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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I liked Ross’s post. In fact I thought it was an extremely well written, well informed critique – I read it twice admiring the writing. I especially liked the comment about bottles, pop cans and tires having risen above the garbage pile in terms of value (also my opinion on cellulose). I also appreciated the humour of the ‘magical effect’ comment as I think the peter pan syndrome has always been an aspect of the alternative building movement. I view that as an accurate critical observation not an opinion. There are a lot of mouldering piles of half completed earthships out there as a testament. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Greenbuilding [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn<br><b>Sent:</b> July-26-13 7:11 PM<br><b>To:</b> Green Building<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Greenbuilding] Earthship in New York<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Ross I find your smugness in your opinion off putting considering you have no idea what I am building.<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><br clear=all><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Gennaro Brooks-Church<br>Director, Eco Brooklyn Inc.<br>Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA<br><a href="http://www.EcoBrooklyn.com" target="_blank">www.EcoBrooklyn.com</a><br>22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Ross Elliott <<a href="mailto:relliott@homesol.ca" target="_blank">relliott@homesol.ca</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Not to rain on your parade Genarro, but "Earthship" and "Passive House" are<br>rather contradictory terms, at least in New York's climate. The insulation<br>values needed to reach Passive House are a long way off from dirt packed<br>tires, and much as I admire what Mike Reynolds did in New Mexico with<br>materials that weren't being recycled back then, bottles, pop cans and tires<br>are no longer just garbage. It's a tremendous amount of work to build with<br>tires, some people I know of spent several years just getting the walls up<br>and then couldn't afford to complete the structure. Some are convinced the<br>thermal mass of Earthships have some magical effect on energy consumption,<br>and that over-glazed sloped south walls don't leak, overheat during the day<br>and lose heat excessively at night, despite evidence to the contrary. I've<br>been to Taos and stayed in an Earthship, and have read everything Mike<br>Reynolds wrote and watched all the videos, and I respect the creativity in<br>these homes which certainly should be part of any decent green building<br>project, but I hope that by investigating "Passive House concepts" you'll<br>discover the shortcomings of Earthships in a cold climate. Why not insulated<br>rammed earth, strawbale, or even super-insulated wood frame construction?<br><br>Solar thermal radiant is barely economically feasible (with a backup system)<br>with a certified Passive House in northern climates, so go with a cold<br>climate air source heat pump or geothermal, if those are your only choices<br>and you really want a tire house. But if you build a true Passive House, you<br>can heat with a much simpler, cheaper combo DHW system, cool with a ground<br>loop and night cooling bypass on your ERV and save a fortune on HVAC<br>installation costs. Plus you can add solar thermal to the mix if you like,<br>with an appreciable % of energy boost.<br><br>Ross Elliott LEED-AP, CPHC<br>Homesol Building Solutions Inc.<br>Almonte, ON<br> <br><br>On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 1:06 PM, Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn <<br><a href="mailto:info@ecobrooklyn.com">info@ecobrooklyn.com</a>> wrote:<br><br>> This is a typical tire packed earthship. I am looking to implement<br>> Passive House methods and see where we end up. I'd like to use as much<br>> salvaged materials as well of course.<br>> I guess my question is not so related to an Earthship though. It is<br>> more one of using solar thermal radiant or Minisplit PV.<br>> Matt you raise an excellent point about humidity. For that reason<br>> alone it may be worth going with Minisplits.<br>> The larger question is what is a better use of money for an East Coast<br>> building with land, solar thermal, PV or geothermal....?<br>><br>> Gennaro Brooks-Church<br>> Director, Eco Brooklyn Inc.<br>> Cell: <a href="tel:1%20347%20244%203016">1 347 244 3016</a> USA<br>> <a href="http://www.EcoBrooklyn.com" target="_blank">www.EcoBrooklyn.com</a><br>> 22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231<br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Greenbuilding mailing list<br>to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br><a href="mailto:Greenbuilding@bioenergylists.org">Greenbuilding@bioenergylists.org</a><br><br>to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br><a href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org" target="_blank">http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>