Building with Biofibres

Where the past meets the future for energy

efficiency and reduced environmental
impact
 How Did I Get to Be
“That Straw Bale Guy”?

• Wanted to build a house that was:

• Affordable
• Energy Efficient
• Environmentally Sound
 Straw Bale?
• Our house has many unique features,
including:
– Off-grid with solar and micro-hydro power
– Solar hot water
– Radiant floor heating
– Passive solar
– Etc….

• But Straw Bales get all the glory!

 Straw Bales: Blessing & Curse
• Blessing because it’s gained a lot of
attention without a lot of budget
• Curse because:
• It shouldn’t be such a big deal
• Three little pigs and big bad wolf jokes suck
• It makes the idea sound “fringe”
• Change “straw bale” to “structural fibre
insulation (SFI)” or “bio-fibre building”
 What Do We Do With
This “Bio-Fibre”?
1) Straw bale wall systems
2) Structural fibres in plasters
3) Straw/Clay wall systems
4) Hempcrete
• Insulated foundation walls
• Insulated building walls
• Window frame insulation
How Do Bale • Bale walls operate as a
Walls Work? stressed skin panel,
with two skins of strong,
brittle plaster bonded to
the dense, insulative
straw.
 Structural Fibres in Plaster
• Replace synthetic (glass and poly) fibres
in cement, lime and earthen plasters
– Comparable strengthening effect
– Lower costs
– Better curing due to moisture retention of
natural fibres
– Less toxic to workers during mixing
 Straw/Clay Walls

• Old European wall system for timber framed

structures, many over 400 years old with same
walls intact!
• Loosely chopped straw is tossed in a light clay
slurry until lightly coated, then packed into slip
forms to create insulated wall fill
 Straw/Clay Walls cont’d

• Excellent for retrofitting existing frame wall

buildings
• Good R-value
• Good fire resistance
• Simple, low-cost, effective insulation
 Hempcrete
• Mixture of chopped hemp and hydrated
lime
• Creates “aerated” cementitious material
with good structural properties and good
insulation properties
• Long history in France, now commercially
available in France and England
 Hempcrete Foundations

• Self-insulated, structural foundation

material
• Saves cost of adding styrofoam or other
insulations
 Hempcrete Walls

• Excellent for retrofitting existing frame wall

buildings
• Good R-value
• Good fire resistance
• Simple, low-cost, effective insulation
 Hempcrete Window Insulation

• Makes tight seal around windows

• Good insulation value
• Good restriction of air movement
 Why Build With Biofibres?
1) Reducing “Embodied Energy”
2) Increasing energy efficiency
3) Supporting local economies
 Embodied Energy:
The Hidden Criteria
What goes into

harvesting a
Straw bales = 31MJ/m3 material?

Processing it?

Transporting it?

Fiberglass = 970MJ/m3
 Embodied Energy?
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
estimates that for a standard house in Toronto with a 40-
year life, the total embody energy is 2,352 Gj. The total
operating energy over 40 years is 9,060 Gj.

What Does This Mean?

• Every home in Canada uses the equivalent of 392 barrels
of oil to build
• Every home in Canada uses the equivalent of 40 barrels
of oil per year to operate
• Poor indoor air quality in homes is responsible for vast
numbers of health problems
• Can straw bale techniques really make a
difference to the environment?
• “The embodied energy for the
conventional frame house was 509,000
KBtus. The embodied energy for the low
impact straw bale house is 41,000 KBtus,
or about one twelfth that of the frame
house.”*
*Investigation of Environmental
Impacts, Straw Bale Construction,
by Ann V. Edminster, University
of California, Berkeley, 1995.

Zabludofsky low-impact residence, Madoc, Ont..

• Will a bale home be less
expensive to heat?
• “Straw bale construction,
along with appropriate
building conservation
technologies and simple
passive solar design, could
provide up to a 60%
reduction in building
heating loads over current
practice.”
• *US Department of Energy (DOE) straw bale
assessment program, 1995
Masonry heater, Robin’s Nest
B&B, Norwood, Ont..
 How to Assemble Bio-fibre
Components Into Sustainable
Buildings
• Combine low embodied energy materials
into energy efficient buildings utilizing
passive heating and cooling strategies,
renewable energy sources, minimize or
eliminate fossil fuel use and eliminate
offgassing and toxic materials
 Fleming College Sustainable Building Program Projects
2005: 4Cs Food Bank and Thrift Store in downtown Haliburton

Earthbag SFP foundation, earth plastered hemp bale walls, 1kW grid-tied PV, solar hot
water, earthen floors with radiant heat, recycled insulations, solar light tubes, triple
glazed fiberglass windows, passive solar orientation, non-toxic finishes,
compressed strawboard partitions, hempcrete walls, pop bottle walls, locally milled
lumber, earth tube ventilation, light clay/straw walls
Fleming College Sustainable Building Program Projects
2006: Kinark Sustainable Living Centre, Carnarvon

Earthbag SFP foundation, AGS heating, waste wood structural columns, round timber
framing, earth plastered hemp bale walls, light clay/straw walls, sheep’s wool
insulation, recycled door cut-out insulation, earthbag mass wall with radiant heating,
off-grid PV electrical system, solar hot water, eastern white cedar shingles, cordwood
wall, earthen floor, rainwater harvesting, Eco-flow septic system, clay countertops,
passive solar orientation
Fleming College Sustainable Building Program Projects
2007: RD Lawrence Place, Minden Museum and Cultural Centre

Helical pier foundation, slag/fly ash SFP slab, earth and lime plastered hemp bale
walls, indoor constructed wetland grey water treatment, composting toilets,
Bullfrog power contract, radiant floor heating, locally milled lumber, recycled
insulations, fiberglass windows, solar hot water, PV-run display centre
 Fleming College Sustainable Building Program Projects
2008: Community Arts Centre, Madoc, Ontario

Earthbag SFP and hempcrete foundations, geothermal heating, round straw bale
structural columns, round timber framing, earth plastered hemp bale walls, light
clay/straw walls, hempcrete walls, sheep’s wool and recycled cotton batt
insulation, grid-tied PV electrical system, solar air heating, all locally milled or FSC
certified lumber, cordwood wall, earthen floor, rainwater harvesting, clay
countertops, passive solar orientation
 The Future of Biofibre Building

• Prefabricated straw bale SIP panels

Prefabricating straw bale wall panels removes most of the
impediments to building with bales and reduces costs to well
below that of conventional construction.

Anyone interested?...
 Other marketable biofibre
products…

• Hempcrete blocks (ICF-style)

• Hempcrete wall panels
• Premade hempcrete window insulation
• Pre-bagged hempcrete mixes
• Pre-bagged plaster fibres
• Straw/clay mixing devices and fibres
 For more information:
• cmagwood@kos.net
• www.sustainablebuilding2008.ca
• www.strawbalebuilding.ca
• More Straw Bale Building
• Design of Straw Bale Building
• The Last Straw Journal
www.thelaststraw.org