For a very long time we have known, planned around and used the thermal inertia of the Monolithic Dome. We call that thermal inertia the thermal battery. Why battery? Because significant savings in heating and cooling equipment can be achieved if you can trim off the highs and lows by using the battery.

Even more savings can be achieved depending on the days and times of day heating or cooling is used. The amount used can be adjusted by taking advantage of the battery. For instance, we might cool the dome shell with night air and let that coolness carry us through the day -- thus eliminating the need for refrigerated air. On the other hand, we might heat the structure with warm, outside, daytime air and let it carry us through the night with little or no additional heat.

Besides the thermal battery, a Monolithic Dome has a fresh-air battery. Monolithic Domes have a huge amount of air space in them -- all within the insulated building envelope. This space is generally much more than that available within conventional buildings of a similar size. The fresh-air battery means that we can bring in fresh air when it's convenient for us and breathe it when it is convenient for our occupants. Use of the fresh-air battery becomes especially significant for churches, schools and commercial facilities.

In such Monolithic Domes, the HVAC system computer monitors air quality using CO2 sensors to determine the need for fresh air. Because this is possible, the amount of fresh air introduced can be appropriate to the need, rather than a one-size-fits-all. By having the Monolithic Dome church or arena full of fresh air when an audience arrives, it may be possible to go through much -- if not all of an occupancy -- without bringing significant fresh air into the building. At the end of the session, we still need to trade-out the air, but we now do it after everyone has gone home, the sun has gone down and the world's cooled off. By waiting, the air exchange may be done when conditions are right with few or no energy costs. For schools, it may be possible to exchange the air either in the early morning or late afternoon when temperatures are more appropriate.

For conventional buildings, there is a propensity to minimize the amount of fresh air to save on heating and cooling costs. By using the space in a Monolithic Dome as a fresh-air battery, it is possible to have the freshest air at a reasonable energy cost. By sizing the fresh-air intake larger instead of smaller and using appropriate computer controls, the building can be at least partially heated or cooled as well as kept fresh by outside air.

Energy Costs Increase

Energy costs are on everybody's mind. Recently, California witnessed a 45% energy cost increase in some of their electrical prices. We hear talk of de-regulation and re-regulation. It matters not how much it's talked about; it is obvious energy costs will continue to rise. In my opinion, the current cost hike will be much like the early 70s - revisited. There will be a run up in energy costs, then prices will flatten for a short while and then rise again. Chances are, we will probably never see a serious roll back.

Recently, in a discussion with Ward Huffman of the U.S. Department of Energy, he stated that 33 percent of all the energy expended in the United States goes into heating and cooling of buildings - two-thirds of all electricity. He calls it the leaking away of wealth because money spent on heating and cooling of buildings is gone forever. It does not benefit the community - it is simply gone.

Household budgets have the same problem. The checks we write to utility companies are for past services and that money is gone forever. It makes a lot of sense to try and plug the leaks.

How Do We Plug the Leaks?

We plug the leaks in our energy cost by re-insulating old structures and building well-insulated new structures. Time after time, we have proven to Monolithic customers that the energy savings from a Monolithic Dome could be put in a bond account to mature and the accumulation would equal the value of the building within twenty years. This would put a huge plug in the rise of leaking energy cost. It is something to be considered on every new building.

Thermal Battery

The concrete in a Monolithic Dome is isolated from the outside world by insulation. Therefore it is used as a thermal battery, thermal storage, thermal flywheel or any other "buzz word." This means heat can be stored in the dome shell and then that heat is available to use at a later time. There is no other structure which offers this advantage.

Recently I asked one of our engineers to figure the energy calculations of a church currently under construction. In this particular structure, if the building were cooled to 68 degrees before church service started, the 3000 members would not emit enough heat to raise the temperature in the dome above 73 degrees within ninety minutes.

This means a ninety-minute church service could be held without using any outside air conditioning. I realize that this is an extreme case, but it points out the importance of purchasing a heating and cooling system designed to utilize the thermal battery of a Monolithic Dome.