Annualized Geo Solar (AGS) Time lagged semi-passive solar mass design

[menaus2]

I found a brilliant solar heating design called Annualized Geo Solar online. It uses solar air collectors (or even a metal roof surface) and pumps the air via air tubes into a partially insulated and waterproofed soil mass beneath the house (about 8 or so feet beneath the uninsulated concrete floor slab. It also required the house to be super-insulated. You run the system during the summer months and because of the distance between the "heat deposit tubes" and the concrete floor slab, there is a heat lag where the heat reaches the house in about 6 months.

Here are a couple links:

Website of Architect who developed AGS

In depth PDF paper

[rmay635703]

Hmm water flow might complicate this

Interesting idea having a heat accumulator though.

Too bad there couldn't be a solar electric mechanical accumulator that could hold a summers worth of electricity.

[menaus2]

I suppose the most cost effective mechanical storage for electrical energy would be an elevated pond, but it would probably just make more sense to grid-tie it.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by menaus2

I suppose the most cost effective mechanical storage for electrical energy would be an elevated pond, but it would probably just make more sense to grid-tie it.

I can build my own non-grid tied system of equal size for about 1/4 to 1/6 the price of being grid tied, obviously no batteries included.

The reason being is grid Tied systems run about $3-$7 a watt wheras ones that I install that aren't allowed on the grid run about $1 a watt.

Grid tie systems suffer the same government and large interest interferance that natural gas car systems suffer from.

Converting your car including labor and all equipment in mexico is from $650-$1200, here multiply by at least a factor of 10

[Ryland]

I worked on a straw bale house that used this idea, the owner had a house that had been added on to a number of times so it had some weird basements, he more less tore the house down to the foundation and started over, one of the basement sections had issues so he insulated the snot out of it, put hydronic heat tubes at the bottom and filled it with 120 yards or so of sand, about a foot from the top he put another set of tubes and then the last foot of sand, he then poured the living room floor over that 7-8 foot deep sand bed, his solar hot water system heated the domestic water then the deep set of coils year round, in colder weather he would heat the upper layer of tubes.
The home owner is an engineer altho I don't think he put any temp sensors in the sand bed, my memory is that he was not impressed with the deep set of tubes altho he needed to fill that part of the basement anyway so it was of little loss, the main reason as I understand the lack of performance is that dry sand insulates, to wet 120 yards of sand you are going to have to dump alot of water in.