Geodesic Dome Home

[Tim Smith]

I'm new to this forum but not to using passive solar. My home is south facing and I take advantage of long overhangs on the front of my house to block direct sunlight in the summer and to shine on and heat up my "mass" (isolated floor and slab) in the winter months. My heating and cooling bills average $85 monthly, over a 12 month period for our 1700 square foot home.

I have an alternative energy blog and recently have had the opportunity to visit with a couple living in a geodesic dome home. It impressed me, as well as several of my readers and I would like to share it with you. The dome home is 3500 square feet and uses less energy than my house. Not to advertise my blog, I have a couple of pictures of it and some good information about it's structure and the man who designed and built it. Go to http://www.altsolarandwind.com and click on the "Geodesic Dome Home" link.

Like most of you(I presume), I'm always looking and listening for ideas or unique ways of incorporating or using alternative/renewable energy, of which solar is the most abundant.

If this post is inappropriate for this forum, let me know.:idea:

[Rob Beckers]

I don't mind the reference/link Tim. As long as it's on-topic (i.e. people posting links to blue pills is another matter entirely! :sick: ). Of course, if you could post a link to this forum on your blog that would be much appreciated. More people means more lively discussion.

Geodesic domes are neat! For a given volume it's the smallest surface area. So by putting windows at the right places for passive solar, and lots of insulation on the other side, it should be very energy efficient. Must be hard though to make things fit those curved walls. Furniture usually doesn't come curved.

-RoB-

[Joe Blake]

Sadly, in many shires in Western Australia, Geodome homes are verboten, because they have such a lightweight frame etc there is no thermal mass, so they're considered to be inefficient. It's a bit of a pity because there are two (kit built) ones within about 5 km of where I live and I've been through both of them, and they really float my boat.

However, I'm building a dome frame from PVC pipe to put in my garden (with appropriate covering) to make a shadehouse/hothouse/whatnot. (I've been building it for about 10 years now ...:D

Joe

[Tim Smith]

Hey Joe,
The shadehouse/hothouse sounds like a unique structure.

I didn't realize the restrictions placed on "dome homes" in Australia, is that your entire country or just in specified areas?

My friend's geodesic dome home was integrally built on footing(using rebar) and has an enclosed slab(bottom floor) and the trombe wall to supply mass. The walls are around a foot thick, so I didn't think about it being a lightweight structure. It is cool to see.

Keep me updated on how your "custom build" is coming along.

All the best, Tim

[Joe Blake]

Tim,

Here's a couple of piccies of my first attempt back in about 1996 or so.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j245/saxeharp/general/dome05.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j245/saxeharp/dome04.jpg

I made a couple of different covers, but at that stage didn't have the facilities to sew them together. The best one was made of triangular/pentagonal panels which fitted like a glove, but blew apart in the first big wind because it was held together with tape.

However, the frame stayed in place (with the pictured plastic cover, or another similar one) for about 10 years or more, and never moved.

This is my latest construction method. One of the prime advantages is that it can be pre-assembled off site to a higher degree.

Hopefully it makes sense when you realise that once assembled the geodesic dome is completely under tension, with no compression on the struts. In my first attempt I didn't realise this, and so I installed the "foundation" hubs (the 2" pipe) to give the struts a footing to press against, but once the dome was nearly together, the foundations started dropping out, and I had to hold them in place with fishing line (which you may be able to see in one of the pics). This newer method spreads the tension to BOTH hubs.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j245/saxeharp/general2/P4150002.jpg

Joe

[Joe Blake]

Tim,

To answer your other question, I don't know what happens in other states, but I suspect that there's no such restrictions as there are (or were) kits homes being manufactured in this country at one stage. They're mostly built of wood frame and wood panelling, so I can see the logic of lack of thermal mass, but I don't think that's sufficient to ban them.

http://kwickset.net/
http://kwickset.net/domehomesfiles/image005.jpg

Joe

[Tim Smith]

Joe,
That is a neat looking geodesic home. Do you know if it has any overhanging eaves on the side out of view? I take it since Australia is "down under" it might have a different sun facing, as compared to the US, for energy efficiency.

[Joe Blake]

Tim,

Sorry, I can't answer your question, although, yes, downunder, the "sunny side" of houses is on the north. However, one of the dome houses in my area has a sun deck on the north-east so that keeps the lower part in shade. Also, because their block of land is very rocky and steep in places, there are two "under-floor" studio/room areas which keep very cool. The difficulty with that particular house is the number of trees overtopping the dome, and growing very close in. Creates a fire hazard as well reducing the amount of sun received to make photovoltaics arrays fairly useless.

Joe