[Bender]

Thankyou for that really detailed explanation. That reaffirms for me that I will most likely stick with aircrete and concrete/shotcrete when it comes time to build a few hobby structures I had in mind.

Out of curiosity, could you suggest what material would be best for storing heat from the sun? I am going to build a greenhouse that will face the south and have a wall on the north side to absorb heat. I have seen some people use clay with a black metal wall and some use black barrels of water. I want to be able to extract some heat from it using pipes. Any thoughts on what might be even better?

[lhpz]

If you want to store solar heat, you cannot beat water @4000J/kg.K. Black barrels of water is probably the best solution, yet a very simple solution. I've checked the thermal capacity tables, only ammonia would do a slightly better job than water !

I also toy with the idea of building a greenhouse myself, that's why I have done some research. If you want to harness the thermal capacity of earth for a greenhouse, I know of two tricks:

- Excavate one or two meters of soil to build a “pit” greenhouse. You will get earth walls connected to an immense thermal storage capacity. This is the so called Walipini greenhouse concept https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walipini

- The diurnal and seasonal temperature oscillations dampen quickly with depth in the ground. Below some meters of soil, the temperature will be stable at the average annual temperature at your location (Ta). If you can dig a trench to lay underground pipes to create a ground/air heat exchange connected to your greenhouse, you will get a free source of air heated at (Ta) in winter or cooled down to the same (Ta) in summer. Fans to force air circulation will help.

[LinuxBender]

I too have been looking into a sunken greenhouse and using geothermal venting and long pipes to bring the port temperature closer to earth, somewhere near 50 degrees F. Much easier to heat or cool that than the outside air.

Thanks for the tips on the water. That has the benefit of having emergency access to water if I need it. Also much easier to build than a clay wall.