Cob URL

[S. William Edwards]

	Mr Shinnerer I am afraid I do not understand your point.

	I thought I had read that if all the straw left in the fields in
the US was used in straw bale construction there would be enough material to
build 5 million homes.

	I also understand that in California they burn "waste" straw which
causes obvious environmental problems.  According to a program I was
watching there was a lot of interest in making paper using straw which
would help limit the amount that would be burned.

	It seems unlikely that there would be any nation wide shortage of
straw even if it became a popular building material.  And I am not sure
what "all the consequences" would be.
 
/snip/

\ 
\ >...Agriboard, a
\ >3.5" thick fiberboard made from agricultural byproducts, i.e. straw etc.
\ >The manufacturing process uses heat and pressure, no chemicals.
\ 
\ Just a caveat on sustainability here...there is no such thing as a "byproduct" in *sustainable* agriculture.  Straw that isn't composted locally and put right back into the growing soil it came from is a net export of nutrients that must be replaced by chemical or imported organic nutrients (which are also unsustainable).  And the manner of farming that produces the straw in such large "commercial" quantities to feed such a panel factory is itself unsustainable.
\ 
\ I'm not suggesting these aren't better alternatives than stick-frame and 
sheetrock!  I'm inviting one and all to consider the larger consequences of 
these ideas.  For example, if every developer (or even one big one in the US 
alone) suddenly decided to build only straw-bale (or Agriboard - more likely
...) homes, there would be an immediate national or worldwide shortage 
of straw and all the consequences thereof...:-p
\ 
\ John Schinnerer
\ 



-- 
Shane Edwards                 {...and where is Clarence?}
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