Analysis of the energy performance of earth-sheltered houses with southern elevation exposed

In the article the authors present the results of heating and cooling energy usage of earth-sheltered houses with exposed southern elevations. The results were then compared to a conventional above-ground building. Simulations were focused on the influence of soil cover and the thermal insulation of building envelope thickness and were done for Polish climate conditions. The large thermal inertia of soil surrounding earth-sheltered houses causes smaller winter heat losses from a building which means smaller heating energy loads, whereas during summer heat losses to the ground are greater which naturally helps to cool down the air temperature in a building.  As could be expected, the simulation results indicate that earth-sheltered buildings outperform above-ground buildings with respect to annual heating and cooling energy consumption.