The Truly Passive Greenhouse Movie

The problem: All greenhouses in a cold climate need heat.  So they consume energy and require human discipline.  At the same time, it is possible that on a sunny day, a greenhouse can get hot enough to kill everything inside.  

The solution: We have a plan to create a greenhouse that requires no heat, and will never overheat.  Mostly, we will use the heat from the summer to heat the structure through the winter.  And if we have a moment of excess heat we will passively store it and save it for later - with no harm to the plants, all with no need for human discipline.

And so: We built a greenhouse in Montana that uses zero electricity. Not even a fan. And we did it with mostly logs and mud found on the property.

Our design starts with adding a trench. Then a berm on the north side. A trench under the trench. Destratification pipes. Thermal wells. And our wofati designs.

Nothing like it has ever been tried before. And our results are magnificent! Zero cement. Zero paint. Less than 1% of the plastic and glue used in standard greenhouses. Zero energy and the interior stayed above freezing while the outside temperatures dipped to 12 below.

This started off as a crazy experimental idea, and then more than 2000 people shoved money in our pockets and told us to come back with a movie! At Wheaton Labs we are bonkers about experiments. Take a glimpse into a tour of Wheaton Labs with Justin Rhodes and Paul Wheaton here.

The two hour movie starts with the detailed design, moving on to the build and wrapping up with the remarkable results.

Wanna learn more about really saving energy elsewhere on the homestead? Watch Paul Wheaton's TEDx talk.