Is constructing a Straw Bale House good ecology?
The answer depends on where one is standing — which bioregion one is speaking about. A western resident who wants an inexpensive material will find straw as a waste product of many western grain growing agricultural areas that is most unfortunate for air quality and global warming — typically burned for disposal. When used in the bioregions where it is grown, there is little transportation cost involved. The same thing can be said in the dry Great Plains with relation to abundant wheat straw and lack of trees. The story in Eastern North America may be quite different. Straw is not always readily available, and has other well-established uses such as for mulching. To bring the straw bales to an Eastern U.S. building site requires transportation costs due to the sheer bulkiness of the bales. At the same time less expensive locally available native materials are typically able to be found quite close by (salvaged and recycled building materials, stone and all types of wood products). Th
