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This is a (human only) brainstorming about having an off grid, independent house/bunker, and buried under the earth

Challenges to address

Location considerations based on natural hazard

Storm drains

  • Not at the bottom of a hill/next to water (contradicts the water turbine - unless it's on the way, not at the very bottom. also can cable to a junction near the house)
  • Need to check how the underground layers usually are laid out and how the water flows downhill. Construction may need to be like a "boat", ie. completely watertight, so water goes around the house.

Earthquake

  • Not sure the build can do much about this --> avoid locations prone to it. I guess the UK is OK for that.

High winds / tornado

Shouldn't be too much of a problem under earth. But needs consideration for the vents / chimney, solar panel/wind turbine and entrance

Build properties of the house

Overall, probably easier to have a prefab pod that is built for underground condition and tested outside, and just dig a big hole for it.

Waterproof/damp proof

  • Maybe a container type, like the garden house (good heat isolation and watertight).
  • Just in case, could benefit from having a water pumping (out) system, if water would get in? Electricity needs to be designed so it doesn't trip though.

Ventilation + filtration system

  • Heat pump for warming or cooling (and drying?)
  • Also needs HVAC with filters to purify / renew the air (CO2 out, O2 in) and while at it, be hazard proof: Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) threats prevention. Look for bunker ventilation HVAC with filters.

Primary input and output

Electricity generation

  • Solar panels, would take a large area on the surface, giving exposure/weakness. Maybe could be deployed in the morning and packed/closed in the evening?
  • Water turbine from river - from youtube video, this was enough to power a pump to give water, but not power the whole thing. And if the river dries out from global warming, kills that's a SPOF.
  • Wind turbine: even worse in term of attack surface - maybe could be folded too though (like in Fallout for the hidden brotherhood camp)
  • Also would need sufficient batteries to last a number of hours considering the inconsistent generation - actually would need to cover the night maybe even more than a day because of no sun or lack of wind.

Water production

  • Filter river/mountain water, if nearby - potentially drinkable?
  • Collect and filter rain water
  • Recycle grey water

Sewage system

  • Must have a difference between tap/shower water and toilets flush. Maybe two different treatments: Grey and foul?
  • Off grid sewer uses a sceptic tank to pre-treat the foul content, then disperse in the land, to be filtered by the layers of soil, natural filtering.
  • In isolation (in the middle of nowhere) the foul sewers can be treated/filtered to be released in the soil - that's what the sceptic tank does, and the soil finishes the filtering. Then we rely on the clean water source to draw from.
  • Off grid toilets system seem to move waste mechanically (with a manually actioned pump) and turn the waste into fertilizer with bacteria - so you don't need the sewer at all.
    • Some could even generate gas? I don't know if you can do something with it, like reuse for power generation.
    • Sounds too limited while the whole room would have more need than one toilet.

Secondary

Heating / cooling

  • Via the ventilation system - will need an external shed to have the exhausts/external units protected from animals.

Heating water

  • Gas is impossible to source naturally -- actually... maybe it could be recycled from the toilets, but not sure it's a good idea to create a dependency on going to sh... to take a warm shower :D
  • Electricity based?

Access

  • How to get inside in a safe way depending on the weather? Like a submarine entrance/sas?
  • A small space to clean shoes and remove coats or others things that could be wet/contaminated

Oxygen/CO2 levels + emergency alarm?

For O2, in a submarine, they have these machanism: - Electrolytic Oxygen Generation (EOG): The primary method uses electricity from the nuclear reactor (or ship's power) to split purified seawater into hydrogen and oxygen (2H₂O → 2H₂ + O₂). The oxygen is pumped into the cabin air, while the flammable hydrogen is safely vented overboard. - High-Pressure Oxygen Banks: Pure oxygen is stored in pressurized tanks so it can be added to the atmosphere whenever sensors detect a drop. - "Oxygen Candles" (Backup): In emergencies or power failures, chemical oxygen generators (metal cylinders made of sodium chlorate and iron powder) are ignited to produce steady oxygen through a self-oxidizing reaction.

For CO2 removal: (see this blog) - Submarines use machines called “scrubbers” to remove the toxic gasses from the air. A scrubber is essentially an apparatus which passes air through chemical filters. In the case of a submarine, the typical chemicals used are either soda lime or lithium hydroxide. Soda lime consists of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2]. The soda chemically reacts to the CO2 in the submarine’s atmosphere trapping it in the soda. Since the CO2 has been removed from the air, it stays in the soda solution until the soda has been saturated and the chemical process won’t occur any longer. The saturated soda is then discarded and replaced with fresh soda - The other non-electric method is the implementation of lithium hydroxide (LiOH) canisters. When the canisters are opened to the atmosphere, the lithium hydroxide very quickly removes the carbon dioxide from the air around it. While the previous method of scrubbing doesn’t use electricity to remove the CO2 directly, it does use electricity to power fans. LiOH canisters, on the other hand, are only used in power outages since the LiOH absorbs the CO2 so well without the need for electricity. The main problem is that the chemical solution is saturated very quickly - The next method of CO2 removal is through an energy intensive, but renewable, scrubbing process using the chemical monoethanolamine or MEA for short. To start, the CO2 filled air is transferred to a large tank where the MEA is sprayed over it. The MEA chemically reacts to the CO2 trapping it inside of the MEA solution. Since the CO2 is then inside of the amine solution, the rest of the clean air is distributed around the submarine to be mixed with oxygen. The rich amine, or the MEA saturated with CO2, is then transferred to a boiler where the solution is heated and the CO2 is released in its gaseous form. The liquid amine is then returned to the initial tank where it is sprayed over the CO2. We are then left with a tank that is filled solely with CO2. To remove it from the submarine, it is pressurized until it reaches the pressure of the water outside the submarine. At that point, it is released into the water, and it is no longer a problem.