UK climate eco-nutjobs now building houses out of hay.
What could go wrong?https://t.co/foqytVvsRd
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) December 23, 2019
The comments on the twitter thread are a hoot.
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EGO STADIUM UPDATE:
An intense Social Media Campaign by myself and others has resulted in a small and very significant hard fought victory for us against this EcoBully!!!
They think it’s all over!
No, it’s going to Extra time and a VAR decision…
The new Tory MP is referring this ludicrous decision and the corrupt process to the Secretary of State for a Public Enquiry..
Good old BBC keeping up the Greenwashing and pushing the Wooden Stadium bit – Dale Vince is one of the Enviro Darlings !!!
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-50903927
Don’t get too excited – see my comment above. The guidelines on call-ins are worth a read.
Call-in’s don’t happen in isolation. There are two parties to a call-in. Dale Vince on the one side and A.N Other. That could be the local community, local parish council, or other opposing body. So who will be representing your side? Who is going to pay for the expert opinions on planning and other environmental issues that will be needed to satisfy the inspector? (Always assuming the SoS grants the application of course).
Thanks for your insight and yes I have.
A very long battle ahead, but at least we have some traction against Dale Vince who’s made millions out of Green issues, declares a climate emergency one minute and wants to concrete over a 100% greenfield site to build his stadium which is not in the Local
Or Regional building plan strategy.
Thanks for the replies. Sadly, because something is not in the local plan does not count for anything. If the plan is silent on a matter then there is nothing to stop is happening (read the NPPF carefully!)
I wish you well with calling the application in. Has a formal request been lodged yet?
It’s a fast moving and fluid situation, the new Tory has just stepped in today – The Call In not granted yet, but literally this development in the last 12 hours…
It will be and there is loads coming out now and the dominoes are starting to fall…
https://www.bbc.com/news/england/gloucestershire
The real question is:
If you use all that straw to build homes how will you make bricks of mud without straw and keep up the tally?
Straw bale houses are better insulated, quieter, much more fireproof, and more environmentally responsible than conventionally-built houses. Any construction and wiring problems were solved years ago. I visited the oldest bale house in Wyoming a number of years ago and spoke to the owner / builder, who told me how, when temperatures rose to uncomfortable levels in the days before A/C, neighbors would come to his house, where it was cool all the time. His utility bills were nominal all year, since heat generated inside stayed inside during the long Wyoming winters. The house was substantial in feel and light inside. Bale houses may not be for everyone, but they’re a nice alternative to stick-built houses for people who can jump through municipal code hoops.
Do straw houses come with tin foil roofs or do the inhabitants were tin foil hats individually?
Aluminum rooves are also quite in Vogue. They last forever and are good radiant barriers – especially with cool paint. They can be seemed or even made to look like existing shingles.
They make a perfect accompaniment for a bale structure.
The Original Nebraska Straw Bale Buildings – The Sustainable Home
http://thesustainablehome.net/the-original-nebraska-straw-bale-buildings/
Jake Cross took me to see the Martin/Monhart house, a home that was built in 1925 out of baled late-season hay. It was formerly owned by his wife Lucille’s parents. What struck me most about this house is how normal it looks. Modern straw bale homes emphasize the straw, with rounded corners, unique plasters, and often slightly wavy or uneven walls. My first thought was that the inside of the Martin/Monhart house had drywall over top of the bale walls, they were straight and flat and covered with wallpaper. This could have been my grandparents’ house. Jake had me stand right beside the wall and look down its length; from this vantage point a slight wave could be seen where the wall meets the ceiling- what I mistook for drywall was the bale wall itself. Only in the windows could the depth of the walls be seen, showing the tremendous insulation value of nearly two feet of baled hay. Lucille told me the story of the day a tornado roared through the town, tearing up trees, blowing out windows and sounding like a freight train running through the middle of town. As soon as the tornado had passed Lucille went to check on her parents only a block away from the path of destruction. “We found them playing cards,” she recounted, “they had no idea a tornado had passed, they didn´t believe us at first.” Bales are a great insulator against sound as well as temperature. Standing there surrounded by the old furniture, I could imagine the couple peacefully playing cards, blissfully unaware of the destruction that came so close.
Straw bale building is OLD NEWS — and has been around in the Homesteading world for 30 years or more. When I was young and had little kids, we considered building a bale home in upstate NY. The attraction was that one could self-build a tight, easy-to-heat home shell from fairly inexpensive local materials.
Like all building methods, straw bale homes have their advantages and disadvantages. They are certainly no magic bullet.
Exactly.
Every building material has pros and cons.
If one material or technique was clearly superior in every possible way, as some here seem to be trying to claim, everyone would use it.
Just treat it with CBD oil. I am sure that would make it perfect in every way and cure any and all defects.
Now I am convinced that wood structural elements don’t fare so badly compared to steel ones against fire, but these tests concentrate on the structural performance in case of fire inside the building.
But when combustible buildings are clustered together, the risk of firestorm increases and I don’t think regulatory tests cover that.
As sidenote, I have seen straw / hay depots catching fire, and while it’s true that the material burns pretty slowly, it also smokes a lot and it is difficult to extinguish once on fire. Usually firefighters have to slowly dismantle the whole pile and thoroughly soak the material with water.
https://www.strawbale.com/
https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Straw-Bale-House
Clay encapsulated straw huts are well insulated. Perhaps these are first-wave Profits, who predicted catastrophic anthropogenic global cooling (CAGC).
I love the article because it shows that readers here are just as irrational and closed-minded as the people that we make fun of for being irrational and closed-minded. Straw bale construction has been proven to be viable for some areas where high humidity is not a problem. Straw smoulders slowly and does not burn easily, which is why fire departments use straw bales to create smoke for training purposes. Post and bean construction using straw bales that are plastered with the appropriate compounds results in very durable structures that are easy to heat/cool and to maintain. Add to that a large resistance to fires and there is a lot to recommend it for some applications in some areas. Dismissing the approach out of hand and pretending that proponents are saying that it should be used everywhere is deceptive. We should be better than that.
You can make house walls out of lots of materials but whether it’s efficient to do so or indeed more environmentally friendly is another matter. Feel free to experiment outside the square to your heart’s content but just be aware you might strike unintended consequences when you do-
https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/868955-mercedes-benz-class-action-lawsuit-says-hvac-systems-emit-mold-smell/
https://www.torquenews.com/1084/2015-mercedes-gla-class-sets-two-environmentally-friendly-benchmarks
I wonder if those dots are connected eh?
My grandfather was born in a sod house built in Dakota Territory during the later part of the 19th century. Its walls were 18 inches thick. Unless periodically well maintained, the walls of such houses won’t stand against natural weathering for more than a century.
What’s wrong with houses of straw & clay.
Called Adobe, built Ur, Babylon, the assyric empire, wells and sewers and the hanging gardens of semiramis.
https://www.google.com/search?q=hanging+gardens+of+semiramis&oq=hanging+gardens+of+semiramis&aqs=chrome.
This things are water-, fire- and weatherproof.