Compost Cabin

(1976)
The cabin's basic shape can be any of the existing single room configurations. Large house dimensions can be obtained by joining room units together. The only modification of design needed to change any single room cabin or house into a compost cabin is the in the structure of the lower walls and the method of insulating the upper walls and roof. The lower walls are expanded to make compost bins four feet wide and four feet high with the top inside quarter of the bins forming the interior bottom walls of the cabin. Above the compost bin walls the regular walls are kept hollow forming a clear 4 o 6 inch clear air passage in the walls that allows escaping warm air rising off the composting material to circulate through the upper walls to the roof (which is also hollow) and there out through an exhaust vent.

Here's how the design becomes nearly energy self-sufficient with practically no cost for heating.

In the Fall, leaves, grass clippings, green hay, are gathered together and put into the compost bin walls of the cabin. Within the compost bin walls decomposition of the green vegetable matter begins and through this process heat is generated (up to 100 degrees) and radiates outward. The outside walls of the compost bins are insulated with reflective material so that the compost heat is reflected inward. The green compost doesn't have a disagreeable odor and there are abundant sources for it in the Fall season. Green compost heats the cabin in the Fall, Winter and Spring. As temperatures rise in the Spring and Summer, compost material can be removed from the bins.

In Summer, the empty compost wall bins and hollow upper walls help keep the cabin interior cool by circulating cool air from underneath the through the compost bins and upper walls creating another temperature barrier to the outside. Additional cooling may be obtained by placing open water filled containers inside the compost bin walls. Air rising from underneath the cabin would be further cooled by circulating over these water filled cans as it travels upward to the roof and out the vent. As Summer changes into Fall the cycle is repeated.

The advantages of this type of heating and cooling design over conventional ones including solar heating are these: Simplicity of design. No advanced technology needed. No need for a south-facing homesite. No need to worry about the number of sunlit days thus making this house design ideal for most temperate climates which receive heavy cloud cover during the winter months.

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