Within the passive solar energy field few passive techniques have caught the imagination and the attention of the public as has the continuous thermal envelope (CTE) concept. The Tom Smith residence located in Lake Tahoe has been the center of attention of a number of popular magazines. Yet despite the widespread public interest not a great deal is known concerning the actual technical performance of continuous thermal envelope systems, that is until now. Just such a CTE test room was erected during the spring and summer of 1979 at the Passive Solar Energy Test Facility located on the Omaha campus of the University of Nebraska. The CTE system has been undergoing testing since November of 1979. The CTE test room is heavily instrumented with temperature sensors and air flow meters which are located throughout, around, and under the structure. There are nearly one hundred such sensors. The results of these preliminary experiments are presented.