One of the most exciting concepts in today’s home market is the green building revolution.  Although the phrase green home has recently become somewhat prostituted, it has a strong and legitimate base in the alternative home construction industry.  Many options exist when considering green building, some new and some revived, so for simplicity, we’ll focus on the straw bale home.

The birth of the bale home began on the Great Plains of North America in the late 1800’s. The invention of the steam powered baler was the driving force behind this movement.  Housing needs, intrigue, lack of timber, ease of construction, efficiency and a readily available material led to this birth. The first documented bale home was built around 1886, a one-room schoolhouse near Bayard, Nebraska.   Most of the bale homes built at that time occurred in the Sand Hills of Nebraska.  

Today there are several bale home projects, built in the early 1900‘s that are still in existence.  They range from homes to churches to museums and are located from South Dakota over to Alabama.   

 As the great rail lines settled upon the land, newer materials connected to the timber and lumber industry began arriving and helped the straw bale home drift off into relative obscurity; however, there continued to be a smattering of bale-built homes up until the early 1950‘s.  At that time, mass-produced construction materials came on the scene and are probably one of the reasons for the disappearance of bale homes in the building market.

While currently gaining momentum, a look of incredulousness still pops up on the unknowing face when the phrase straw bale home is mentioned.  Experiencing a minor revival in the late 1980’s, thanks to a small group of cutting edge pioneers who wrote and published articles on straw bale construction and participated in their construction, the turning point came in the early 1990’s as television got on the bandwagon.  At the same time workshops began appearing and it’s been gaining popularity ever since.  Currently, the US leads the world in straw bale construction, followed closely by China.  

There are many reasons to consider a straw bale home.  High on that list is energy conservation.  Depending on site orientation and wall protection, the wall’s insulating values can go as high as R-45.  Throw a roof on top of that with R-30 insulation, and you’ve got a super-insulated home.  Energy savings can be substantial.  With the increased demand for carbon-based energy, and a decreasing supply, it’s not rocket science to see where this equation is headed.

Site orientation is an important factor in determining the performance of a straw bale home.  For those of us in the northern hemisphere, a strong southerly orientation for solar gain during those short winter days is ideal.  Protection from winter winds can also improve your home’s performance, as can protection from the west sun during the dog days of summer.   Summer’s prevailing breezes can also improve your  straw bale home’s conservation measures.  Make sure you’ve placed windows in the direction of those breezes.  A couple of windows on the opposite walls will give you a natural ventilation flow.  If the budget allows, consider high ceilings in your home.  That, combined with high performance ceiling fans will give your home that performance boost in summer, and only on the hottest of days will you need air conditioning.

Another factor to consider is how the home feels.  You know you’ve arrived at a special place when you first set foot in a straw bale home.  You can feel the energy unique to this construction process.  Using reclaimed lumber for your doors and cabinets will help reduce the amount of pre-fab materials going into your home.  These newer materials are notorious for their chemical make-up, a known source of out-gassing. 

Sound quality is a component that you’ll find little information on, regarding a straw bale home, yet it is a great added feature.   The straw bale home is quiet, with outside noises non-existent.  The thick walls - a straw bale is aproximately 18” thick, with an additional 1 1/2” of stucco on either side of the bale - give an added dimension to indoor sound quality.  The music afficiando will appreciate this feature. 

As our country continues to blow its horn on alternative energy, but in reality is dragging its feet, it will be up to individuals, both here and abroad, to take the lead.  Today there are a growing number of straw bale and green home construction related workshops occurring all across the country.  The revolution has begun.  Join up.

Next on straw bale homes, the construction process.