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DSC06016
Straw bale Cottage, Kensington Metro Park. Outside of Milford Michigan. Note: this is a "natural building" meaning composed of many natural substances with low embedded energy. This isn't a typical modern day straw bale house construction project, but more of a showcase of how natural one can go. For example there's a wattle and daub inner wall. There's a thatched roof. Thatch maybe okay for some rural structures, but probably isn't a great choice for homebuilding in most locations, since it's less fireproof than many other types of roofs, like steel roofing for example. However they were building this showcasing natural techniques and it being a farm rural location like setting, made thatch an interesting choice. CEB (compressed earth blocks) have much less embedded energy than cement blocks or bricks which take more heat to produce. CEB has very low embedded energy and the earthen plasters and CEB may use a lot of excavation material from the site of a building rather than using a typical 7 to 10 acres of wood for a stick built house. Much of the wood in this was from lost ash trees, lost to the emrald ash borer, they were milled from ash wood on site that was to be designated as fire wood.
Is a "steel" roof better than some other types of building materials for roofs. Opinions vary. Steel although not considered a natural substance and high in embedded energy has a long life and can be recycled. There are metal roofs in many third world country shakes, because metal is available and cheap enough to use. Metal roofs are disliked by some fire code officials, because they actually may hold the heat in under the roof in the event of a fire. Some complain about metal roofs being noisy during rainstorms, which is understandable and something that can be treated with insulation that deadens the sound. Others say metal roofs can be more prone to leak if improperly installed. But overall I think I'd prefer a metal roof if I was buiding my own superinsulated structure. Perhaps a merging of Metal roofing, straw bale superinsulated lime plaster, and compressed earth blocks could build the most earth friendly and efficient house in cold climates like Michigan.
Why talk about super-insulation? Because of the cost of energy and possible scarcity of energy as fossil fuels become more scarce or more expensive. Whether oil, gas and coal prices go up due to "peak oil" or some "conspiracy" the end result is the same, the costs of energy skyrocket and we all are hurt in the end. The best solution is conservation and proper design. Why have a structure that is huge, when you only need to live in a small part of it? Why have a huge structure for a bunch of toys that you have to heat, cool store and pay for, while your awake slaving at work to pay the utilities? We need to start thinking smarter and design houses to be much more energy efficient, to get ahead now and perhaps survive in the future. 2/3rds of our energy usage goes to home heating and transportation. Think about it.
1/3rd of your energy budget (maybe more) goes to driving your car. 1/3rd to heating and cooling your house. 1/3rd of our energy goes toward industry which is already difficult to cut back and we have no control over. So I think the best thing to do is cut back on the things that give the biggest payback first and work toward other things. What would that be? Buying a $100,000 superinsulated house? Or a more expensive one? Putting in insulation? None of these, but first and the biggest payback currently is with your car and transportation. Especially as oil is as high priced as it is. Within about 12 months of the revised edit of this writing (8-2009), Mexico's SuperGiant field will have fallen off in production enough to cause Mexico to have no excess oil to pump for exports. Every 18 months the world loses the equivalent oil production as the entire output of Saudi Arabia. The world is literally running out of liquid oil production. New finds cannot keep pace with depletion rates.
So start with your car. If it's a gas hog, get a gas mizer. Start there, the payback will be the fastest by cutting back on transportation energy expense. Then work toward your house if you can. If we can all cut back on our use of energy, it becomes a 100% efficient recovery, much better than being more efficient at doing something bigger and wasting more and more resources.
Second when designing your new house, if you have the luxury. Focus on a small core that is heated and cooled as your living area and extra spaces being unheated or heated by nature for seasonal use. You can often do your activities somewhere else and how much junk do you own that must be kept at a warm or cold temperature while your away? Proper solar and insulated designs can almost reduce your heating bills for heating the house to zero if you have the ability to site the house and use proper insulation designs. Insulate the roof as much as possible R-60 if possible. Most heat and cooling effects are lost due to poor roof insulation.
