Kit,

Unless you only have caps, please turn them off.  In our world, using caps is like shouting for attention.

As far as research is concerned, there should be plenty since this concept was extensively developed and discarded in the 1960's and 1970's.  Search for envolope homes by an architect named Lee Porter Bulter who really developed and promoted a similar system to what you have described.  The envelope home supposely operated on a passive loop system from the crawl space up through the air space between the double studded insulated walls.  Although these homes were fairly comfortable, instrumenting these homes determined that the passive flow did not move enough energy to accomplish much.  The comfort level and energy savings were then attributed to the extra insulation in the two walls.  As a consultant living in South Carolina at the time, I received some training on designing and building envelope homes and was involved with some of the early examples.

I have also designed and installed earth cooling tubes.  One has to be very careful working with earth tubes because of condensation - if they get cool enough to condense moisture out of the moving air.  Also be carefule about the type of material used for the earth tubes.  Study earth tubes throughly before designing and installing.  Also ask Dana1 on this forum.

thanks for your detailed reply,

I am still searching for examples of structures that combine the double shell home with earth tubes.


there is difference in what I am endeavoring to design and construct from the double shell structures i have seen on the internet, 

in the envelope homes i have researched there is a large

space between envelope layers,  and usually a passive movement of air using  a crawl space as heat sink , and these designs I have found, are planned for cold climates.
 
in this design I seek to create a narrow layer of air (mechanically mobilized) moving in a closed loop , between inner and outer layers of envelope walls and through the earth tubes,
 
the idea of putting the inner house in a cooler environment.
 
humidity if created in the process would be contained in the closed system and drained via sloping tubes.

since the gap between shell walls of the house is narrow I am hoping I can minimize extra material costs for the more complex wall system, for instance only one of the two layers

of the double wall need be structural while the second can be attached to the structural layer for support.

My main concern is the effectiveness of the cooling; I need to find a way of calculating the movement of heat between the layers and the outside / inside spaces in order that I can

estimate effectiveness and estimate r values of wall layers best suited, also if there were examples from existing structures and solutions I could learn from.

i don't know if the concept is novel, or if tried before, but it seems logical to me that it will work, now i have to estimate its value though.

if you have insights in to this idea i would much appreciate any further suggestions.

thanks again.

thanks for reply

would you know basic calculation methods , formulas, to use for estimating movement of heat between layers of insulated walls and air ? for example, if external air is 40 c, wall is 10 r value and internal air 22 c, what would be the rate of energy loss from hot surface to cool surface ?