If you are like me you enjoy watching the crops and flowers you plant in the spring grow and develop. There is certainly nothing more satisfying than reaping that which you sow, but this day in age it can be a lot more complicated than that. As we all know many seed varieties out there are genetically modified to produce stronger, more productive plants, seemingly a great concept. However, there are many problems with this concept.
My biggest issue with this whole arrangement is that very few companies hold a monopoly on the supply of seeds, making them a very pretty, not so green, penny. Along with that these companies are into some very shady practice. For instance, the company Monsanto, one of the worlds largest seed producers is famous for suing farmers who grow crops adjacent to farms using Monsanto seeds. Their argument is that because the crops near the Monsanto plants might be fertilized by the Monsanto plant's pollen, those farmers then owe Monsanto royalties for the genetic information passed on. Utterly outrageous. Once more these seeds are often times designed so that their progeny are sterile and seeds collected from these genetically modified crops will, often times, not grow. This obviously forces farmers to continuously buy from one company. For sake of time, I won't start on how these seeds are often sold as part of a package deal of fertilizers and pesticides that are REQUIRED for these seeds to flourish.
If all this strikes you odd and maybe even enrages you slightly consider this article by Colleen Vanderlinden, titled; Keeping Monsanto Out Of Your Garden This Spring. In it she addresses which companies are owned by and sell seeds produced by companies like Monsanto and others. She also gives you some tips on knowing what to look for when buying seeds. If you want my opinion and you are from the Northeast, talk to the oldest person you know with a garden. Often times they keep their seeds for generations, and will have some genuine non-GMO heirloom varieties. If that doesn't work talk to the people at your local Farmers Market or Organic Co-Op, they will be able to point you to the varieties and companies, that work best with your local area. If all else fails start Googling, AND READ!
Showing posts with label ecofriendly living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ecofriendly living. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Friday, December 11, 2009
Communes, Intentional Communities, and Ecovillages; different spins on society that can sustain humanity into the future.
When someone tells you they want to live on a commune they immediately have visions of free-loving hippies and psychedelic drug use, the traditional view of anyone counter to the common ideas of how a society should be structured. This, at times, may have been a understandable outlook, the 60's had their ups and downs, but modern intentional communities are paving the way for people to live sustainable into the future.
So what are all these concepts anyway? Communes? Intentional Communities? Ecovillages?
The idea of a commune is nothing new, we are all familiar with the communes of the 60's in America, but they go much further back into history than that. In America there were many political, religious, or social communes that date back into the 1800's. Believe it or not the Oneida silverware company, in Oneida, New York, began as a commune! Abroad there are histories of communes in Europe, in countries like Germany and Russia. In the Middle East was home to communes in the past. All over the world there are Abbey's and Monasteries that are communes and some of these date back hundreds of years, if not more!
What a commune is differs greatly from place to place but most are a community of people who unite over social, political, or religious causes, common interests of goals, and many other things. Typically material possessions and land are shared along with income and resources. These are a type of "intentional community" or planned community. Basically a residential community that places a high emphasis on team work and the common good, and which works towards a better way of life for its residents. Many commune-type communities are ruled democratically or by majority vote of its founding members. However some have a more hierarchical form of rule. It would seem that one common thread is a disdain for bureaucracy and unfairness.
What is an interesting concept within a commune is the idea of shared property and possessions. Foreign to most Americans is the concept that a group can own a piece of property, live and work on that property, and be successful as a society. Even more unusual is the idea that a group of people would pool their individual incomes together in order to serve the interests of the group as a whole. By bringing all their income together into one common purse the group can achieve much more than the individual and in achieving more as a group they raise the standard of living for the whole commune.
I personally think that in a time of global economic hardship the idea that a group could come together like this. In a way it is a very human thing to do. Those in the group without an income could find a way to be beneficial the group through the growing of food and livestock or doing the work and chores around the property, and maintaining the various systems needed for life. Meanwhile those who have an income can bring that into the group and benefit the group as a whole while being supported by other members of the group. This sort of symbiosis, I feel, is lost on many Americans today. Perhaps only in stories and the memories of the very old can we find functioning examples of this in out society.
