ENERTIA HOMES
No Fuel? No Power? .......No Problem
1988-2018
30 YEARS OF BUILDING INNOVATION
Smart phones, computers, even automobiles, have been just a blip in the 10,000 year history of man. Houses, however, have been with us the whole time - why has there been so little innovation in houses?
Thirty years ago we set about to change all that. Houses with solid wood walls, built in the 900’s in Northern Europe, are still occupied. For one thing, being of wood, not stone, they could be heated. So that’s where we started. One thing was clear from the start- if your new house, built now, is going to last a thousand years, it cannot depend on fuel, there won’t be any. We set the goal of fuel and electricity-free heating and cooling- and met it, much to everyones surprise. With an atmosphere, and the greenhouse effect, just like earth. And the energy capacity, the Enertia, of the structure itself.
Ornässtugan - Built in Sweden in the 1500's of solid timber walls and still in use today.
Breakthroughs in Building
* First- an unconventional new system of building, acknowledging the useful life of thousand year-old Scandinavian solid timber structures. By making them double-shell, and open-loop, we bring the building naturally alive and self-tempering, since warm air rises, and cool air falls. No electricity or mechanical systems are needed. Not “passive” solar - this was a new, “self-active” form of architecture.
* Self-heated and cooled by time-shifting the unused abundance of energy from the sun and the ground. This was a new form of energy- identified and named by us. ENERTIA- “energy from a shift-in-time.” Like tagging the name LASER to amplified light, simply naming this underused energy has opened doors and generated excitement among scientists and students.
* The Greenest building method on earth- it just happened our structural and energy storage material was the most renewable, and is abundantly renewed. It just happens that no fossil fuel or electricity is needed for our heating and cooling function. Warm air rises, cool air falls.
* Using the pine structure of the house as a thermal battery. This moves solar energy from day to night. Literally, this is a battery that grows in trees.
* A new single building component, to replace bricks, stone, steel, siding, sheetrock, insulation, and all that tedious labor, - in one step. Fast, strong, economical.
* A new design method: for matching the latent thermal storage capacity of elements of the structure to the climate, solar exposure, and placement. Fine tuning with reflective foil, and phase-change materials.
* Natural heating and cooling based on atmospheric functions with the Earth as the model- now a recognized science called “biomimicry.” Every double-shell Enertia® home has an atmosphere, just like Earth. Coupled to the ground, an infinite source of Enertia.
* Increasing the density and stability of the walls with kiln-dried, microwaved gluelam components- eliminating “wood” issues like cracking, shrinking, and settling. Utilizing smaller farm-grown trees- ensuring we will never run out of material.
Enertia Factory
* Accurate, pre-cut, factory manufacture- reducing on-site time and weather issues.
Hurricane Debris
* Hurricane, tornado, fire, and earthquake resistance inherent to the system- not as add-ons. This is essential to our longevity goal, as the odds of a destructive event increase in a building that stands for centuries.
* A world-famous design to deal with flood prone areas- approximately half of all populated areas in the world. Our double-shell air loop design dries itself out- while other homes have to be gutted and rebuilt.
* Many structural and assembly innovations useful only in our system - useless in the obsolete world of stick framing.
Where We Stand
Over thirty years we have developed and perfected the system- a technology for building Resilient fuel-free houses with multi-generation service life, out of natural materials that renew, cleaning the air of pollutants as they grow. Theoretically, this is mind-boggling. But more importantly. we make it happen. Homes are in production, and under construction now. Call us to see it done. Builders who have done it, love the lego-like technique. Homeowners who have experienced it will never go back. Their house is, to them and officially, a Modern Marvel. And they will leave a legacy for many future generations.
The Future
We introduced the laminated timber wall to North America. The technology is spreading, but only in commercial structures, called Plyscrapers. No tower has yet, combined the double-shell with Southern Yellow Pine for climate control. When large (9’ x 48’ x 6 inches thick) gluelams become available in SYP, we will be able to design and build up to 12 story self-heating/cooling double shell buildings.
Enertia as energy, particularly electrical and rotational Enertia, are largely unexplored. Yet Newton made it his First Law. Entropy, enthalpy, and Enertia are interconnected-the ultimate source of fuel and pollution free energy. The hourly time-shift between the rotating Earth and its liquid core contains more energy than man has used since the dawn of time. Some future physicist may develop a Unified Theory of Enertia.
Our use of the latent energy of laminated wood components, CLT’s (cross laminated timbers) and CLIP’s (cross laminated insulated timbers) is unique in the world. This exciting new third application (Energy-Storage) for wood will easily double the use and replanting of wood in the future. cleaning the air as it grows. Specialty laminations with imbedded grids can de-humidify, and even make electricity like batteries. Laminates with the new composite metal foams (CMF) being developed at NC State will lead to new military applications and EMP protection.
The world’s housing infrastructure needs to be replaced. Stick-framed houses, with a 30-50 year life, and dependent on fossil fuel, won’t cut it. Shelter for five billion people- is the largest project (and market, approaching 100 trillion dollars) in human history and we have the technology. There is simply not enough conventional building material- it must use renewables. There is not enough fuel, the houses must be self-heating. Climate change? Warming or cooling, it does not matter, our structure is the same- Enertia® Homes self-adjust. And our long life is essential, or you will have to do it all over again.
Enertia as energy, particularly electrical and rotational Enertia, are largely unexplored. Yet Newton made it his First Law. Entropy, enthalpy, and Enertia are interconnected-the ultimate source of fuel and pollution free energy. The hourly time-shift between the rotating Earth and its liquid core contains more energy than man has used since the dawn of time. Some future physicist may develop a Unified Theory of Enertia.
Our use of the latent energy of laminated wood components, CLT’s (cross laminated timbers) and CLIP’s (cross laminated insulated timbers) is unique in the world. This exciting new third application (Energy-Storage) for wood will easily double the use and replanting of wood in the future. cleaning the air as it grows. Specialty laminations with imbedded grids can de-humidify, and even make electricity like batteries. Laminates with the new composite metal foams (CMF) being developed at NC State will lead to new military applications and EMP protection.
The world’s housing infrastructure needs to be replaced. Stick-framed houses, with a 30-50 year life, and dependent on fossil fuel, won’t cut it. Shelter for five billion people- is the largest project (and market, approaching 100 trillion dollars) in human history and we have the technology. There is simply not enough conventional building material- it must use renewables. There is not enough fuel, the houses must be self-heating. Climate change? Warming or cooling, it does not matter, our structure is the same- Enertia® Homes self-adjust. And our long life is essential, or you will have to do it all over again.
