What's become of earth-sheltered housing?

It was an architectural hot topic in the 1970s-early 1980s because of the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, which began in October 1973 when Arab members of OPEC (OAPEC) stopped oil shipments to the United States and other nations that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo strained a U.S. economy that had grown increasingly dependent on foreign oil. Crude oil prices nearly quadrupled from about $2.90 to $11.65 per barrel, leading to sharp spikes in residential heating oil and energy costs.

Because soil maintains a relatively stable subterranean temperature (usually between 50-60 F.), earth-shelterd structures, which utilize earthen berms against their walls, were touted as being capable of lowering heating and cooling costs by 50-80 percent.

Earth-sheltered and underground houses exist in Arkansas, though they require special attention to moisture control due to local heavy red clay soil.

Despite growing up in ultra-traditional suburban neighborhoods lined with brick bungalows, and certainly not in a situation to take on a home construction project, I was fascinated with the subject, and wrote about it in the Arkansas Gazette in 1981 (my byline was Karen Knutson then).

That's when two seminars were held in Little Rock--one at the University of Arkansas Industrial Research and Extension Center (now the Institute for Economic Advancement), the other at Little Rock's Hilton Inn.

The Hilton presentation came from Lon B. Simmons, president of Simmons & Sun, Inc., and Solar Earth Consultants Inc. of High Ridge, Mo.

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