| If you are considering building your own home, | | | | construction or reveals it. Straw bale structures |
| you might be looking to alternative building | | | | with walls made out of these bales are also great |
| methods. Straw bales present an option that is | | | | at providing sound insulation, a fire barrier strong |
| becoming more and more popular. | | | | enough to be used in a commercial building and |
| Straw Bales as a Building Material | | | | reducing energy consumption for heating and |
| If you are thinking about building your own house, | | | | cooling by as much as 40 percent. Straw bales |
| you have many different construction materials | | | | also adapt easily to existing architectural patterns, |
| to choose from. All of these materials make | | | | foundations and roof structures. Using straw as |
| great places to live in, but there are certain | | | | your chosen wall material can also save you tons |
| drawbacks, including expense and ecological | | | | of money, up to 50 percent off of the cost of |
| unfriendly pollutants. One way to get around using | | | | traditional wall materials. |
| these traditional materials for your structure is to | | | | How popular are straw bale structures? Of all |
| think differently. Straw bale building materials are a | | | | places, China is starting to take the lead in straw |
| popular option that is popping up all over the | | | | bale construction. With massive population issues, |
| world. | | | | housing in China has always been an issue. Now |
| Straw bale structures were first built by settlers | | | | the country has cost and pollution issues given an |
| who moved to Nebraska during the expansion | | | | exploding economy. With this in mind, China is |
| westward in the United States. When these | | | | looking to alternative building resources to address |
| pioneers arrived in Nebraska, they found their | | | | the problems. Working with American architects, |
| typical building materials of wood and stone in | | | | China is now building straw bale homes in test |
| short supply. So the settlers decided to build their | | | | communities. In Northern China, straw bale |
| homes with compressed bales of hay and straw - | | | | structures are being built in the provinces of Jilin, |
| the only items they could find in the rather bleak | | | | Liao Ning, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia. The |
| landscape. After a bit of trial and error, straw bale | | | | primary attractiveness of the process is cheap |
| construction resulted in warm, secure structures. | | | | building costs and 50 percent less energy use |
| Turning to modern times, the straw bale | | | | required to heat the homes. If the initial efforts |
| construction process was rediscovered by | | | | go well, China intends to use straw bale |
| researchers looking for more eco-friendly building | | | | construction on a massive scale. |
| ideas. Now, there are straw bale structures being | | | | Straw bale structures are being embraced by |
| built all over the world. | | | | people who enjoy green living throughout the |
| Straw bale structures are built by creating a | | | | world, as well as people who want an affordable |
| frame (out of wood, usually) and stacking bales of | | | | alternative to traditional building materials. Straw |
| straw as if they were cement bricks in order to | | | | bales are very renewable as a resource, and the |
| create walls. These straw bales are then plastered | | | | fact that they cut down on energy consumption |
| over on both the inside and outside of the bale to | | | | is definite positive. |
| create walls that are strong and insulated. | | | | Rick Chapo is with Solar Companies - a directory |
| Depending on your preferences, the walls can be | | | | of solar energy companies. Visit us to read more |
| covered in a manner that hides the straw bale | | | | articles on renewable energy. |