Does passive heating/cooling really work? Are there any projects that have demonstrated this in hard climates?
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Elliot Coleman spent much of his life designing low cost modular greenhouses for vegetable production in Maine. He would use double layering techniques such as frost cloth over hoops inside a poly tunnel with a bubble wrap like covering. The goal was to stay above freezing passively and proved it out.
Other greenhouse attempts use long piping or hoses that extend either down deep or out horizontal. The idea is to intake air that is brought to the average temperature rather than either extreme.
I have been inside sunken greenhouses, that use the hill behind as a giant wall that is lined with 50 gallon drums of water to create a thermal mass. The drums are heated by the sun and over time it requires a lot of energy to shift the temperatures.
I know that Permies Paul has done years of attempts at building natural even temperature dwellings.
The utility of a rocket stove designed to pull the heat though large masses of concrete in homes is nice for northern climates. This is also why fireplaces have big river rock chimneys and stone hearths. To hold the heat.