So then comes the concept of the ecovillage. At it roots a combination of a intentional community and a sustainable habitat for humans. Most ecovillages place special importance on being eco-friendly to the extreme. Green or eco-friendly infrastructure and capital, small ecological footprint, systems of sustainable agriculture such as permaculture, and renewable energy are just some of the pillars that an ecovillage stands on.
Most within ecovillags place a value on being agents of change for the greater society. Setting the example of how people can live without harming the environment. Self-sufficiency is also sometimes a goal but can lead in ways to isolation that may not be desirable. Most ecovillages look down on immoral or objectionable spending from an ecological or socially just point of view. So leave your SUV's at the gate. This mindset of eco-friendliness combined with a goal of making life equally agreeable makes for a very attractive deal.
For more information on ecovillages I encourage you to visit The Ecovillage at Ithaca's website. EVI is a ecovillage made up of two distinct communities with a third on the way in Ithaca, New York. Their village spans a 175 acre parcel of land a large chunk of which is dedicated "green space" that will not be developed. Theirs is a very good inspiration for what a ecovillage looks like.
So how can these examples help our society in the coming decades? It may not be what these communities themselves do within themselves but the example they leave and the skills they teach others that will be of greatest importance to society as a whole. In the face of the converging problems of climate change, peak oil, overpopulation, food scarcity, water shortages, etc, etc, an ecovillage is a small utopia within the greater picture. Expand that Utopian lens to the size of a small town or city and we are talking about a method of living that could possibly sustain society.
A large part of what these ecovillages would do is bring infrastructure, production, agriculture, and all the basics of life back into the local community. Imagine a town of average size where the local economy wasn't a problem because everything that the town needed was made within its own borders. Now the concepts of property and income sharing might not be for all but imagine if your town made its own clothing and you were able to buy that clothing at 80% of what it would cost you to get it from a foreign supplier because by purchasing that piece of clothing you were not only supporting your local textile industry but also your own livelihood. Of course this might not work for places as big as New York City but there are parts of the greater message that might be applicable such as raising your own food, or even just a portion. Within a small town like the many that dot New York State there are surely people who would benefit from the de-specialization of labor, shared property, working within the community, for the community as a community member, growth of local industry, self sufficient lifestyles.
Realistically a group of friends or like minded individuals who were to start such a community would only need to be able to purchase, collectively, a piece of land to suit their group size, maybe 50 acres. From there they would need within their group, individuals with the skills and the means to build homes, farm the land, design green small scale water and water treatment facilities, build a internal power infrastructure, raise livestock. Skills that not many have but that many might be able to learn. Initially such a venture might be costly for those fronting the cash within the group or for all the members of the group equally, but after a few years of hard work and determination they would be able to put together a sustainable habitat for those who lived there. Such a goal is hard met but noble in its intent, and truly any group who deems such a cause worthy is deserving of such a haven. With luck, in time, there may be more such villages in the world. With greater luck perhaps the world will pay attention and set some similar goals of its own.
So what are all these concepts anyway? Communes? Intentional Communities? Ecovillages?
The idea of a commune is nothing new, we are all familiar with the communes of the 60's in America, but they go much further back into history than that. In America there were many political, religious, or social communes that date back into the 1800's. Believe it or not the Oneida silverware company, in Oneida, New York, began as a commune! Abroad there are histories of communes in Europe, in countries like Germany and Russia. In the Middle East was home to communes in the past. All over the world there are Abbey's and Monasteries that are communes and some of these date back hundreds of years, if not more!
What a commune is differs greatly from place to place but most are a community of people who unite over social, political, or religious causes, common interests of goals, and many other things. Typically material possessions and land are shared along with income and resources. These are a type of "intentional community" or planned community. Basically a residential community that places a high emphasis on team work and the common good, and which works towards a better way of life for its residents. Many commune-type communities are ruled democratically or by majority vote of its founding members. However some have a more hierarchical form of rule. It would seem that one common thread is a disdain for bureaucracy and unfairness.
