Jun 24 2008
I'll Huff and I'll Puff
Apparently, they do make them like they used to -- at least how the Three Little Pigs used to. And that big, bad wolf can huff and puff all he wants. These houses aren't coming down.
According to the Kansas City Infozine, the latest in energy efficient building materials: good, old fashioned straw bales.
A few qualities that make hay:
- In hot places -- like Tuscon, AZ -- houses built with straw bales use only a minimal amount of air conditioning.
- In cold places -- like Colorado or Maryland -- straw-bale homes require minimal heating and even just a small space heater in some cases.
- In shaky, wet and windy places -- like earthquake, hurricane and tornado country -- research so far has found straw-bale buildings are safer than traditional buildings because they are strong, yet have some movement that would give people more time to escape than a brick building would.
- In moderate places, like Switzerland, some houses built out of straw bales need no additional heating besides sunlight through the windows.
What will come of housing as we know it? The continued exploration and development of viable energy efficient materials may just take its breath away.
Posted by: Katie Romans
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This is being rather generous to Lutz.
1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science?
2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself.
3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways.
-A Siegel
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This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures.
-Emily
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Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :)
-Rune (Norway)
> view entry
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