Build a Geodesic Dome Solar Greenhouse to Grow Your Own Food (Slideshow)

treehugger.com

6 pointsph0rque6 comments

Open articleView on HN

Rather expensive way to grow your own food:

12 ft. Diameter Dome Greenhouse Kit

* 110 square feet of floor area.

* Height 8 ft 8 ins

* Fresh produce for 2 to 3 people.

Complete Greenhouse Kit with:

Standard double glazing $4,570.00

It actually looks fairly small, too. A conventional square greenhouse would probably work better.

Yeah, the benefit of building a round greenhouse escapes me. The sun tracks in a straight line over a certain vertical range depending on your latitude. You get more bang for your buck by building a rectangular structure than a round one.

The sun tracks in a straight line over a certain vertical range depending on your latitude.

Not quite: http://www.gaisma.com/en/info/help.html

It's expensive but the joy from growing your own food, the aesthetic pleasure of the dome, the mathematical pleasure of the structure and the knowledge of EXACTLY what's in your food are worth it IMHO.

For more pleasure: get a pen and paper out, design the structure, calculate the angles, buy wood and build it yourself.

"get a pen and paper out, design the structure, calculate the angles"

In that vein, this can be quite fun -

http://sketchup.google.com/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com