straw bale public housing

The first straw bale public housing project in the United Kingdom is moving forward.  Straw bale building technology fits with low income, subsidized housing because not only can it be affordable to build, the cost of operating a straw bale building can be so much less than a conventional building.  It is time for straw bale to shake off the reputation of being a boutique building method and prove its usefulness to the masses.

First straw bale council houses are complete – read the Green Building Press report here: http://www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk/article.php?article_id=527

Council to build houses of straw – an older BBC report here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7855847.stm

toxic drywall

Why build differently? In a global economy with different rules in different countries, it's hard to be sure what is or isn't in commercially available building products. The case of the tainted Chinese drywall is extreme but highlights how little we know about what we are building with unless we carefully trace origin and content.

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houses shrink, satisfaction grows

According to recent consumer studies, some homeowners are beginning to prefer smaller homes.  The old mantra of “reduce – reuse- recycle” starts with the idea of first using less.  This is very encouraging news!

Houses Shrink But Buyer Satisfaction Grows– read the Journal of Light Construction report here: http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconline.storefront/EN/UserTemplate/69?c=f61e699980645ddc392f18354d154793 (scroll down to the second section of the article).

killer bale

It wouldn’t be fair to only report the good things about bales.  Recently, a member of the 1970’s band ELO was killed by a bale.

Bale of hay kills ELO cellist Mike Edwards in freak accident – Read the Metro report here: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/840007-bale-of-hay-kills-elo-cellist-in-freak-accident#ixzz15HFBKUC3