net0Net-Zero Domes
A net0 home is not framed, stacked, or assembled. It is cast as a single monolithic concrete shell — built from the inside out, weather-tight in under an hour, then wrapped in continuous insulation and steel until it is one jointless piece. No frame to rot. No seam to fail. No weakness a Canadian winter can find.
A circular concrete ring is poured — the footing the whole shell will grow from. No long foundation walls, no square corners for cold to pool in. One continuous ring, sized to the dome, ready for the membrane that goes up next.
A custom inflatable membrane is fixed to the ring and inflated with fans. In minutes it stands full size — the exact shape of the finished dome, and a sealed, weather-proof workspace. Small shells inflate in under thirty minutes; every step after happens inside, in any weather, day or night.
Inside the sealed Airform, about three inches of polyurethane foam are sprayed onto the interior — continuous insulation with no gaps, no studs, no thermal bridges. Engineered steel rebar, hoop and vertical, is tied into the foam. The bones of the shell, set before a drop of concrete is placed.
Concrete is sprayed over the steel from the inside — roughly three inches, tapering from about four at the crown to eight at the base on a large dome. It embeds the rebar and locks to the foam. When it cures there are no joints, no seams, no assembled parts: one continuous, monolithic shell.
Continuous foam and concrete thermal mass give the finished shell an effective R-60 to R-100 — and a dome has the lowest surface-area-to-volume ratio of any shape, so it loses the least heat for the space it encloses. On a monolithic dome tested through a Saskatchewan winter at −31.7°C, infrared showed near-zero heat loss through the shell. *
See The Domes It Builds →A monolithic dome needs about one-quarter the energy of a conventional building — up to 75% less to heat and cool, with the furnace and A/C downsized 60 to 75%. Put solar on the curved roof and the shell can run net-zero and off-grid, owing the grid nothing at all. *
| Envelope | Effective R-60 to R-100 * |
| Heat & cool | Up to 75% less * |
| Energy use | ~¼ of conventional * |
| HVAC | Downsized 60–75% * |
| Payback | Energy repays the build in ~20 yrs * |
| Grid | Net-zero · off-grid capable |
The same shell that keeps the warmth in keeps the weather out. Monolithic domes are rated for roughly 300 mph wind — 100 beyond FEMA's requirement — meet or exceed FEMA P-361 for near-absolute protection, and have ridden out EF5 tornadoes and Category-5 hurricanes. Fireproof, rot-proof, termite-proof, mold-proof, and built to stand a century or more. *
| Wind | ~300 mph — 100 beyond FEMA * |
| Shelter | Meets / exceeds FEMA P-361 * |
| Tornado | Survived EF5 events * |
| Fire & rot | Fireproof · rot- · termite- · mold-proof * |
| Cold | Tested to −31.7°C, near-zero loss * |
| Design life | 100+ years * |
* Performance figures — R-value, cold-weather, wind, fire and lifespan — are based on monolithic dome construction as documented by the Monolithic Dome Institute, not net0 test data. Every net0 home is engineered to its own site and permit.