thank you sam! fully appreciating the support! and a great question! The simple answer is that you dont have sun for say a week or more then you can bring the temps up very easily with some very minimal heating.. I think its good over all, and for humidity as well, if you do have some kind of heating system on those very dark damp times.. From what i know this only really applies to very northern Europe .. and lets just say that a very small amount of heat can go a very long way if the windows are closed etc.. Some say that a kitchen stove, or even laptop and body heat can go a long way when the building is properly sealed and bermed..
as for how long exactly it will be before the thermal mass starts losing its temperature.. its worth remebering that the berm is several feet thick, and totally sealed and insulated as part of the back walls.. SO we have a huge amount of thermal mass that can continue to feed the back tyre wall.. The tyre wall gently feeds the home .. so it will take several weeks to really start to notice a huge difference. Of course if you are at -30 in the snow this will happen more quickly.. and you can adapt by increasing the size of the berm or adding more insulation to really make sure you really keep the heat in. Also, if you are super extreme you will have smaller rooms with lower celings, and very nice glazing throughout with insulated curtains etc.. The more extreme the climate the more things you can do to prevent and reduce heat loss..
hope that helps! maybe we can copy this question to you tube also as its a great one to share with everyone.. much love!
Can't wait to experience this for myself. Body heat & laptop heat were not the answers I expected! Though I do understand how the insulation must be way more effective than a standard house, making a little bit go a long way.
I asked this question because the climate is so evidently changing now. Here in the South of France we are getting a lot more rain & clouds and the temperature is lower than normal, generally speaking. Not sure where you are at with your understanding of the Grand Solar Minimum but it seems to me that we can expect a notable drop in temperature with longer harsher winters and one would be prudent, assuming one intends to live in these homes for the rest of their lives, to account for this in the design.
I will copy the question onto Youtube.
well.. IF you want to prepare for an 'ice age'.. id say just get a nice wood burner in there.. insulate like mad.. and make those windows big and triple glazed.. i think you'll be better off than just about anyone else!