[Greenbuilding] Straw Bale Flash-our footprint

[Alan Abrams]

<"Say, we have worked really hard to build an energy efficient
home.  Why should we be penalized by having to pay higher taxes on the part
that is just the insulation?  Why can't we be taxed on the INSIDE
measurements, plus another 6" to the outside that is standard in
stick-built homes today?  >

>In a 30ftx40ft house, 20" strawbale
> walls take up, about 131sqft more interior floor area than
> cellulose walls with the same Rvalue. That is a loss of around
> 12% of the floor 


>  Another overlooked factor for all thick walls, is that deep
> wall openings significantly increase the amount of wall area.


I heard John Spears talk last night on sustainable building (at the Enviro
Center in Jessup MD)--who in a way addresses this issue.  His guiding
principle for sustainability is that one needs to make some different
premises when one begins to plan a project.  

In this case, we're really comparing a straw bale house with a frame house
using interior floor area as the constant.  The alternate premise would
be--if we're going to fully exploit the sustainable benefits of
straw--r-value, renewability, low embodied energy, recyclability, natural
beauty, etc--we should compare it with the stick frame house, (or SIPS, or
whatever) using the *exterior* perimeter as the constant.  Maybe it means a
more compact, versatile, open floorplan, or letting go of the home theater.


If that is not a satisfactory solution, we should be willing to consider
other building systems.  As we all know, life is full of tradeoffs--the
choices we make are a reflection of our character--as well as the nature of
our homes.

Alan Abrams AIBD
www.abramsdesignbuild.com


see: http://greenbuildinginstitute.org/pages/courses/EarthHome.html