What is an interesting concept within a commune is the idea of shared property and possessions. Foreign to most Americans is the concept that a group can own a piece of property, live and work on that property, and be successful as a society. Even more unusual is the idea that a group of people would pool their individual incomes together in order to serve the interests of the group as a whole. By bringing all their income together into one common purse the group can achieve much more than the individual and in achieving more as a group they raise the standard of living for the whole commune.
I personally think that in a time of global economic hardship the idea that a group could come together like this. In a way it is a very human thing to do. Those in the group without an income could find a way to be beneficial the group through the growing of food and livestock or doing the work and chores around the property, and maintaining the various systems needed for life. Meanwhile those who have an income can bring that into the group and benefit the group as a whole while being supported by other members of the group. This sort of symbiosis, I feel, is lost on many Americans today. Perhaps only in stories and the memories of the very old can we find functioning examples of this in out society.
So then comes the concept of the ecovillage. At it roots a combination of a intentional community and a sustainable habitat for humans. Most ecovillages place special importance on being eco-friendly to the extreme. Green or eco-friendly infrastructure and capital, small ecological footprint, systems of sustainable agriculture such as permaculture, and renewable energy are just some of the pillars that an ecovillage stands on.
Most within ecovillags place a value on being agents of change for the greater society. Setting the example of how people can live without harming the environment. Self-sufficiency is also sometimes a goal but can lead in ways to isolation that may not be desirable. Most ecovillages look down on immoral or objectionable spending from an ecological or socially just point of view. So leave your SUV's at the gate. This mindset of eco-friendliness combined with a goal of making life equally agreeable makes for a very attractive deal.
For more information on ecovillages I encourage you to visit The Ecovillage at Ithaca's website. EVI is a ecovillage made up of two distinct communities with a third on the way in Ithaca, New York. Their village spans a 175 acre parcel of land a large chunk of which is dedicated "green space" that will not be developed. Theirs is a very good inspiration for what a ecovillage looks like.
So how can these examples help our society in the coming decades? It may not be what these communities themselves do within themselves but the example they leave and the skills they teach others that will be of greatest importance to society as a whole. In the face of the converging problems of climate change, peak oil, overpopulation, food scarcity, water shortages, etc, etc, an ecovillage is a small utopia within the greater picture. Expand that Utopian lens to the size of a small town or city and we are talking about a method of living that could possibly sustain society.
A large part of what these ecovillages would do is bring infrastructure, production, agriculture, and all the basics of life back into the local community. Imagine a town of average size where the local economy wasn't a problem because everything that the town needed was made within its own borders. Now the concepts of property and income sharing might not be for all but imagine if your town made its own clothing and you were able to buy that clothing at 80% of what it would cost you to get it from a foreign supplier because by purchasing that piece of clothing you were not only supporting your local textile industry but also your own livelihood. Of course this might not work for places as big as New York City but there are parts of the greater message that might be applicable such as raising your own food, or even just a portion. Within a small town like the many that dot New York State there are surely people who would benefit from the de-specialization of labor, shared property, working within the community, for the community as a community member, growth of local industry, self sufficient lifestyles.
Realistically a group of friends or like minded individuals who were to start such a community would only need to be able to purchase, collectively, a piece of land to suit their group size, maybe 50 acres. From there they would need within their group, individuals with the skills and the means to build homes, farm the land, design green small scale water and water treatment facilities, build a internal power infrastructure, raise livestock. Skills that not many have but that many might be able to learn. Initially such a venture might be costly for those fronting the cash within the group or for all the members of the group equally, but after a few years of hard work and determination they would be able to put together a sustainable habitat for those who lived there. Such a goal is hard met but noble in its intent, and truly any group who deems such a cause worthy is deserving of such a haven. With luck, in time, there may be more such villages in the world. With greater luck perhaps the world will pay attention and set some similar goals of its own.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Alternatives in housing, shrinking the McMansion into something small, sustainable, and eco-friendly.
There are a lot of problems with suburbia. One of my least favorite is the McMansions of suburbia, the multitude of cookie cutter, 3000+ square foot, hollow, stick frame, buildings that line countless thousands of housing developments across the nation.
