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http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20081023/tuk-eco-homes-built-with-straw-bales-45dbed5.html
Eco-Homes Built With Straw Bales
A hotel and restaurant owner is building staff houses from bales of straw to beat rising energy costs.
Peter Rowan is creating two semi-detached three bedroom homes from start at his 16th century coaching inn in Somerset.
He hopes the new homes at Ralegh's Cross, in Exmoor, will reduce his energy bills and carbon footprint.
His straw-house ambitions are part of a wider plan to go green, including installing solar panels and a 20 kilowatt wind turbine.
It will take 530 bales of straw to build the houses, supplied by a farmer in Devon, which are piled on foundations of recycled glass and rock from Wales.
They will cost £60,000 each to build and will provide fives times the insulation required to meet building regulation standards.
Mr Rowan said: "If you mention building a house made of straw these days, people assume you're either joking or putting up a temporary structure.
"Straw is a completely sustainable resource, which can be used to make sturdy, well-insulated buildings.
"It is a means of building that has been around for hundreds of years."
The roof is built first and then lowered on to the walls of straw, which compresses them into a strong load-bearing structure.
Project manager Bee Rowan, of construction company Amazonails, said: "Straw bale technology has only been in the UK for 10 years but in the USA people will pay a premium for these houses because they know the value of the thermal properties.
"They are still finding straw buildings intact from 2,000 years ago."
The hotel's head chef Andre Korreman and his wife, receptionist Karin, will live in one of the houses with son Alex, seven.
Mrs Korreman said: "It will be very warm and cosy inside and we are so happy to be involved."
Eco-Homes Built With Straw Bales
A hotel and restaurant owner is building staff houses from bales of straw to beat rising energy costs.
Peter Rowan is creating two semi-detached three bedroom homes from start at his 16th century coaching inn in Somerset.
He hopes the new homes at Ralegh's Cross, in Exmoor, will reduce his energy bills and carbon footprint.
His straw-house ambitions are part of a wider plan to go green, including installing solar panels and a 20 kilowatt wind turbine.
It will take 530 bales of straw to build the houses, supplied by a farmer in Devon, which are piled on foundations of recycled glass and rock from Wales.
They will cost £60,000 each to build and will provide fives times the insulation required to meet building regulation standards.
Mr Rowan said: "If you mention building a house made of straw these days, people assume you're either joking or putting up a temporary structure.
"Straw is a completely sustainable resource, which can be used to make sturdy, well-insulated buildings.
"It is a means of building that has been around for hundreds of years."
The roof is built first and then lowered on to the walls of straw, which compresses them into a strong load-bearing structure.
Project manager Bee Rowan, of construction company Amazonails, said: "Straw bale technology has only been in the UK for 10 years but in the USA people will pay a premium for these houses because they know the value of the thermal properties.
"They are still finding straw buildings intact from 2,000 years ago."
The hotel's head chef Andre Korreman and his wife, receptionist Karin, will live in one of the houses with son Alex, seven.
Mrs Korreman said: "It will be very warm and cosy inside and we are so happy to be involved."
