Nebraska retiree uses earths's heat to grow oranges in snow
Winter temperatures in Alliance, Nebraska can drop to -20°F (the record low is -40°F/C), but retired mailman Russ Finch grows oranges in his backyard greenhouse without paying for heat. Instead, he draws on the earth's stable temperature (around 52 degrees in his region) to grow warm weather produce- citrus, figs, pomegranates - in the snow.
Finch first discovered geothermal heating in 1979 when he and his wife built it into their 4400-square-foot dream home to cut energy costs. Eighteen years later they decided to add a 16'x80' greenhouse in the backyard. The greenhouse resembles a pit greenhouse (walipini) in that the floor is dug down 4 feet below the surface and the roof is slanted to catch the southern sun.
To avoid using heaters for the cold Nebraska winter nights, Finch relies on the warm underground air fed into the greenhouse via plastic tubing under the yard and one fan.
Finch sells a "Citrus in the Snow" report detailing his work with his "geo-air" greenhouses and says anyone can build a market-producing greenhouse for about $25,000 or "less than the cost of a heat system on a traditional greenhouse".
Date: June 14, 2018 at 15:27:14 From: kemokae, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Nebraska retiree uses earths's heat to grow oranges in snow
It's very simliar to what the Mandan and Umatilla Native Americans down southern Oregon have figured out..if you get below the surface temperature it remains about 50 degrees all the time....and you will see these people have ued that knowledge for an long long time. There was also an man many years ago that put an thin pathway of rock by his house and tapped this warmth so that his furnace only had to be slightly used and/or woodstove in the winter time also, then he reversed it for air-conditioning in the summer also..it was in "Family Circle" magazine many years ago. Some off grid housing in the desert SW use it also for heating an cooling tapping into the earth and through rocks and sand.
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Date: June 13, 2018 at 17:01:44 From: pamela, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Nebraska retiree uses earths's heat to grow oranges in snow
I thought it'd be a good idea for a community co-op.