Passive solar and Darius : )

I didn't want my other thread to get off topic so I thought I would start a new one here. Unfortunately my house has been standing for 30 years now so a lot of what makes sense just isn't feasible unless I knocked the house down and rebuilt with a better design. Ideally I always wanted to build an underground house, which, like solar, makes a tremendous amount of sense in this region. I would love to build a sustainable house with all the technological advances and passive solar designs incorporated into the design. A lot of people think that doing this makes a house unattractive, but I have seen designs that are absolutely beautiful. Maybe you never saw the movie Fellowship of the Ring, but I would love to design a house that would be like a high tech hobbit hole lol

Some of the ideas I have been toying with were solar, as you already know, and some things I can't even name. One of the ideas I have been curious about uses the principles of an underground house by building an underground chamber and circulating air through it which would cool it naturally before having it circulated through your house. For those who don't know, a room built 6 to 8 feet underground sits at a reletively constant temperature through the seasons and I think it is about 65 degrees. Correct me if I'm wrong Darius.

I am also interested in a means of recycling water. When I see water going down the drain after taking a shower I just see waste. That is literally money going down the drain and water that could be getting used in my yard. There are ways to conserve these resources, I just don't know how feasible they are.

If you care to get a little more in depth about cooling tubes, and a trombe wall I would love to learn more. Can you recommend a good book or other resource for ideas like this?

Thanks!

John