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Monolithic Domes:
The Ultimate "Green" Building? 
November 24, 2003
by Perry Gray-Reneberg
The attributes you value in Monolithic Domes may be their exqusite beauty
and simple construction, or, perhaps, their efficient use of materials,
or their structural integrity, or their energy efficiency. I, among the
many advocating for sustainable living, value all these characteristics
and consider Monolithic Domes as potentially the greenest of all building
alternatives.
Sustainable living calls us to choose, today, for the consequences of
our choices to be a blessing, not a curse, on our descendents. American's
building choices, thus far, have mostly been a burden on society and the
environment. Conventional buildings account, every year, for 30 percent
of the virgin materials extracted from Earth, 40 percent of the U.S. air,
water and soil contamination, and 42 percent of the energy we devise to
extract from coal, oil, falling water and natural gas.
Sustainable buildings, according to the U.S. Green Building Council,
save energy, water and materials; preserve the local surroundings; assure
the health of their occupants; and require ittle maintenance. Buildings
achieving LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification
are further recognized for being constructed of recycled or durable materials,
for employing efficient lighting, and for their location near public transportation
sources.
Owing much to their design, Monolithic Domes require the smallest surface
area and employ the fewest materials to enclose space. Furthermore, three
of the four structural dome construction materials - Airform, polyurethane
and concrete (excluding steel rebar) - serve to isolate the dome's internal
environment from the outdoors. Other construction requires significantly
more material, maintenance and expense to match the long life and energy-conserving
ability of Monolithic Domes. By simply protecting the Airform from solar
radiation, Monolithic Domes will gift their communities with centuries
of sustainable living.
The dome's 40-plus tons of thermal mass - the ancient choice for passive
solar heating and adobe-style cooling - lengthens a dome's thermal cycle
beyond conventional buildings to a longer cycle, closer to that of the
earth's crust. If we add any available energy to the concrete shell, it
will radiate back to us - rather than outdoors - when heat sources, like
the sun, disappear. Polyurethane foam insulation, efficient windows and
doors, along with the barrier Airform, assure that we (not the ambient
environment) control the dome's energy cycle.
Small and Simple
Smaller domes clustered or united by a common Airform minimize the demand
large domes demand for partitioning. Reduce interior construction and
you climb higher on the sustainability scale. Synthetic carpets, drywall,
paint, and adhesives used in cabinetry and countertops introduce volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) into our otherwise healthy buildings. Forced-air
heating and cooling systems - especially decades into their use - harbor
and spread dust, mites, and possibly mold throughout an occupancy. The
dome's hemispherical interior, unimpeded by walls and room enclosures,
enables even distribution of thermal energy via radiant and unforced convective
means. Minimize electric fans and domes get quieter and consume less fossil-fuel
energy. Solar, wind or other renewable sources easily convey their energy
into (or from) the thermal mass that conditions the internal environment.
Deep Daylighting
Open-interior domes are natural designs for deep daylighting. Like light
blanketing the retinal interior of our eyes, skylights or even automatically-controlled
shutters at the vertex of our domes could defer our use of artificial
light until the sun sets. Even so, with flexible amorphous photovoltaic
panels adhering to the Airform, daily collected electricity (even on cloudy
days) could power new, more energy-efficient forms of artificial lighting.
Low-Wattage Lighting
Compact fluorescent (CFL) replacements for Edison-style incandescent
(incandesce means to glow from extreme heat) lamps provide comparable
illumination with less electricity; their cost has steadily dropped to
less than $2 per bulb. Another step or two greener than CFLs are White
Light Emitting Diodes. LEDs produce light without noticeable heat, contain
no toxic mercury as required for fluorescence, and have a significantly
longer lifespan than other lighting alternatives, all the while consuming
one tenth their electric demand. Their eventual use, along with more efficient
appliances could further simplify energy systems to power our domes. See
more info regarding Ledtronics.
