexiglas is cheaper, more resistant, but also uglier, and tends to yellowish with UV unless treated. If you want aesthetic, make the choice of glass. In both cases, the materials need to be double-glazed, and the joints must be carefully made in order to avoid thermal losses.
6) Solar mask
When the Sun gets close to the zenith, the house may overheat. This can be avoided with a solar mask.
The Heliodome is made such a way that shadow occurs in summer, whereas sunshine is welcome in winter.
The idea is to get shadow in summer, and sunshine in winter. A roof, leaf trees, can be solar masks.
7) Thermal storage
When sunset arrives, the time of the night has come. It's becoming colder. Have you stored the heat from the previous day ? You can do it thanks to two natural materials : stone and water.
It's easy to find stone and water in the countryside.
A floor, a wall made of stone, can store the heat. The darker the stone, the more efficient the thermal storage.
Another method is to use water. Water is the best material for thermics. Historically used in steam machines, water remains a sure value as far as heat is concerned.
On a shelf, exposed to the sun, put large water bottles. Paint them in black, in order to catch the calories. Add salt, this is an efficient antifreeze. Water is more efficient than brick to store heat 8Construire une serre, Claudia LORENZ-LADENER, Ulmer, 2013, p. 17.
8) Wood
Wood is a renewable source of energy. Burning wood releases CO2, but a new tree absorbs this CO2. Therefore,
The forests are growing. <=> CO2 in the atmosphere is decreasing.
, even if wood is burnt.
Wood is the fuel of 3/4 of humanity 9Petit manuel de l'habitat bioclimatique, François TANGUAY, Éditions de Mortagne, 1988, p. 80. The consumption of wood should be diminished, and solar power should be preferred in order to decrease the pressure on the forests, and save them.
A closed wood stove is much more efficient than a chimney 10Petit manuel de l'habitat bioclimatique, François TANGUAY, Éditions de Mortagne, 1988, p. 62. Besides, a pipe system can move the heat to every part of the house. You should make plans of your water, heat and electricity networks to allow them a real place.
Quebeckers often say that the efficiency of a wood stove depends mostly on the person who uses 11Petit manuel de l'habitat bioclimatique, François TANGUAY, Éditions de Mortagne, 1988, p. 85.
Actually, the life in cold countries is not so bad. A friend of mine has been in Finland, the country of saunas, and I have been in Iceland, a volcanic country of ice and fire. We both have felt a calm background.
Another friend has also told me that Vikings were actually quiet farmers. By the way, Vikings means pirates, they were not calling themselves like this.
These countries have a nice economic situation, because the cold orders the psychic energy, and makes it work.
Nobody wants to go in cold countries, so cold makes you safe. I have seen a woman who came from Cambodgia, a terrible dictatorship, and that was living in Iceland. Icelandics are not racist, they are 300,000 people on a big island and this is so little that they always need to see their family trees in order to avoid blood relations... So strangers may be welcome in Iceland.
2- Water
In the bathroom, the ideal temperature of the water is 37 °C, the temperature of the human body. It's different from the air because water is a better thermal conductor.
There are several techniques to reach the ideal temperature.
1) Photothermic
Solar energy is clean and renewable.
Hot water can be provided by photothermic modules. They transform sunlight into hot water, and have a temperature of affinity of 80 °C.
A photothermic module.
Photothermic modules should not face the annual mean position of the Sun, to avoid overheating. They should be oriented more towards the horizon. For example, in Perpignan, 43° North, the photothermic modules should not be oriented to the South at a 43° angle from the zenith, but rather 70°, to avoid overheating in summer and catch the calories in winter.
Think about the roof. On one side, photovoltaic needs to catch the most sunlight, on the other side, photothermic needs to avoid overheating in summer. Therefore, they have different angle requirements.
Freezing can destroy your pipes with ice expansion. To avoid freezing, you must add salt to the water, that is a good antifreeze, close the circuit, and allow heat to be transferred with a heat exchanger.
To move the water to your hot water tank, I suggest you use the double gradient solar thermosiphon. The name is complicated ? Who cares ! The technology is simple.
Watch out with the geometry ! This last technique is not compatible with some geometries, like serpentine.
It has been suggested that water tanks painted in black could replace photothermic modules.
2) Volcanic bath
In saunas and vapor baths, stones are used to store and release heat. This technology is known since Ancient times.
How to take a volcanic bath ? Make a fire, fill your bath with cold water. Put volcanic stones, like granite or basalt in the fire 12Comment survivre avec une pierre à feu, Joël BARRAL, Marabout, 2013, p. 96. Definetely volcanic, otherwise they will explode. Once the stones are full of heat, take them with metallic pincers, a fabric protecting your hands, and put them into the water. The stones will release heat slowly, for a long lasting pleasure.
Another thing. Before Japanese take a bath, they take a shower, so that the water of the bath is clean, and the pleasure is pure 13Petit manuel de l'habitat bioclimatique, François TANGUAY, Éditions de Mortagne, 1988, p. 119. Logical.
A word about hot springs. Consider them as a free source of hot water. Volcanic geothermy is a subject I know little, due to the absence of this resource in France. If you are interested in that field, I suggest you ask to a specialist.
3) Wood
If sunlight is missing, you have to use wood. As I shall explain later, the electrical and the thermal systems should be separated, to get an important system efficiency. Fossil fuels have been banned because they cannot be found on your own. We must stop fossil fuels once for all, otherwise the climate will become a nightmare of extremes.
3- Cooking
Cooking requires temperatures that cannot be reached with photothermic modules. We need to focus the sunlight in order to achieve higher temperatures, and it can be done thanks to the solar parabola.
1) Solar parabola
1) Solar parabola
Mirrors or lenses can focus sunlight. The higher the concentration, the higher the temperature.
A cooking solar parabola can reach 200 °C, that is enough to cook. The Odeillo's solar furnace, the largest in the world, focuses the sunlight up to more than 10,000 times and can reach temperatures up to more than 3,500 °C. No material resists, even diamond melts. It gives the vision of a futuristic metallurgy, using a clean and renewable source of energy.
Watch out with the clouds ! Because a solar parabola doesn't work when clouds hide the Sun.
2) Wood
When the sky is cloudy, you cannot use a solar parabola. Once again, wood is your friend.
You should have a large garden, with a lot of trees, to provide you with wood. And the trees can also provide you food.
Are you hungry ? The next part of this text will deal about what will be your new work : cultivating the earth.
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