Jun 24 2008

I'll Huff and I'll Puff

Posted by: Katie Romans

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.

 

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