In the Huffington post article titled, “Buildings, Energy, & Transportation Choices in Tourism: A Key to protecting coastal habitat and marine environments,” Dr. Reese Halter (broadcaster, biologist and author) touts the benefits of the Monolithic Dome in coastal regions. In the blog Dr. Halter expands on the “Blue Community Initiative,” 12 strategies for coastal habitat and marine environment protection for the tourism industry and the Monolithic Dome is a key component.

This September 28th through the 30th, in historic Fredericksburg, Texas, the Renewable Energy Roundup & Green Living Fair will entertain and educate hundreds of visitors. On Sunday, Sept. 30, David will give his presentation: 21st Century Technology.

Bobzio.com is a website where travelers can find vacation rentals or home exchanges. It recently started publicizing homes that have green building designs and construction techniques. Not surprisingly, a Monolithic Dome home made the list.

A home comes in two parts; the first part is the investment. With the investment comes its value as a family domicile, a place of refuge (if it is strong enough to be a refuge), and a place for the family to gather, work, struggle and grow together. The second part of the house is the money pit. That’s the cost of maintenance, fuel, electricity and manpower it takes to maintain and operate a house. The money pit is where you throw hard-earned cash that’s never seen again by you, the homeowner.

During the 2010 Annual Monolithic Dome Tour, we had more than 100 curious visitors to our dome home in Galax, Virginia. One of those visitors remembered the efficiency of our Monolithic Dome and invited us to a LandCare Grayson (County, Virginia) meeting.

Your Energy Minute is a blog sponsored by the Energy Education Foundation and the SayYesToGreen.org initiative. It was created to provide consumers with energy news, clean energy resources, conservation tips and strategies and the latest updates on energy policy.

With hurricane season just around the corner, there’s a renewed focus on the Monolithic Dome’s ability to meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standards for near-absolute protection. Or as one blogger recently put it, people are interested in dome homes partly because they are the “most comfortable storm shelter you could ever live in.” But the article posted on the site, ForcedGreen.com, went on to recount the many other advantages offered by these so-called ”super structures,” and there are many.

The Xanadu Resort in Belize was the first Monolithic Dome resort in Central America and the Caribbean when it opened in 1998. Now it can lay claim to another first. The property recently became the first Green Globe Certified Island Resort in the town of Ambergis Caye, according to The San Pedro Sun.

The concrete dome is similar in shape and structure to an egg which has always been a fascination. The egg shows us that a relatively soft and weak material can be used to create a very strong structural shape. A simple demonstration illustrating the strength of an egg was made using a 2′ × 10′ wood plank, supported on one end by a rigid support and on the other end by one hard boiled egg. Four bags of Portland Cement were placed on the plank, at center span, one at a time, for a total of 376 pounds or 188 pounds on one egg. The shell did not crack! Such is the strength of some domes.

By now, most of us have heard of “green buildings.” Now we’re hearing about “micro-energy buildings,” structures designed to use very little energy. In today’s world we have a tremendous amount of publicity about both. But when we get through all that rhetoric, what are we talking about? We’re talking about buildings that use less energy to construct, maintain and keep warm or cool.

The attributes you value in Monolithic Domes may be their exquisite 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.

We are often asked, “Why is the Monolithic Dome “Green?” As an answer to this question, we have outlined three of the most salient “green” points: Sustainability, energy efficiency, and use of green materials.