A home/garden plot that retracts into a hill during uncomfortable weather
Darko SavicMar 30, 2022
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Homes inside large greenhouses that retract into insulated sarcophagi during harsh environmental conditions. Bring the entire plot outside when the weather is fine. Retract it back into the sarcophagus when the temperatures drop.
Why?
Safe living conditions in turbulent global warming times of drought, cold, heatwaves, and energy scarcity.
Own food production all year long.
Low energy use all year long.
Almost no heating is required.
No fossil fuels.
How it works
Build a steel-reinforced concrete sarcophagus, large enough to fit your entire home and garden. Insulate it heavily from both sides and bury it with soil. Plant drought/cold-hardy trees, bushes, and grass over it.
One side of the sarcophagus is exposed to the outside. This is where the greenhouse, covering the entire home/garden, rolls out on railroad-like tracks.
The inside of the tunnel is artificially lit with strong LED lights in spectrums that make it pleasant to people and plants alike. These lights keep the plants growing and producing food all year long.
During warm sunny days, the entire plot rolls out of the tunnel. During harsh winter and summer heat/drought, the plot remains inside the insulated sarcophagus.
When the plot retracts into the heavily insulated sarcophagus it needs no additional heating because the LED lights produce enough heat as a byproduct of operation. The tunnel uses heat-recouperative ventillation.
The front and the back of the greenhouse would have a heavily insulated wall that is used to close the sarcophagus and keep the inside environment constantly pleasant.
Villages that retract into hills
Entire villages could be built with this concept. In suitable terrain, tunneling equipment could be used to build the sarcophagi into a hillside.
Long tunnels could protect multiple houses/hardens. The entire village could potentially roll out of one long tunnel. Though multiple adjacent tunnels would probably feel better for a village.
Photovoltaic arrays would cover the roads leading to such villages. Communal battery banks would cover the electricity needs of villagers during night time and cloudy days.
Abandoned tunnel test
An abandoned railway tunnel could be used to test the concept. Someone could build their home and garden on multiple train chassis. An electric motor with high torque could be used to bring the entire composition in and out.
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General comments
Spook Louw3 years ago
Abandoned mineshafts could also potentially have a lot of the necessary infrastructure in place to allow something like this to be tested. It could be a good way of using such areas if this could work and be safe enough to be approved. Safety, I imagine, would depend on how much a person or company is willing to spend on the infrastructure, of course, so with enough money you would be able to do this anywhere.
Darko Savic Mar 30, 2022
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