What is so bad about these behemoth buildings? From an architectural stand point they are mutts, cross breeds of many different architectural styles. The facade of many of these homes are considered beautiful but the beauty stops at the front door. Walk around the side of these buildings and they are cold, flat, emotionless, vinyl sided and ugly. There is nothing attractive about vinyl siding. Its cheap plastic, and about as American as housing gets. Under these plastic wrappings are even cheaper stick frame constructions, built to save time, money and labor. On the inside of the massive homes are more of the same; cold, flat, white, and empty spaces. The cheapness of construction in these homes means the house has a short life span and regular repair bill. The insides need to be filled with massive, over-sized, furniture just to make the place feel lived in. There is little to no warmth, no feeling that these houses are homes. These homes are fragile, and hopelessly wasteful in their design and what they incorporate into their construction. This was not always the way, no, in fact our country has a colorful history of building designs and ideas. The alternatives are out there we only need to look for them.
So what are the alternatives? There are many different styles of homes being built today that qualify, at least in my mind, as "alternative' in their designs. These range from the simplest and closest to modern architecture, such as the Tumbleweed Tiny Homes of Jay Shafer, to the very progressive, such as the Earthship designs of Earthship Biotecture. Like I said some of these homes are completely radical and some are rather traditional, either way it is what they represent and how they are built that really makes them special.
Lets start with the Tiny House Movement. Tiny homes are a large piece of American housing history, from the times of the settlers right on up the the bungalows of the early 1900's through the 1970's and beyond to modern cabins and retreats, these sub-1000 square foot homes pop up all over America. But what makes them special, you ask? Efficiency and conservation of space, rooms with multiple uses and features, small operational and construction costs, all of these are part of the tiny house charm.
Here is an example of a tiny house and its floor plan from the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in California. This particular house is one of their mid range home size wise, and offers up to three bedrooms within it's 681 to 774 square foot structure. They are beautiful homes but they are traditional in their architecture, stick frame with hardwood floors and wood paneled walls and ceilings. However, it is their efficient design scheme, taking advantage of ever little nook and cranny conceivable to fit the necessities of daily life into such a small space. Two bathrooms, the option of three bedrooms, a family room, and kitchen (with an optional dinette area replacing the downstairs bath) all trimmed of the unnecessary space and wasted areas. I know from experience that a family of three or four could easily live in such a small space. It only takes a quick google search to confirm that thousands of families in the US are already living in such simple and streamlined arrangements.
A special aside is needed for Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed Homes that are on wheels. These designs, while dependent on fossil fuel driven trucks, are a novel take on the nomadic lifestyle. Reminiscent of the Gypsy wagons of old Europe, these homes allow for geographic and social mobility on seldom achieved levels. An inspiration to me and many of my friends, these homes exemplify a multitude of alternative concepts in housing.
The next most radical idea in shrinking the McMansion into a sustainable and alternative design again lends much from American housing history, the straw bale home. Building homes with bales of straw dates far back into pre-history, however the use of straw bale construction as an industry or model design is an American invention dating back to the late 1800's. The mid-west was rich with the basic element needed, straw, and it was a staple of local farming. Homes, community buildings, and even churches and schools were constructed out of rectangular straw bales stacked up on top of each other, most famously in the Sand Hills region of Nebraska.
In this method of building there are two schools; those who build straw bale homes with load-bearing straw bale walls and those who build homes with non-load-bearing walls supported by a post and beam style frame. The earliest bale homes were load-bearing. Modern frames bale homes can support as many stories as the builder wishes to put up, though I doubt anything more than seven stories is practical. Any modern home design can be adapted for straw bale construction. Space must be added to accommodate the size of the bales, but the benefit of bale walls is in the limitless artistic possibilities and the R-value (insulation value) of the walls, safety from fire and pests, and costs.
The typical bale wall has as much as triple the R value of a conventional stick framed home, making the straw bale design a pillar of energy savings and efficiency in any environment. The artistic advantage of bale construction is in the ease at which curves, shapes, and complex designs can be integrated into a stawbale home. Your imagination is the limit when you are able to cut and shape the straw to whatever shape you wish and the plaster, with which you cover the bales, can be colored and formed at will. The possibilities are really endless and this uniqueness makes for a very attractive home.
