Super Eco

Photo credit: colros, flickr

Straw insulation is, for me, counter-intuitive. It may be a cultural thing. I was raised on a Disney diet that included a lot of the classic children stories and one I remember vividly is "The Three Little Pigs." Build from straw? I remember what happened to the Piggy who tried that! 

But what doesn't work for piggies may be great for humans! Straw bales provide sustainable building material and superb insulation.They save trees and are available wherever grain is grown. Bales are cheap to buy and easy to use. And they're not just for pioneer farmsteads anymore. The New York Times surveyed the national real estate market and found a lot of contemporary straw bale homes available, including the following:

WHERE—Pinal County, Ariz.
WHAT—3-bedroom house
HOW MUCH—$459,000
FEATURES—2000 sq. feet, passive solar design, built in 2005

WHERE—Livingston, Mont.
WHAT—4-bedroom house
HOW MUCH—$1.5 million
FEATURES—4000 sq, feet, concrete floors with radiant heat, on eight acres with stream fifty miles north of Yellowstone National Park

WHERE—Fredericksburg, Tex.
WHAT—3-bedroom house with guesthouse
HOW MUCH—$850,000
FEATURES—3,324 sq. feet, open floor plan, granite counter tops, built in 2005

But will straw really keep you warm? An eighteen-inch wide bale has an R value of about 50. This kind of "super-insulation" can save as much as 75% of heating and cooling costs compared to conventional insulation. Check the Open Directory project under "sustainable architecture" for everything you need to know about straw bale construction.

If you build with straw bales, then when the temperature in twenty below zero and the wolf is howling outside, huffing and puffing like a cruel north wind, you can be snug in your bed reading a good book. And you can tell Mr. Wolf that the Piggy doesn't live here anymore.