Today’s bag of cellulose insulation costs approximately 65 cents per cubic foot after the bag is opened.  Bags of rice hulls at the local garden center are priced at $10 to $14 per bag containing 3 cubic feet after the bag is opened.

An innovative mind is needed to figure out how to compact the rice hulls for packaging and shipping, then bounce them back to fluffy insulation when the bag is opened.  Cellulose can perform this stunt very well.

Too keep the costs for rice hulls minimal, they have to be shipped in bulk. The container being used to transport the hulls needs an open top because rice hulls are dropped from overhead storage or loaded with a front end loader.   Freight rates vary little between a short truck or a tractor-trailer; the bigger the truck, the cheaper the hulls.

If the truck is hired, the hulls must be unloaded pronto and then stored in a large container.  That scarce container has to provide a dry environment.  A trailer load, 3000 to 3500 cubic feet would be a six foot deep fill for a two car garage.

If the house being insulated is 1500 square feet with 12 inch wall capacity and 15 inch attic/ceiling capacity, 3000 cubit feet — or a trailer load.  Anything less than 12 inches in the walls or 15 inches in the ceiling will not save enough energy to make the effort valuable. According to my ‘indisputable’ calculations, 12 inches of rice hulls in the walls should equal R-40 and 15 inches in the ceiling figures up to R-50+.  That’s a very GREEN house.

Depending upon how far rice hulls have to be hauled, 3000 cubit feet will not cost much more than 2000 cubit feet.

Now for the strawbale promo.  Figuring an 18 inch wall with straw and a 12 inch wall for rice hulls. there is approximately 80 square feet more living space in a 1500 square foot house using rice hull insulation in walls over the 18 inch thick walls of straw.  Cost for the materials — straw or rice hulls — is about the same.  So much depends on what you have access to — straw or rice hulls

Building green in the true sense doesn’t make a big splash. It may not get you primetime publicity, but you will be better off financially and health-wise. Sadly you will not be getting backing from the big companies because you will have left them out of the equation. Nor from health providers because you won’t be using their services as much, if any.

I like the green principle of the strawbale home. It just simply works. A strawbale house built with southern orientation for maximum passive solar gain, an attic insulated with hulls from rice or wheat, plaster that is either lime base or earth base (so it can ‘breath’), as many recycled building materials as possible will make you the “greenest” person in town. You will have more “green” in your pocket with lower utility bills. You can take your money shopping for “green” appliances, solar panels, a hybrid car and other ‘green’ gear that will never pay for themselves in dollars and cents, but will be easier on the environment.

Who knows, maybe someday we will have Cash for Cabins. The Feds will buy your old eco unfriendly house for your property tax bill if you will build at least a 5% more eco friendly domicile. Of course, they will then burn your old house, creating air pollution and undoing anything gained by a lower energy demand. BUT, this all will create new jobs, harvest more trees, manufacture more cement and pump more oil for asphalt shingles. Better hope the suits on the Beltway don’t read this; it might just be the next Big Idea.

When he learned of the availability of the $15,000 grant offered by the Top of the Ozarks RC&D Straw Bale Construction Initiative, he quit thinking and started to act.

Tom first contacted me in 2007, but it was the spring of 2008  before he could get his land for certain.  He put things in motion.

As we come into April 2009. he is close to finishing a nice one bed, one bath, approximately 80% solar straw bale home.  The main heat source is a very small wood stove.

Tom has been his own builder/contractor, doing a lot of the work himself. He told me he had little building experience but was not afraid of work. As I have been overseeing the house from the ground up, I find it difficult to believe he started out inexperienced.  Tom has one straw bale house the big bad wolf won’t blow down.

The house is well built and protected with four foot roof overhang on the sides and porches on the ends.  I am big on the theory of  Big boots and Big hat for straw bale construction and Tom has accomplished both.

Alternative energy holds great interest for me, especially solar. The sun’s power is there for our use, free, except for the cost of the equipment to harvest it.

As a result, I am taking great interest in Tom’s solar efficient project. I intend to do some follow-up in the future on this house regarding energy consumption.

Starting out Tom is using six 175watt Kyocera panels and eight Trojon T-105 6volt batteries. This is basically a 1kw system, which may sound a little small but he has a super efficient Sun Frost electric refrigerator, an on-demand tankless gas water heater and will cook with gas. He has a grid connection so when he is producing more power than he is using it will reduce the cost of power purchased from the power company.

Tom is also concerned with water conservation so he is collecting the rainwater from the roof in an underground cistern and then pumping it to a pressure tank with a small DC electric pump for household use.

Tom may be only one person but it only takes one person at a time using good sense determining how much house is really needed to be comfortable, designing for passive solar and energy efficiency and building it to be nearly maintenance free. To me this is “green”.

Keep your straw dry,  Richard