Straw bale: A Waste from Agriculture, a New Construction Material for Sustainable Buildings

Straw bale: A Waste from Agriculture, a New Construction Material for Sustainable Buildings
Written by esba

Since the beginning of the 21st century, straw-bale buildings are reappearing in the world; however, their thermal performances were not thoroughly investigated up to now. The purpose of this study is to analyse the thermal behavior and energy performance of a straw-bale building in Switzerland. Using Pleiades+Comfie Software, building designs have been studied to understand the best way to mitigate overheating risks due to the low heat capacity of straw. Thermal-dynamic results and Life Cycle Assessment conclude that straw bale buildings can be a sustainable alternative in the energy evolution of building construction, due to their low embodied energy and excellent thermal performance.

Authors: Chaussinand, Adrien; Scartezzini, J.L.; Nik, Vahid, Nov 2015

Link: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1876610215023784

About the author

esba

The European Straw Building Association is an independent European association, devoid of any profit making motive. The object of the Association is to promote and develop the use of straw, as a sustainable way of building in all the senses of the term “sustainable”: renewable, ecological, healthy, energy and climate efficient, social and economic.
The Association is a federation composed of organisations and people particularly concerned with the use of straw in buildings.