Earth Tubes Exhibit Sponsored by:

Despite the fact that the air temperature gets down as low as 0° F during the winter, and above 100° F during the summer,
the soil temperature 10-feet below the surface at the Clean Energy Center remains at a near constant 65° F all year.

When air is slowly drawn using a small fan through plastic pipes buried at this depth, it will be cooled during summer
and heated during winter, providing natural climate control with much less energy than conventional heating and cooling.

There are conflicting reports about how well earth tubes work in the Southeastern U.S.; therefore, our scientists will research
the effectiveness of this system using meteorological monitoring equipment donated by Davis Instruments.



A 220-foot long tube of 8" diameter SDR-35 PVC pipe is assembled above a 10-foot deep trench.
This trench was dug using a Takeuchi TB135 Excavator supply by Hertz Equipment Rental.




In order to avoid the dangerous work of entering this deep trench, the tube is lowered slowly using
ropes attached to metal fence posts every 4-feet along the complete length of the tubes.




A total of three 220-foot long tubes were lowered within the 10-foot deep trench,
providing a total length of 660-feet of earth tubes to be studied at the center.



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