Sugar House and Buckytubes

This blog will follow the development of a graphical presentation I'm making for Sustainability 2105. We monks had a meeting where we were asked to imagine the St. Peter's complex one hundred years from now. Taking the 1905 plan to build in an north-south axis along the banks of Wolverine Creek--a natural wind tunnel for the prevailing nor'wester--I created the first of the Sugar Houses.
What is a Sugar House? The simplest explanation is that in the 21st century we will learn to build houses the way Nature grows trees. The long technical explanation begins with understanding the nature and potential of buckytubes.
In short, a Sugar House would be powered by three sources: sun (geothermal heating tubes); wind (turbines); and wind shear (sucrose piezoelectric power). It turns out that common table sugar is an excellent piezoelectric material; that is, a material that generates electric current when it is subjected to intense pressure. Probably, the buckytubes would allow the roof to be photosynthetic as well as wind-powered.

To see what these would look like, click on Sustainability 2105.