The level fire and pest resistance that a strawbale home provides takes most by storm and leaves most completely blown away when they see facts. A well built straw bale home is nearly fireproof when compared to a typical stick frame structure. If you punched a hole in the wall of a straw bale home and lit the straw with a lighter it can take as much as 24 hours until there is any structural failure. When compared to the minutes it can take to bring down a stick frame home this is truly unbelievable! This is because there is very little air inside the walls of a straw bale home, effectively suffocating any fire.
Quite similarly a well built straw bale home is nearly impervious to pests as there isn't much for them in the densely packed straw and they also have to bore through very hard plaster to get to it.
Lastly the cost of a straw bale home is a huge point to discuss. On average the typical straw bale home costs between $30 and $100 per square foot. This varies greatly depending on things like source of labor, bales, equipment used, number of workers you hire, and permits needed. Of course the lower ranges are typically that low because a person decides to DIY their house under the guidance of an experienced professional and hires family and friends at the cost of pizza and beer on weekends to get the job done. So the cost will obviously go up if you hire a contractor to do it for you. In comparison to a stick frame home, which costs on average $80-$200 per square foot, a straw bale home is a great alternative and remember we haven't discussed the savings over time with such good insulation or the ecological implications of building with straw.
To briefly cover the ecological implications, let me compare the main components of both straw baled and stick frame homes. Straw bales rely on just that, straw bales, which can be regenerated twice a year. Stick frame homes rely on 2x4's and other lumber, which can only be regenerated once every 6-8 years or longer. Then we may consider the interior and exterior walls. A straw bale is covered, inside and out, with plaster (plaster, stucco, etc) made from; a mix of cement, lime formula, or clay/earth, all readily available and cheap to procure. A stick frame home is reliant on Sheetrock and vinyl siding, both of which are artificial and costly to produce compared to the coverings on straw bales.
Similar to the straw bale home is the cob home. The cob home is made of a slurry of clay, earth, straw, sand, and water, indeed it is cobbed together! Even cheaper than a straw bale it rivals the straw bales artistic possibilities and in construction is very akin to the adobe construction methods of the South West. Many cob homes, like their straw bale cousins, last for generations on generations. However, the cob home surpasses the straw bale in overall longevity with one of the oldest cob homes still inhabited today at over 500 years old. Adaptable to many climates the cob home has been seen in places like the UK, colonial America, the American South West, Africa, the Middle-East, New Zealand, Australia, and the list goes on and on. My expertise and experience with cob building is very limited, as seen by my short mention of it here, however a short google search will turn up an endless amount of information on the topic. Should you want to visit a cob home, I believe there is still one in construction on the Pine Lake Environmental Campus of Hartwick College, in Oneonta New York. I suggest contacting Peter Blue through Hartwick's website for more information. If you end up there be sure to visit the beautiful example of a straw bale home also at the Pine Lake Campus.
Next up on my list of housing alternatives is the completely sustainable living system of the Earthship. The Earthship is a completely self contained example of what living could be. Developed by the company Earthship Biotechture the Earthship is a system or ideology of building a home. It's design is aimed at providing for the occupant in every conceivable way, from self contained sewage treatment, to solar and wind power for electricity and rain catchment cisterns for a water source. These look and feel almost like a modernized version of the "Hobbit Hole" from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These fantastic designs are more than many could imagine and with the ability to be adapted for any climate and condition, constructed of any recycled or renewable material, and containing almost every necessity of life (not to mention all the necessities of modern life). I am not much more than a fan of the Earthship design and my research into this building practice is limited. There is a wealth of information on the Earthships site including diagrams, videos, messages from Earthship inhabitants, amongst other things. It is well worth looking into. My only concern with this concept is the price point. At or above $200 per square foot this is a comparatively expensive concept, at least at the beginning. However, once you actually are living in your Earthship there is very little maintenance and expenses typically encountered with most modern homes, making these homes a valuable investment.
I hope this post was enlightening for you all an I encourage you to comment! If you want me to explore any of the above alternatives or wish to hear about how they can be successfully combined please let me know.
