Building Houses Out of Straw

Did you know that safe and warm houses can be built out of straw? As the weather gets colder, many families on Indian reservations across America struggle to keep themselves warm. That’s why Red Feather Development Group is working to provide straw bale housing for some of the poorest citizens in our country.

From their website:

Why Straw Bale Construction?
At the foundation of the American Indian Sustainable Housing Initiative is a belief that affordability and sustainability do not have to exist independently. Thus, we chose straw-bale construction as a logical fit for several reasons.

• Straw—an agricultural waste product of wheat production—is an environmentally sustainable and readily available option for Southwest and Northern Plains reservations where wheat grows on thousands of acres.

• Straw bale construction is builder-friendly: Indian families, volunteers and community members can quickly become skilled participants in the construction of their own homes.

• Our approach results in a relative cost savings of up to 60% in light of volunteer labor and donated materials as compared with a traditionally contracted starter home.

• Structures built with straw have an extremely high insulation value, which, when coupled with lower energy consumption, results in savings that can then strengthen the tribal economic base.

Learn more about straw bale construction here and check out volunteer opportunities here. Also, if you don’t have time to volunteer but you would like to help these communities, consider donating to help poor families in South Dakota heat their homes this winter. Even if you can only give 10 or 20 dollars, every 100 dollars raised helps a family heat their home for a month.

Pellet Stove Madness in Maine: Finding an Alternative to Oil

We may be in the midst of the heat of summer, but record oil prices are forcing many homeowners to start thinking about winter heating already. Those who use heating oil could be in for a nasty shock this year, as the price has risen so much that it can cost up to $5 per gallon. Consumers in the northeast – particularly Maine - are especially reliant on oil, so some folks in areas like Maine are looking for any possible alternative. For many, that means installing wood pellet stoves.

From The Examiner:

Here in western Maine, former ski mogul Les Otten is banking on European wood pellet furnaces with his Maine Energy Systems Inc., which he launched with two other investors. Otten once headed American Skiing Co. and was later a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox.

Otten already has 400 orders even though he hasn’t taken delivery of his first shipment - they’re not due to arrive by container ship until later this month. To fuel those furnaces, he’s arranging for a fleet of trucks to make home deliveries of pellets made at plants in Maine, New Hampshire and Quebec.

Otten, who has a pellet furnace in his home in Greenwood, said it works much like existing forced-water heat systems, except the burner is fueled with wood pellets rather than oil or natural gas. Pellets are made out of compacted sawdust, wood chips or other wood material and look something like rabbit food.

Otten wants to replace 10% of residential heating in Maine with wood pellets. Pellet stoves are ‘flying out the door’ in the state, with consumers paying an average of $4,000 up front but expecting to make that money back in a year or two, assuming oil prices stay this high or get even higher.

Wood pellets are typically made from sawdust created as a byproduct to sawmilling and other wood transformation activities. Since they’re so dense, they burn with a very high combustion efficiency. Pellet heating is a low net-CO2 solution because the CO2 emitted during combustion is equal to the CO2 absorbed by the tree during its growth. New high efficiency stoves have also lowered emissions of Nox and volatile organic compounds, making it one of the most non-polluting heating options currently available.

Link [The Examiner]
Photo credit: Wikipedia