Modern living standards are very different from living in a roundhouse.
The roundhouse is very comfortable though, and it does not need massive heating to create a micro climate that is not only 'survivable' in the coldest of weather, but is actually protective and place to thrive.
It does need a total mind shift though.
Radiant heat from the centre slowly diffuses throughout the structure and the space contained within. It is not cut off from the outside world but the structure baffles the winds, it breathes with the elements. It will flex with wind, with sunshine, with rain, with the weight of snow.
It will never be 'bone' dry, but it is certainly tinder dry.
No chimney (which would act like a flue and draw the fire, meaning more fuel needed and heat wasted to the atmosphere) means that smoke fills the cone. That smoke suffocates sparks and protects the material of the roof from insect infestation, from fungus, keeps it drying from the inside out (like goretex
) and coats anything put up there in a protective layer. Wooden tool handles end up shiny black like ebony, for instance.
Much better than any cold underheated box.
Totally biodegradeable, the roof and the floor rushes could (and were) routinely recycled into the midden heaps that were spread on to the land as fertiliser.
The walls are double hurdles stuffed with dry plant material. If the area is dry then they can be daubed, but that's not always possible. Like Tudor lathe and plaster and split beams/cruck framed structures, dry footing is necessary if the wattle and daub is used.
The biggest mind shift is that the lifestyle of the people who created the round houses was very much outdoors.
Indoors was for chilled out company, dry-ish storage of materials and tools, a safe place to bring animals at night and warm, dry, sleeping quarters for people.
Outdoors was for farming, hunting, fishing, good light to work by, skin prep, butchery, threshing, etc.,
Fuel poverty only really comes about with chimneys, with towns, with cold stone buildings and in areas without peat or hardwood timber. Even the 'hingin' lum' (wooden hood type chimney found in some black houses, totally unconnected to the hearth) is better than a fixed 'drawing' chimney, for fuel use.
Can it be done nowadays ?
Of course it can, but there's no easy way to keep things like books and electronics dry and dust free in them.
The buildings need constant small attentions. The owners need to pay heed to the building and it's environment and make timely repairs and restorations. The biodegradeable bit means that things do decay and need replacing.
It's a very seasonal living, and that means nearly 16 hours of dark for a large part of the year. It means fewer possessions and very little of the trappings of modern life.
Doesn't mean it's a bad life though, or an uncomfortable or unhealthy one.
After all, we're only here now because our ancestors lived very well like that
Mary
