these look really cool!

www.monolithic.com

and FYI, theres someone on their forums named Greymalkin, but it's not me .

I remember seeing something about this on the Discovery Science channel not to long ago... Pretty cool stuff, I am all for conservation when possible.

yeah, unfortunately like most other "green" things they are wicked expensive. I can get a bigger, nicer, energy star home for 100K less than what it would cost me to get a dome. So all the electricity/insurance savings really go out the window. All that's left of a benefit is I wouldn't live in a bomb shelter, but I usually have a few days notice for a hurricane.

Nice bumbo chair!

The domes can be built as cheaply, the problem is the labor costs, so maybe some wealthy folks can build them first.

So true, Tesla motors makes a awesome electric car but who can afford it, not I. Recently two motor companies qualified for money from the government to produce alternative vehicles but I never could afford either of these companies cars.

I understand that the general public would say "give it time and it will come down in price", but Ford in his day made a car that everybody could afford to buy, it was his passion to make a car that way.

I use CF's in my whole house and before the sheet rock went up I used foam board insulation from top to bottom, including the Owens Corning stuff. All windows are Argon double layered, with afterfactory UV window tint. I still have a wicked bill in the summer living in the Good ol south...

Anyhow sorry for the hijack greymalkin...

it's no problem..I just don't think I'm ready to put all that money out there for a process that's sure to be a terrible pain in the neck finding a lot, getting contractor x, y, and z...etc. etc. when there's a new house sitting there with everything already put together for cheaper.

It seems to be a bit over-kill for the average home owner but may be practical for larger structures like churches. The size of churches also give them a grandeur which homes less than 8000 sq ft, just can't match. The smaller domes just look silly.

Here's an idea,

Use the technology to build hobit houses into the side of a hill. Build the domes, with connector tunnels, and then partially bury then. With lots of sky lights and south facing windows it could be quite livable.

the hobbit hole would be my ultimate house . I'm thinking I'll just get a good solid energy efficient house for the long haul, then when I'm old and downsizing and have a ton of money to put down on the final resting place home I'll look at the hobbit hole. Assuming I make it to old age and my financial situation doesn't turn south of course .

Yes the domes have their biggest advantages for large structures such as churches and schools where electricity bills are a BIG part of the monthly bill. In that regard they can pay for themselves in energy savings over a relatively short period of time (10-15 years or so). For homes, the only real benefit if that you are living in a bomb shelter.

I was also looking at the SIP (Structural insulated panel) homes and they seem to have great energy efficiency and be stronger than a conventional home and could be built for about the same as a regular stick home. But then you get back to having to go through all the headaches of having a home built! Ahh well I've got a few years yet...but the older I get the quicker they go by!

Interesting that you mention SIPs, when home hunting, there were builders using SIPs but they were just too far from our jobs. From talking to one of the builders, it was pretty simple to integrate with the masonry. That's probably your most economical way to an "exotically" constructed home.

I also talked to this guy: http://www.mcgill.ca/architecture/faculty/friedman/ who wrote this book http://www.amazon.com/Grow-Home-Avi-Friedman/dp/0773521682 and he is open to helping design an affordable/green home if ur interested. Definitely not as sexy as the monolithic domes or the hobbit holes.

We bought a cookie-cutter home here in TX (location, location, maintenance) for our first and our electricity bills are pretty damn low. (And they'd be lower if I turned off my servers.)

GreyMalkin, too true - the last five have truly whipped past. Ever since I stopped working for "the man" and started doing my own thing.

You could just inflate one of the domes and live inside that, of course. There are several I know of in the UK used by businesses. Saw one today near Market Harborough, and there is another near Preston. You use an air-lock door and an air pump to keep it inflated.

I've heard of another system that uses an inflatable and then the outside is sprayed with quick setting concrete. Wait until set, then remove the inflatable via the neck, which is what then becomes the door.

Another way is to make a big pile of dirt, lay down the steel and spray on the concrete. Then dig out the dirt.
Saves you another few K and the end result is just as good.
You can even do layers and include pipes, electrical conduits, isolation etc.
Framework for windows and doors can be placed easily.
I am planning to do that over a few years.

I heard that that's how the Jesuits built the missiions along the west coast of america. They saved the cost of digging out the earth by burying a few gold coins and then letting the natives dig them out. (sounds like exploitation to me).

By the way; didn't luke's foster parents, in the original Star Wars, live in a monolithic dome?

I have actually been in those domes when i was on a trip around North Africa almost 25 years ago, the same ones used for the star wars movies.
It was a special feeling as a huge star wars fan to be walking around on 'Tatooine'. Only the second sun was missing.

Well really the only advantage of wanting to go with the dome or a SIP home is that they are either a LOT (in the dome) or a little (SIP Home) stronger than a regular home. In the past few years we've had to evacuate for hurricanes twice and I'd really like a house that's tough enough to be a shelter should a hurricane come.

I'd really only trust the dome if I were staying put for a hurricane though. So the SIP I would feel more comfortable about being in better shape when I returned. The energy efficiency is only worth it to me if the mortgage doesn't swallow up any savings I might have gained.

As I type this understand that it is with a very humble and calm voice because we all know that things tend to lost in translation.

As someone who lives in Charleston SC (can anybody say "HUGO") I don't care what anybody says nothing is hurricane proof, my house is supposedly hurricane proof because it is straped to my foundation and every board or beam has hurricane braces... BAH!!! Whatever, after you been through a real nasty one you get the duke out of dodge and hope that you made all of your payments on your homeowners insurance policy, oh and make sure to be the first inline incase the company goes bankrupt trying to pay everybodies claims.

I am more interested in the ability to make my house cost me less month after month but like grey said, I also do not want it to come at the cost of not being able to afford to even live in it. It frustrates me to no end that the home that I purchased (ie. became a slave to the bank for), which was barely what I could afford is nothing in energy efficiency compared to what another guy has because he had a very open bank account to spare no expense on his design. To me energy efficiency should not be an extra cost to us, well at least not that much. Resources folks we are talking resource that are not infinite but finite.

Sorry I will get off of my soap box.

I feel the same way. What did you think about the Grow Home concept that's efficient in cost and energy?

I guess we keep on falling for taking out loans for stick and paper homes.

I had never heard of that one until now, interesting... There were a few more idea's on the show that I had watched with the monolithic domes, I liked a few and some I could not wrap my mind around. Oh well I have to be careful because the topic starts to get hi-jacked and the conversation starts to get almost political because so much comes into play when owning/buying/building a home. So in the spirit of the topic let me say I have seen the monolithic home idea and I like it and I wish that I could afford something like it... Oh and it had wife approval.

In addition to my fascination with Earthships, I've long had a thing for Monolithic domes. My favorites (one of which I would duplicate, were I to build):

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/the-invisible-dome-home

http://www.lifelinedomes.com/Flag_Pond.html