Cooling tubes in Earthships

Electricity free cooling based on ancient, global principles.

These in-ground cooling tubes are also known as air tubes, earth air tubes, a ground-coupled heat exchanger, an earth-air heat exchanger, thermal labyrinth, heat recovery ventilation, geothermal energy tubes, sustainability tubes, or a number of other terms.

Cooling tubes are an efficient way to cool a building using natural convection and thermal mass principles. They require no pumps or fans, and are completely passive (no moving parts). This also means no electricity bill to “run” them, saving the building costs for the lifetime of the building, which keeps money in your pocket, and keeps your carbon footprint down. This is both natural cooling, and green cooling, simultaneously, and the principles take advantage of what nature already knows how to do.

Cooling tubes work by harnessing what nature provides us naturally, utilizing simple principles that allow the ambient air temperature to be cooled by at least 10 or up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on energy efficiency of the building itself. These earth-tubes work great in humid climates and they work in arid climates as well.

Since they last for the lifetime of the building (some have been going for 25+ years without any problems), and use no electricity, they can replace, or nearly replace any evaporative cooler (swamp cooler or Master-cool) or full size air conditioning unit (or several window air conditioners), depending on the building, its design and location.

[glo]

I've been wanting to see how this is done, Thank you!!

[hexusziggurat]

Better if tube is smaller 12 inch maximum, to have actual convection rather than a wide opening that catches blowing wind. The tube should also be 100-200 feet long and under the frost line for your area. This allows more surface area to air volume so the air is actually affected by the temperature regulation of soil. Cooling warm summer air, and warming winter air. Then end to be finished with an upside-down U and screen that is "above potential snow levels" or inside a locked shed that has ample natural ventilation. The house end should have a screen and a fan for personal adjustment.

[adamferdinand]

How do you keep the wildlife out of the tube?

[Iprofessshirk]

does anyone know how effective tubes like this are...seems like not a lot of surface area with which to reduce the heat of the ambient air. Like measure the outside temp in the shade, then measure the air coming into the home via the tube and check for temp drop...

[LilacDaisy]

This raises more questions. :-) Does it work on still days or when the breeze is blowing in the opposite direction? If it does, is it due to a vacuum effect? How? How does it cool the house if the ground temp. outside is hot? Doesn't closing the Earthship up on very hot days keep it cool?

[mharp_]

Any idea of what the permits are like in Odessa midland tx area??

[POSMhorsefarmer]

COOL on hot days (our area: 8' under the earth's surface mean temperature is 42F)! We can get to -30F in the Winter (with our mean temperature we can't freeze!). In the Summer if it gets too cool - open some windows!

[bigphillyed]

Very misleading video! Surprised you all put something like this on YouTube. Just putting a culvert pipe in the ground is not how or why we cool alternative building spaces. It's all about thermal mass, bringing in cooler fresh air from a buried culvert pipe is more about air quality then it is cooling for money and fossil fuel savings. No wonder why alternative housing people get such a bad wrap, because of misleading information like this.