Sophab News

Notes on solar-passive living

Homes in Greenhouses

Colorado, 1984: bananas at 2,000 metres

Amory Lovins built his greenhouse as the thermal core of the house, not a room bolted on.

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Homes in Greenhouses

New Mexico: the greenhouse as a buffer zone

Earthships put a glazed corridor between you and the desert — and grow dinner in it.

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Homes in Greenhouses

Prince Edward Island, 1976: the Ark

A greenhouse-and-home built to feed a family through an Atlantic Canadian winter, fossil-fuel free.

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Homes in Greenhouses

Sweden, 1974: the house that started it

Bengt Warne built a timber house inside a glass shell — and then waited thirty years for company.

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Homes in Greenhouses

Homes in greenhouses: a fifty-year world tour

People have been living inside glass for half a century. Here's what they learned.

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Heat pumps + a Sophab: better together

A free DIY plan for a cover over your heat pump — and a head start for your whole home.

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Why Canada's existing homes are the real climate challenge

We're #1 for carbon per capita in the G7 — and the fix isn't building new.

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Polycarbonate vs. glass for a solar arch

Why the curved shell is glazed in polycarbonate, not glass.

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Deciduous vs. evergreen: planting for year-round comfort

The right tree in the right spot shades summer and welcomes winter sun.

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Reading your roof: which wall gets the winter sun?

A south-facing wall is the prize — here's how to tell, and why it matters.

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Why retrofitting beats rebuilding for a low-carbon home

The lowest-carbon square foot is the one that's already built.

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How earth tubes work

Buried pipe, stable ground, tempered air — the simple physics behind the loop.

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Beyond earth tubes — how a four-season greenhouse works

A greenhouse that grows food year-round on stored solar heat and tempered air.

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How can earth tubes help my home?

The ground below the frost line stays a steady temperature all year. Earth tubes put it to work.

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