Solar greenhouses, Chinese-style » Solar heated greenhouse in Manitoba
Solar heated greenhouse in Manitoba
Chinese-style solar greenhouses perform well in Manitoba, which has much colder winters than the region of northeastern China where the technology was developed. Researchers in Manitoba are trying to adapt the technology by experimenting with interior insulating blankets, double layers of film separated by insulating materials such as argon, and small amounts of supplemental heat. (Photos from Manitoba Hydro bulletin.)
The ones I toured in China were earthen adobe like walls 3 to 5 meters thick and dug in a bit. You had to duck down into a cement like drainage pipe to enter them like a cave. They brought in bee hives in the winter that would come out of hibernation to pollinate. They grow something like 42 types of veg. Typically a single cucumber plant lives 3 months and they harvest it twice a day. The price of veg there fluctuates based on sunlight levels. I would imagine if you tried to attach one to the back of a house you would loose the solar warm from the surrounding land and loose thermal insulation with windows through 3 meter walls. Maybe a better idea is to just live in one a bit like the Eden Project.
You can definitely attach a greenhouse like this to the south side of a house. If it gets warm enough in there, you can vent it directly to your house with windows, or if it isn’t warm enough in the greenhouse, it at least means that your south wall isn’t exposed directly to the outside, but instead to this warm greenhouse space so you loose much less heat.
Are there any possibilities on attaching a similar greenhouse to the south side of a house?