In an early review of "industrial" domes, Bolonkin and Cathcart reported before 2008 that sustaining human life at the Earth’s antipodal Polar Regions is very difficult especially during winter when water-freezing air temperature, blizzards and "whiteouts" make normal human existence dangerous. To counter these environmental stresses, we offer the innovative artificial "Evergreen" Polar Zone Dome (EPZD), an inflated half-hemisphere with interiors continuously providing a Mediterranean Sea-like climate.
The "Evergreen" EPZD structural theory is developed, substantiated by key computations that show it is possible for current building technology to
construct and heat large enclosed volumes inexpensively. Specifically, a satisfactory result is reached by using sunlight reflectors and a special double thin film, which concentrates all available solar energy inside the EPZD while, at the same time markedly decreasing the heat loss to exterior Polar Region air. Someday a similar, but remarkably more technological, EPZD design may be employed at proposed Moon and Mars settlements
The authors concluded that “Evergreen” domes can foster the fuller economic development of cold regions such as the Earth’s Arctic and Antarctic and, thus, increase the effective area of territory dominated by humans. Normal human health can be maintained by ingestion of locally grown fresh vegetables and healthful “outdoor” exercise. “Evergreen” domes can also be used in the Tropics and Temperate Zone. Eventually, they may find application on the Moon or Mars since a vertical variant, inflatable towers to outer space21, are soon to become available for launching spacecraft inexpensively into Earth-orbit or interplanetary flights.
[These domes, and progress must have occurred since 2008, could be used to allow drilling and in situ mining in polar regions]
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