What is “green building” and do straw bale homes qualify?
We have seen many definitions of green building. The simplest explanation is that “green” structures do not “contribute to the overall decline in sustainability or the consumption of resources”. Therefore, seeing that straw and steel houses utilize recycled or low impact materials, we can certainly be considered in the “green building” category. Until recently, most straw, a waste byproduct of crops such as wheat, oats, barley, etc., has been burned in the field, contributing to global pollution problems. By using the resources of crop waste byproducts and recycled automobiles, we are helping to solve several problems at once.
