heat exchanger.short growth times.requires less labor in construction.popular misconception, readily burn.vermin as do wood stud walls. insulations such as fiberglass. Straw bale walls, when combined with a thick plaster interior, create not only superior insulation--but form a large thermal mass.Vapor barriers, such as cover many modern stick houses, must be avoided at all costs. (See straw vs. standard) Straw breathes, needs to breathe. Mold would result with the use of a vapor barrier (as it does in wood houses) but with it you would also lose one of straw's best advantages: a natural heat-exchanger. Cold air in winter percolates inward and warms as it does so. Warm air in summer percolates inward, but cools as it does so. Our house maintains a cool fifty degrees in summer despite the upper nineties outside! It stays at 40 when the temperature drops outside to zero Farenheit!Straw bales may be incorporated into a roof truss system as in the house above. Even more avant garde techniques (as developed by the ArchiBio group of Canada) are to use straw bales in living roofs and foundations. Bales used in foundations and cement create an insulated and strong foundation for cold climates--where the mean soil temperature is too low for comfort.
