How we live affects every aspect of the planet. We use fossil fuels at an unsustainable rate, and we’re polluting the rivers and skies with toxins that are produced by our vehicles, homes, and industries. The price of comfort and convenience is the planet itself. Things are not too late, however. Every change we make, such as recycling, driving fuel efficient vehicles, and reducing our usage of resources has a positive effect on the environment.

Alternative vehicles have been become much more accessible over the last few years. Either fuel efficient or battery operated, these vehicles are becoming part of the mainstream. They are attractive and practical, which makes them a viable alternative to traditional vehicles. Environmentally friendly housing options on the other hand, have been slower to catch on. Alternative housing is generally quite unique looking, and therefore intimidating to the average home buyer.

Thanks to their unique design and adaptability to environmentally responsible technologies, dome homes are the next generation of housing. While they may look strange at first, once you spend time in a dome home and see your energy bills drop, you will fall in love with this unique and revolutionary type of property.

Dome homes are a relatively new option on the housing scene. There are very few of these buildings in the country, but they are starting to get the buzz they deserve. They are among the greenest homes available on the market, making them the ideal housing alternative for the future. Dome homes represent a whole new wave in homebuilding.

Because of their arching shape and lack of barrier walls, energy flows throughout the entire space, thus requiring less energy to heat or cool the space.

There are fewer seams on the exterior of the building than in traditional stick-built homes, thereby reducing the amount of heat loss in the building.

Dome homes are made with concrete and steel rebar. This concrete is thoroughly insulated from the inside out, which allows the heat to be stored inside for use at a later date. Dome homes require only about half of the energy use as conventional homes. The isolating shell on the outside of the concrete keeps the temperature steady, which results in less temperature fluctuations inside the home.

Because these homes are built with energy efficiency in mind, many dome homeowners add solar panels and wind generators to their properties in order to cut down on the use of fossil fuels. In fact, many owners of dome homes live completely off the power grid. They have wells and independent power sources, so they are entirely self-sufficient.

We want our children and grandchildren to inherit a healthy world, not a dying one. While the problem may seem overwhelming, small things do make a difference. Switching to an eco-friendly car is one positive change that people can make fairly easily. Switching to an environmentally friendly home is another step that people can take in order to reduce energy use. If you’re on the market for a new home, why not consider choosing a home that is good for the environment? Why not choose a monolithic dome home?

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Green Houses provide an environment in which residents receive nursing support and clinical care without the care becoming the focus of their existence.

By altering facility sizes, interior designs, staffing patterns and methods of delivering skilled services, the Green House model provides greater health and lifestyle benefits compared to traditional nursing homes and assisted living communities. Here’s more:

A Green House is designed to look like a private home or apartment, with seven to ten bedrooms for seniors, so that each resident has his or her own room.

The common living space comprises a shared living room, dining room and kitchen facilities. The common room centers around a single big table where the group–residents, staff, caregivers, family and friends–sits down to dinner every night together.

“The Green House is based on deep relationships, nurturing, sustaining and protecting each person,” says Joyce Ebmeier, a guide for a nine-person home in Nebraska. “Excellent medical treatment is a key component of life in a Green House, but it is delivered discretely and supportively, respecting the rhythm of each elder’s life.”

The concept has spread from four Green House homes in Tupelo, Mississippi, to more than 40 homes operating in 10 states. NCB Capital Impact of Oakland, Calif., under the leadership of Robert Jenkens, has received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to replicate the Green House model nationally, with the goal of developing 50 such homes by 2010.

“We are trying to create a nursing home that people will want to live and work in,” says Jenkens. “We want to make nursing homes places where people get care but their lives have meaning and purpose.”

The Green House concept has spread from four Green House homes in Tupelo, Mississippi., to more than 40 Green House homes operating in nine states. An additional 79 homes are under construction or in development, and close to 80 homes are planned in the coming years. Four Green House nursing homes in Florida are under development.

With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NCB Capital Impact is providing technical assistance and pre-development loans to organizations to facilitate replication of the Green House model nationally.

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