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Let's face it. This planet is in a crisis. Don't let
anyone tell you otherwise. To create the energy we needed to sustain
our modern comforts, we've polluted our atmosphere with countless
gasses that will eventually warm the planet. A major part of this is
the energy we squander heating and cooling our homes which is produced
using fuels that emit greenhouse gasses. The solution is simple. Build
homes that use less energy.
Earthen homes are at the top of the list. These are
also known by the name of earth ships. Problem is that a majority of
the living area on an earth ship is subterranean and doesn't meet many
fire codes for egress as I understand.
One other is the chord wood house. This is also an
excellent choice and I don't believe there are many downsides to this
method except it's walls are nothing but firewood logs cut to length
and put together with mortar like a brick house. I say it's a downside
because we really need to save as many trees as possible. No, I'm not a
tree hugger sorta guy, I just know that trees are the one element of
nature that, if left alive, will scrub many of the bad gasses out of
our atmosphere.
So then we come to building homes out of bales of rice
or wheat straw. The straw is something we have been actually throwing
away as waste in this country for years. Yet when put together as wall
units, produce a very high restivity factor of R-39 to R-52 with a wall
thickness of 14 to 16 inches. Wow, the common house built in America
today using standard building methods is generally R-13 to R-19. R or
resistivity is a number measuring a material's resistance to heat flow.
R stands for resistance. Anyway, there is over double the difference in
how much heating and cooling these walls can contain. Less energy used,
less greenhouse gasses spilled into the atmosphere.
Once the walls are up, then the home is wrapped with a
fabric that allows moisture to exit but not enter the walls and then is
covered in about one inch of cement. These structures are as beautiful
as they are functional. Even better is that only 20% or so of the
structure is lumber so trees are saved. The cost is probably 50% less
than standard construction methods and they last for ages. There are
straw bale buildings in my area of Tennessee that have withstood the
elements for well over a century.
Tim Davis is an Architectural Designer who has been in drafting and
design since the late 1980's. He teaches Architectural Drafting over
the internet at http://houseplandrafting101.com, draws House Plans professionally at http://customhouseplans.8m.com and offers Free Strawbale House Plans at http://customhouseplans.8m.com/strawbale |
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