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There is a German housing technology called "vacuum house" where instead of heavy insulation you build an airgap with a pump, creating low air pressure. Windows
by m_mueller 11y ago
There is a German housing technology called "vacuum house" where instead of heavy insulation you build an airgap with a pump, creating low air pressure. Windows need to be shut and you need double doors (like an airlock) to avoid heat loss. Obviously it needs central airflow with heat exchanger as well. This creates a house that only needs the power for the pump and the heat exchanger instead of heating / cooling. Body warmth and cooking is enough to make up for the loss you have in winter. The little power you need can be created with Solar cells on the roof.
To me it seems like the future - if there's a drawback I don't really see it. Mass produced such a house minus the solar cells shouldn't be much more expensive than your average American house with air conditioning. The whole structure can be very light, so earthquakes shouldn't be an issue either.
Why arent't we all building this? Is there some problem I'm missing? Is energy simply too cheap to bother?
- Mtinie 11y agoThank you for bring this technology up. I wasn't familiar with it, but now I'm going to research how it works. I have a lot of questions about how it works in practice (structural considerations, materials, cost, etc.), but conceptually it makes sense. Useful for extra-planetary construction, too, though I would be surprised if the idea isn't already used to some extent.
- 8note 11y agomost of the plants and things were thing of building on don't have atmospheres, so most of the heat loss is radiative? I don't think an airless gap would do much to reduce it.