I have for some time thought of making a small greenhouse by making a 6’ deep basement sort of deal with a poly clear roof to take advantage of ground warmth as well as sunshine…
Well, this gentleman in Nebraska is doing just that, and using the method of circulating air through underground pipes to heat in cod winter nights as well as cool in hot summer temps, keeping temp between 50-85F. I imagine with a poly roof those prairie cold yet clear sunny days in January bring the daytime temp up into the 80s often enough to make a year round tropical setting!!
I like his mention that this ground warmth is “going to waste”… We need to tap into it!! If i ever build a new home, i think i would build an attached basement greenhouse of equal size.
https://youtu.be/ZD_3_gsgsnk
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Fun. Really enjoyed that. I knew a conifer grafter in like zone 2 in Canada so-many years ago that had a trench dug and that was his greenhouse… probably very similar but I’m sure he had to supply heat to his that wasn’t geothermal.
Dax
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Interesting! Yeah another thing i would probably do to help out the sun in those blizzard days when the sun is shining behind snow clouds is have a wood heater to fire up in daylight hours to up temps above geothermal levels…
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