What is so bad about these behemoth buildings? From an architectural stand point they are mutts, cross breeds of many different architectural styles. The facade of many of these homes are considered beautiful but the beauty stops at the front door. Walk around the side of these buildings and they are cold, flat, emotionless, vinyl sided and ugly. There is nothing attractive about vinyl siding. Its cheap plastic, and about as American as housing gets. Under these plastic wrappings are even cheaper stick frame constructions, built to save time, money and labor. On the inside of the massive homes are more of the same; cold, flat, white, and empty spaces. The cheapness of construction in these homes means the house has a short life span and regular repair bill. The insides need to be filled with massive, over-sized, furniture just to make the place feel lived in. There is little to no warmth, no feeling that these houses are homes. These homes are fragile, and hopelessly wasteful in their design and what they incorporate into their construction. This was not always the way, no, in fact our country has a colorful history of building designs and ideas. The alternatives are out there we only need to look for them.
So what are the alternatives? There are many different styles of homes being built today that qualify, at least in my mind, as "alternative' in their designs. These range from the simplest and closest to modern architecture, such as the Tumbleweed Tiny Homes of Jay Shafer, to the very progressive, such as the Earthship designs of Earthship Biotecture. Like I said some of these homes are completely radical and some are rather traditional, either way it is what they represent and how they are built that really makes them special.
Lets start with the Tiny House Movement. Tiny homes are a large piece of American housing history, from the times of the settlers right on up the the bungalows of the early 1900's through the 1970's and beyond to modern cabins and retreats, these sub-1000 square foot homes pop up all over America. But what makes them special, you ask? Efficiency and conservation of space, rooms with multiple uses and features, small operational and construction costs, all of these are part of the tiny house charm.
Here is an example of a tiny house and its floor plan from the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in California. This particular house is one of their mid range home size wise, and offers up to three bedrooms within it's 681 to 774 square foot structure. They are beautiful homes but they are traditional in their architecture, stick frame with hardwood floors and wood paneled walls and ceilings. However, it is their efficient design scheme, taking advantage of ever little nook and cranny conceivable to fit the necessities of daily life into such a small space. Two bathrooms, the option of three bedrooms, a family room, and kitchen (with an optional dinette area replacing the downstairs bath) all trimmed of the unnecessary space and wasted areas. I know from experience that a family of three or four could easily live in such a small space. It only takes a quick google search to confirm that thousands of families in the US are already living in such simple and streamlined arrangements.
A special aside is needed for Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed Homes that are on wheels. These designs, while dependent on fossil fuel driven trucks, are a novel take on the nomadic lifestyle. Reminiscent of the Gypsy wagons of old Europe, these homes allow for geographic and social mobility on seldom achieved levels. An inspiration to me and many of my friends, these homes exemplify a multitude of alternative concepts in housing.
The next most radical idea in shrinking the McMansion into a sustainable and alternative design again lends much from American housing history, the straw bale home. Building homes with bales of straw dates far back into pre-history, however the use of straw bale construction as an industry or model design is an American invention dating back to the late 1800's. The mid-west was rich with the basic element needed, straw, and it was a staple of local farming. Homes, community buildings, and even churches and schools were constructed out of rectangular straw bales stacked up on top of each other, most famously in the Sand Hills region of Nebraska.
In this method of building there are two schools; those who build straw bale homes with load-bearing straw bale walls and those who build homes with non-load-bearing walls supported by a post and beam style frame. The earliest bale homes were load-bearing. Modern frames bale homes can support as many stories as the builder wishes to put up, though I doubt anything more than seven stories is practical. Any modern home design can be adapted for straw bale construction. Space must be added to accommodate the size of the bales, but the benefit of bale walls is in the limitless artistic possibilities and the R-value (insulation value) of the walls, safety from fire and pests, and costs.
The typical bale wall has as much as triple the R value of a conventional stick framed home, making the straw bale design a pillar of energy savings and efficiency in any environment. The artistic advantage of bale construction is in the ease at which curves, shapes, and complex designs can be integrated into a stawbale home. Your imagination is the limit when you are able to cut and shape the straw to whatever shape you wish and the plaster, with which you cover the bales, can be colored and formed at will. The possibilities are really endless and this uniqueness makes for a very attractive home.
