[Cob] Re: Outsilating

[Peter Ellis]

   >From: "Marlin" <lightearth at onebox.com>
   >To: coblist at deatech.com
   >Subject: RE: [Cob] Re: Outsilating
   >Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2005 12:39:02 -0500
   >
   >I'm sorry I deleted the email that was about Outslating and wanted to
   respond, just briefly. IMO, that's what's needed in a cold/hot alt.
   climate, keep the mass inside and insulate toward the outside. Alot of
   natural building designs neglect the foundation and I've been willing
   to even use styrofoam (eek) for lack of something better to vastly
   improve the performance of a building as the cold/heat doesn't come
   straight through the foundation. Regardless of the wall insulation the
   earth surrounding a building can act as a huge heat sink.
   >
   >Tech. speaking 'cold' doesn't move but you get the idea, heat
   traveling both ways depending on the season.....so the outsilating
   would be creating a break between the outside cold, for instance, and
   your massive foundation which can, in some ways serve as a mass
   storage also...or in the case of a slab is your most important storage
   medium.
   >
   >Marlin
   >

   Just an observation - there's a whole approach to energy efficient
   housing that is based on the idea that the Earth around your building
   is an enormous thermal mass.  Look for discussions of Passive
   Annualized Heat Storage (PAHS).  Rather than treating that earth
   around your foundation as an enemy to be kept away, PAHS (and other
   similar approaches with other acronyms) utilizes that enormous thermal
   mass as an ally to balance the temperature of your home across the
   seasons.

   It's really quite elegant in a number of ways, and worth some
   investigation.

   Peter