More than 800 kilometers north of the Adelaide Plains, in the department of South Australia, there is a small mining town called. Coober Pedy The desert environment is characterized by hundreds of mounds of land that appear everywhere. The main activity in this remote Australian region was opal mining, but land was also seized for another purpose: construction underground houses to escape heat.
Its population is 2,500 people, 60 percent live in houses dug undergroundIt is in sandstone terrain, as evidenced by the chimneys and other tubes that appear on the surface from time to time.
Coober Pedy (which actually means ‘white man in the hole’ in Aboriginal language) came up with this lifestyle to overcome the adverse climatic conditions he encountered. And this In summer it can reach 52°CExtreme temperatures that force even electronic devices to be stored in the refrigerator.
In this curious underground population Records a pleasant temperature of 23°CThis is in sharp contrast to the infernal conditions on the surface, which also experience winter nights with temperatures of 2 or 3°C.
Living on the surface forces its inhabitants to make huge expenses to maintain air conditioning, but on the other hand, all life underground electricity is produced from renewable sourcesespecially wind and to a lesser extent solar energy. “You pay a fortune on heating and cooling to live on the surface, with temperatures often exceeding 50°C in the summer,” one resident of this town told the BBC.
In this underground city there are not only houses, but also There are also restaurants, shops and even a church. It’s easy to build underground because sandstone is easy to work with, and you just have to dig a little more to expand one of these houses.
That’s why some of these homes are particularly impressive, with in-ground swimming pools, games rooms, large bathrooms and quality living rooms, according to the BBC. So these are not simple caves or slightly extended caves, as seen in other parts of the planet, but real houses with all the comforts.
But not everything is easy there. Coober Pedy is overlain by two or more meters of porous sandstone, and the environment below is very dry. One of the main challenges is humidity. Therefore, there are ventilation ducts that guarantee adequate oxygen supply and allow moisture to escape from the inside.
Therefore, the region in which this town is located does not differ much in terms of climatic conditions from those prevailing in some parts of southern Spain. Additionally, according to climate forecasts, temperatures will increase from year to year in regions such as the Guadalquivir valley or the southeast.
In fact, Coober Pedy is not the only underground city in the world, there are other underground cities in central Turkey, such as Cappadocia.
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Contact address of the environmental department:krisclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
James Sean is a writer for “Social Bites”. He covers a wide range of topics, bringing the latest news and developments to his readers. With a keen sense of what’s important and a passion for writing, James delivers unique and insightful articles that keep his readers informed and engaged.