The level fire and pest resistance that a strawbale home provides takes most by storm and leaves most completely blown away when they see facts. A well built straw bale home is nearly fireproof when compared to a typical stick frame structure. If you punched a hole in the wall of a straw bale home and lit the straw with a lighter it can take as much as 24 hours until there is any structural failure. When compared to the minutes it can take to bring down a stick frame home this is truly unbelievable! This is because there is very little air inside the walls of a straw bale home, effectively suffocating any fire.
Quite similarly a well built straw bale home is nearly impervious to pests as there isn't much for them in the densely packed straw and they also have to bore through very hard plaster to get to it.
Lastly the cost of a straw bale home is a huge point to discuss. On average the typical straw bale home costs between $30 and $100 per square foot. This varies greatly depending on things like source of labor, bales, equipment used, number of workers you hire, and permits needed. Of course the lower ranges are typically that low because a person decides to DIY their house under the guidance of an experienced professional and hires family and friends at the cost of pizza and beer on weekends to get the job done. So the cost will obviously go up if you hire a contractor to do it for you. In comparison to a stick frame home, which costs on average $80-$200 per square foot, a straw bale home is a great alternative and remember we haven't discussed the savings over time with such good insulation or the ecological implications of building with straw.
To briefly cover the ecological implications, let me compare the main components of both straw baled and stick frame homes. Straw bales rely on just that, straw bales, which can be regenerated twice a year. Stick frame homes rely on 2x4's and other lumber, which can only be regenerated once every 6-8 years or longer. Then we may consider the interior and exterior walls. A straw bale is covered, inside and out, with plaster (plaster, stucco, etc) made from; a mix of cement, lime formula, or clay/earth, all readily available and cheap to procure. A stick frame home is reliant on Sheetrock and vinyl siding, both of which are artificial and costly to produce compared to the coverings on straw bales.
Similar to the straw bale home is the cob home. The cob home is made of a slurry of clay, earth, straw, sand, and water, indeed it is cobbed together! Even cheaper than a straw bale it rivals the straw bales artistic possibilities and in construction is very akin to the adobe construction methods of the South West. Many cob homes, like their straw bale cousins, last for generations on generations. However, the cob home surpasses the straw bale in overall longevity with one of the oldest cob homes still inhabited today at over 500 years old. Adaptable to many climates the cob home has been seen in places like the UK, colonial America, the American South West, Africa, the Middle-East, New Zealand, Australia, and the list goes on and on. My expertise and experience with cob building is very limited, as seen by my short mention of it here, however a short google search will turn up an endless amount of information on the topic. Should you want to visit a cob home, I believe there is still one in construction on the Pine Lake Environmental Campus of Hartwick College, in Oneonta New York. I suggest contacting Peter Blue through Hartwick's website for more information. If you end up there be sure to visit the beautiful example of a straw bale home also at the Pine Lake Campus.
Next up on my list of housing alternatives is the completely sustainable living system of the Earthship. The Earthship is a completely self contained example of what living could be. Developed by the company Earthship Biotechture the Earthship is a system or ideology of building a home. It's design is aimed at providing for the occupant in every conceivable way, from self contained sewage treatment, to solar and wind power for electricity and rain catchment cisterns for a water source. These look and feel almost like a modernized version of the "Hobbit Hole" from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These fantastic designs are more than many could imagine and with the ability to be adapted for any climate and condition, constructed of any recycled or renewable material, and containing almost every necessity of life (not to mention all the necessities of modern life). I am not much more than a fan of the Earthship design and my research into this building practice is limited. There is a wealth of information on the Earthships site including diagrams, videos, messages from Earthship inhabitants, amongst other things. It is well worth looking into. My only concern with this concept is the price point. At or above $200 per square foot this is a comparatively expensive concept, at least at the beginning. However, once you actually are living in your Earthship there is very little maintenance and expenses typically encountered with most modern homes, making these homes a valuable investment.
I hope this post was enlightening for you all an I encourage you to comment! If you want me to explore any of the above alternatives or wish to hear about how they can be successfully combined please let me know.
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