DSC06016
Straw bale Cottage, Kensington Metro Park. Outside of Milford Michigan. Note: this is a "natural building" meaning composed of many natural substances with low embedded energy. This isn't a typical modern day straw bale house construction project, but more of a showcase of how natural one can go. For example there's a wattle and daub inner wall. There's a thatched roof. Thatch maybe okay for some rural structures, but probably isn't a great choice for homebuilding in most locations, since it's less fireproof than many other types of roofs, like steel roofing for example. However they were building this showcasing natural techniques and it being a farm rural location like setting, made thatch an interesting choice. CEB (compressed earth blocks) have much less embedded energy than cement blocks or bricks which take more heat to produce. CEB has very low embedded energy and the earthen plasters and CEB may use a lot of excavation material from the site of a building rather than using a typical 7 to 10 acres of wood for a stick built house. Much of the wood in this was from lost ash trees, lost to the emrald ash borer, they were milled from ash wood on site that was to be designated as fire wood.
Is a "steel" roof better than some other types of building materials for roofs. Opinions vary. Steel although not considered a natural substance and high in embedded energy has a long life and can be recycled. There are metal roofs in many third world country shakes, because metal is available and cheap enough to use. Metal roofs are disliked by some fire code officials, because they actually may hold the heat in under the roof in the event of a fire. Some complain about metal roofs being noisy during rainstorms, which is understandable and something that can be treated with insulation that deadens the sound. Others say metal roofs can be more prone to leak if improperly installed. But overall I think I'd prefer a metal roof if I was buiding my own superinsulated structure. Perhaps a merging of Metal roofing, straw bale superinsulated lime plaster, and compressed earth blocks could build the most earth friendly and efficient house in cold climates like Michigan.
Why talk about super-insulation? Because of the cost of energy and possible scarcity of energy as fossil fuels become more scarce or more expensive. Whether oil, gas and coal prices go up due to "peak oil" or some "conspiracy" the end result is the same, the costs of energy skyrocket and we all are hurt in the end. The best solution is conservation and proper design. Why have a structure that is huge, when you only need to live in a small part of it? Why have a huge structure for a bunch of toys that you have to heat, cool store and pay for, while your awake slaving at work to pay the utilities? We need to start thinking smarter and design houses to be much more energy efficient, to get ahead now and perhaps survive in the future. 2/3rds of our energy usage goes to home heating and transportation. Think about it.
1/3rd of your energy budget (maybe more) goes to driving your car. 1/3rd to heating and cooling your house. 1/3rd of our energy goes toward industry which is already difficult to cut back and we have no control over. So I think the best thing to do is cut back on the things that give the biggest payback first and work toward other things. What would that be? Buying a $100,000 superinsulated house? Or a more expensive one? Putting in insulation? None of these, but first and the biggest payback currently is with your car and transportation. Especially as oil is as high priced as it is. Within about 12 months of the revised edit of this writing (8-2009), Mexico's SuperGiant field will have fallen off in production enough to cause Mexico to have no excess oil to pump for exports. Every 18 months the world loses the equivalent oil production as the entire output of Saudi Arabia. The world is literally running out of liquid oil production. New finds cannot keep pace with depletion rates.
So start with your car. If it's a gas hog, get a gas mizer. Start there, the payback will be the fastest by cutting back on transportation energy expense. Then work toward your house if you can. If we can all cut back on our use of energy, it becomes a 100% efficient recovery, much better than being more efficient at doing something bigger and wasting more and more resources.
Second when designing your new house, if you have the luxury. Focus on a small core that is heated and cooled as your living area and extra spaces being unheated or heated by nature for seasonal use. You can often do your activities somewhere else and how much junk do you own that must be kept at a warm or cold temperature while your away? Proper solar and insulated designs can almost reduce your heating bills for heating the house to zero if you have the ability to site the house and use proper insulation designs. Insulate the roof as much as possible R-60 if possible. Most heat and cooling effects are lost due to poor roof insulation.