Energy Star Performance
A building's energy costs (over a very long lifespan with Monolithic
Domes) are its single biggest demand on the environment. Tankless or solar
water heaters and Sunfrost or other energy-efficient refrigerators (typically,
the two greatest continuous electricity loads in a home), lead the expanding
catalog of Earth-friendly home appliances designed for efficient operation
and long life. Because natural gas is 90 percent methane, natural gas
appliances work perfectly well on the methane resulting from the natural
decomposition of organic wastes. A neighborhood-scale Monolithic Dome
installed as a bio-digester would convert a ton of garden waste and animal
and human manure to community natural gas.
The phantom loads of instant-on features of televisions, VCRs and other
appliances are active even when our electronic gear is "off." We can sniff
out those electrical drains on our energy budget with a $40 device called
a Kill-A-Watt monitor. Appointing our energy-conserving Monolithic Domes
with Energy Star-rated appliances minimizes a dome's ecological footprint
for an entire generation. Such community-enhancing dwellings are an inspiration
for further acts of sustainability.
Harvesting Rain
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The dome's impervious Airform protects the vital layer of urethane foam
from ultraviolet rays. It is a membrane suitable for directing rainwater
to a circular trough for single-point collection of occasional or a season's
worth of precipitation. A subsurface storage tank or a dedicated Monolithic
dome could receive the 200 gallons of water falling on a 40 foot dome
with every quarter inch of rain. Whether you Xeriscape in the desert or
nurture an entire garden on your dome's surface, naturally soft rainwater
better serves our plants, toilets, cars, appliances, and lungs than the
chlorine-treated water in cities or the mineral-laden hydraulics of country
wells. Harvesting precious precipitation of the Southwest and elsewhere
preserves the less than 1 percent of freshwater otherwise available on
Earth. On the inside, translucent tanks of algae, crustaceans, plants
and fish need only sunlight to purify our wastewater. These Living
Machines in water-collecting domes could further free communities
of water concerns. Fresh water is rapidly supplanting energy as the most
crucial pursuit of a sustainable planet.
Advancing Materials
Monolithic Domes will be even more sustainable when research proves that
naturally-occurring and industrial pozzolans (volcanic pumice and fly
ash) can replace much of the binder in a dome's concrete shell. Portland
cement is manufactured at 2100 degrees F and accounts for eight percent
of the world's carbon dioxide production. Locally recycled glass, ground
to the finesse of sand and aggregate may replace sand dredged from many
miles away. Soon, industrial crops such as hemp, corn and the soybean
will become the base for organic rather than petroleum urethanes and solvents.
SoyOyl has many of the characteristics
of rigid polyurethane without the fluorocarbon byproduct of its production.
Community Effort
While it takes significant effort to minimize the excesses of linear
construction and increasingly, deconstruction, as structures outlive their
original purpose, Monolithic Domes are easily designed for multiple roles
over their long lifetime. Built as a church in 2003, in 2083 it's a school,
and a multifamily dwelling in 2183. Designing for the long-term is, perhaps,
the most sustainable act dome builders can display to a community. The
four core materials of a dome may be precisely measured - especially if
you mix your own concrete - leading to minimal residue from the project.
Imagine covering a linear rooftop with solar panels only to watch them
melt when our conventional homes (built out of fuel) catch fire. Monolithic
Domes inherently resist the wasting of more precious resources in that
they sustain human life and protect our considerable investment of time.
We work to build, commune with nature and one another, and thrive as a
culture and society. If our structures are no sanctuary from stray bullets,
indiscriminate winds, devouring insects, or raging fires, then they are
not sustaining. Monolithic Domes demand our labor once to assure the security
of ten generations to follow. Building for the future involves community-wide
effort to educate public servants and economic leaders with what our grandchildren
will have as common sense: Monolithic Domes sustain all communities of
Earth.
Perry Gray-Reneberg teaches sustainable industrial technology to Northern
California's coastal community of Humboldt State University where he plans
to research and build Monolithic Domes.
E-mail Mr. Gray-Reneberg at pg16@humboldt.edu
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