The Envelope House

 

Conservation is a concept that has been around for a long time, even though we often think of green technology as something new. The names it goes by may have changed, but people have been concerned about saving money and caring for the environment for awhile. Decades ago, the concern was more for being thrifty than it was to reduce global warming.

 

 

The underground house concept has been around for many years, and it presents a great way to reduce heating and cooling costs if the moisture, radon gas, air circulation, and other problems are properly addressed. Many people do live underground and are quite satisfied with the living conditions.

 

 

Another concept that was born around the same time as underground construction was the envelope house. The premise seemed to be a good one, even though construction costs were much higher.

 

The envelope house was like a large shell with a house inside of it. Borrowing from the concept of airspace to help in resistance to heat and cold exchange, the envelope works well on paper.

 

Some designs featured pipes buried deep in the ground and left open within the airspace for the natural temperature control from the earth to help with conditioning the space.

 

 

Aside from the obvious expense of construction, the envelope was problematic where penetrations were made to the outside for windows and doors. The only way the concept worked well was for each opening to have a window or door in the inside and outside wall.

 

The amount of separation from interior to exterior walls for the envelope house was usually only as wide as required for the underground pipes, making it impossible to access if there was a necessity.

 

 

Practicality must be a part of any conservative construction technique, and while the envelope house presents a model that has some merit, it is not a preferred choice for a great many homebuilders. There are other more feasible ideas that work to conserve our precious energy resources without using double the amount of materials for the initial construction.

 

Resources are better spent on more traditional conservative means than on expensive construction practices with unknown value. The envelope house may still have merit for some people, but it is more of a footnote in history than a well-used model.