Another Way To Live: A BioEnergy Dome System
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 05:30AM BioEnergy Dome systems are applicable for any family, community, or municipality, regardless of climate or terrain, and are inexpensive to build and maintain. BioEnergy Domes offer a solution to local needs for energy and food.
This Pacific Domes BioEnergy Dome is located in one of the most isolated areas of the U.S. where the only flourishing oasis is in this dome. It is always springtime where vegetables and fish flourish in this protype BioEnergy Dome on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Naatani, Arizona. The growing pod is completely self-sufficient and can produce energy, food and fish.
It’s ‘eternal springtime’ environment allows it to be completely operational all year and can produce around five kilograms of organic vegetables per day, 45 to 68kg of fish per year and enough methane gas to power a modern home.
Once installed, it takes an hour of maintenance per day to keep it running at maximum capacity. The duckweed and algae convert solar energy biomass in the specially designed dome that maintains consistent natural sunlight.
Then the plants are harvested and composted in a methane digester. Next the methane is then fed into a generator which converts thermal heat into power. After that CO2 and water vapor, which are the only emissions, are cycled back into the dome to feed the growing plants. Left over biomass can be dried and pressed into pellets which can be used for fuel, fertilizer or fodder.
Multilevel trays full of hydroponic vegetables are stacked inside of the dome. These vegetables are necessary to feed nutrients into the pond. Fish, grown in the pond, are also necessary to the system and together the fish and vegetables supply clean, consistent and abundant fresh food. Unlike most farmed fish systems, this system is self-cleaning and does not require the use of chemicals.
The Reservation built the dome so that they could produce fresh vegetables year round and help link the youth to their ancestral diet and move them away from a junk food diet.
Source: BioEnergy Dome
