Straw bale construction as passive solar architecture

Conference · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:379882

Cooper, P; Rennick, J ^[1]

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1. San Luis Obispo Solar Group, Santa Margarita, CA (United States)

The recent popularity of straw bale construction is related to several factors: presumed construction cost savings, technical progress in construction techniques, increased acceptance by regulatory agencies, and the sustainability correctness of building with a waste product (rice straw). Another major advantage of building with straw bales has received less attention. Since straw bale construction usually integrates highly insulative material with distributed thermal mass (stucco), it provides an ideal wall assembly for passive solar design. This paper compares five wall assembly options for a small guest house. Construction cost differences are estimated, and energy use for heating and cooling is modeled utilizing the CALPAS3 computer program with climate data for Fresno, CA. To illustrate its potential for superior thermal performance, the straw bale scheme is further optimized and energy use is compared to a standard stud wall construction.

• OSTI ID: 379882
• Report Number(s): CONF-960430--; ISBN 0-89553-211-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
BUILDING MATERIALS
CALIFORNIA
COMPACTING
COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
COOLING LOAD
COST ESTIMATION
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
HEATING LOAD
HOUSES
OPTIMIZATION
SOLAR ARCHITECTURE
STRAW
THERMAL ANALYSIS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY