Earth to air thermal exchangers, also known as earth tubes, can provide a passive means of preheating and precooling ventilation and process air by exchanging thermal energy to and from the surrounding earth. This reduces the reliance on electricity and fossil fuels in managing a building’s indoor climate conditions.
Despite their energy-saving benefits, earth to air thermal exchangers have not been widely adopted in net-zero energy buildings. The main reasons for this, as cited in the EATEX Design Principles Guide, are performance uncertainty and a general lack of understanding of the technology.
The following design principles, result-oriented case studies, and early design tool were created to ease uncertainty towards earth to air thermal exchangers in building design projects.