The Future of Green Architecture: The Zero-Emissions Dice House

I'm speechless ..

Plastic? I thought big oil was the downfall of mankind?

Great concept but I can see no one paying for it... Maybe you force charitable ORGs like Habitat for Humanity and others to only build these zero footprint concepts then at least our charities will not be adding to the world's pollution problem. Plus people needing charitable homes could use a ZERO utility bill concept like we all could.

Actually ijtbjj, that sounds like a great idea!

I confess to being a bit skeptical. How exactly does the turbine/generator work?

As for the other cold weather performance -- in what locations? In lovely MN, we can have a week or so with the highs being below 0(F). During that time, we also may have a foot or more snow on the roof, which does degrade solar systems ( How easy is it to shovel that dome ?)

Build one in North Dakota and maybe I'll believe it -- after 3 or 4 winters of no external energy input.

Kudos for the comment on charging a Tesla, as opposed to the old standard cell phone.

Actually it is a very large home at a 30 foot square foot print.

So saying people won't pay for it and it will be for charitable housing doesn't make much sense.

I agree that the power generations sound theoretical and we'll have to wait and see if this actually works like they say it will.

My concern is how expensive is this to build? That is a lot of plastic.

And do they have the tech to build it?

At 3 stories tall how is the structural aspect designed?

Y'know...that's not very sensitive to those going through Gambler's Annonymous. I'm just saying...

All these great ideas have been mentioned for years and they all seem well and dandy, till the cost comes in. It doesnt matter how GREEN it is, if it cost mucho GREEN to get it, then whats the point.

The only people who can afford it are people who are rich enough from running companies that polute way more than that house will make up for.

Its like these so called affordable hybrid cars. They start at like $30,000.

C'mon, if people had that much laying around or could get loans for that, they would get a sportier car. It has to be practical people.

Theres nothing practical about saving money on gas by getting a hybrid car or GREEN house, when I have to turn around and spend twice or three times what I saved in payments back to the jerk off banks that gave me the loan at a high interest to begin with.

As for lowering the carbon footprint. it would take thousands, nay millions of these to make a significant impact on the environment. If they coul dmake them in mass production for low income developments, then people who are poor would save money, carbon footprints would be less, the environment would be saved, economy could benefit because more money for buying other useless junk could be spent by those who before couldnt, The builders and inventors would get a small cut and tax break and jobs would be created for building them and maintaining them over time.

I just solved our environment problem, economy problem, dependency on oil problem and affordable housing problems all in one.

Your f'ing welcome.

Seriously though. All these green products and low consumption ideas dont mean anything if no one can afford them.

buying them if you can, doesnt do you any good if its not practical.

Its like buying an electric car. Its only good short range and charges itself from frequent stops.

Well this is all good in city traffic, but most people who live in the city walk to work, or live in apartments. how you gunnah charge your car if you live on the second floor or higher? Or if the nearest outlet is to far.

What if some jerk like me walks buy and un-plugs it?

If you live in San Antonio TX, forget it, traffics combined with long commmutes will leave you stranded. Hybrids are a better option.

O.K. im done. :D

Well I have studied this problem at length for the past ten years,I note that no green solution will succeed without first supplying the world with a low cost green solution which means less than 1 % profit margin as in $1 dollar profit would even be better lets face it if everyone in the world could afford it you would still make 5 to 6 billion dollars. So lets stop looking for the big bucks and clean up the environment first! the next time around when efficiency is improved then get a little profit.