Straw-bale walls for sustainable architecture: Improving and promoting straw bale use in European Buildings

Written by esba

Straw-bale use in buildings may be an interesting way to decrease our energy needs and our impact on the environment. Moreover, it fosters a local economy and the creation of new jobs in the building industry. Combined with earth materials and other well-selected materials and systems, it allows creative designers to integrate highly efficient, low-tech and reusable envelopes in comfortable and healthy places.

The present paper summarizes the results of a four-year R&D program aiming to improve and promote the use of straw bale in buildings and also to remove uncertainties concerning this use. Three main aspects are pinpointed and discussed: hygrothermal transfer and storage in straw-bale walls, regulation of indoor conditions and environmental impact in the long term. These three topics were submitted to European experts (France, England and Germany) in order to discuss a cross-comparison of results obtained on a larger scale.

The paper shows that straw-bale use in buildings is a relevant and innovative solution in facing one of the major challenges of today and tomorrow: “How to build/transform comfortable and affordable buildings with local resources and with a positive impact on the environment?”.

Authors: Evrard, Arnaud; Biot, Benjamin; Keutgen, Gauthier; Lebeau, Frédéric; Courard, Luc; De Herde, André; 2015

Link: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/166130

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.