This looks very interesting and promising. The only thing I don’t like is when these people keep referring to straw as ‘waste’. Although people often burn this biomass, it could be used for composting – putting the carbon right back into the soil. But, again, it looks like a potentially valuable approach, to reduce pressure on forests, and to provide a natural alternative to very energy intensive construction materials like concrete, etc.
Craig, I would like to see bio-“waste” (including forestry waste and roadside trimmings) as well as legalized hemp fiber (in US, say) sent to a mill that produces not only these cables as needed but also a coarse BLANKET — paper rolls 1 to 2 meters wide that can be tractor (or animal-drawn) implement-unrolled for small-industrial scale mulch. It should be chemical-free and yield its fibrous integrity easily in the presence of water. The more farms to which organic matter can be thus returned, the less runoff and evaporation and the longer our poor abused soil will last.
This can be used not only to suppress weeds, but runs of the paper could be impregnated with various appropriate seeds for instant farming, such as pasture mix, alfalfa, wheat, oats, barley, etc. Large flat seed balls! A variety of cover crops could be laid down thus in a pattern of “rows” to help confuse pests. Large-scale polycultures would then be possible.
Sure no one should burn those supposed wastes. Permaculture already reuse them. Unfortunately Starwjet doesn’t seem to be a very strong material… What about termites? I’d like to propose any good idea against deforestation, but I need fisrt to be convinced. I have visited Stawjet website, but there is no price. Hope anyway that Strawjet will be helpful everywhere it is useful.
One could anaerobically digest all that straw. One would then get the energy off as clean-burning biogas fuel and still have ALL the nutrients and humus to give back to the soil — instead of a little bit of ash. Digestion is much more helpful for increasing carbon sequestration and organic matter in the soil.
Excellent! The possibilities here in Bali are endless. Most rice farmers here continue to burn their left over rice straw with little understanding of the damage they are doing to the soils, rivers and air. This could really help fix some of Bali’s worsening environmental problems.
What a fantastic idea there are several ideas for the use of the rolls but one question? what form of power doese it use to run this machine for situations where either electricity or fuel for diesel genorators is unavailable or very exspensive needy people would not be able to use this machine even if they had the raw materials needed for this machine to process . Alot of places that need cheap building materials to provide shelter have neither due to drought or famine . A machine that could mix clay and sticks together to make a rigid log could be a another idea on this theme for drought effected areas .Roger
@Roger. Don’t forget the great success of straw bale building. I have Experience in this method and I am confident that it works in cold climates. Straw Bale homes are very well thermal and sound insulated due to the thickness of the bales.
A lot of people will be able to take on building their own house after a brief workshop as it is a very low tech method of construction and does not require trained people i.e. carpenters.
Straw Bale walls breathe and naturally regulates air moisture content and create an healthy indoor climate. It is also easy to maintain the lime or clay plaster and is very resistant to fire. In fact strawbale walls clay rendered have been lab tested in germany to withstand fire/flash over for 50+ minutes.
They can be load bearing requiring no timber framing etc etc.
I guess straw jet has it’s place, but should not have to replace straw bale building where unnecessary. Besides there are a great number of balers out there already. They do not produce fuel like straw jet are capable of and are occuring less frequent in developing regions (like most technology).
I guess a straw jet being brought into a region suffering from deforestation should always be accompanied by permaculture designers/teachers to work with locals and teach them more sustainable practises, i.e. improved stoves, rotation coppicing and less fear of trees on food producing land..
This looks very interesting and promising. The only thing I don’t like is when these people keep referring to straw as ‘waste’. Although people often burn this biomass, it could be used for composting – putting the carbon right back into the soil. But, again, it looks like a potentially valuable approach, to reduce pressure on forests, and to provide a natural alternative to very energy intensive construction materials like concrete, etc.
Craig, I would like to see bio-“waste” (including forestry waste and roadside trimmings) as well as legalized hemp fiber (in US, say) sent to a mill that produces not only these cables as needed but also a coarse BLANKET — paper rolls 1 to 2 meters wide that can be tractor (or animal-drawn) implement-unrolled for small-industrial scale mulch. It should be chemical-free and yield its fibrous integrity easily in the presence of water. The more farms to which organic matter can be thus returned, the less runoff and evaporation and the longer our poor abused soil will last.
This can be used not only to suppress weeds, but runs of the paper could be impregnated with various appropriate seeds for instant farming, such as pasture mix, alfalfa, wheat, oats, barley, etc. Large flat seed balls! A variety of cover crops could be laid down thus in a pattern of “rows” to help confuse pests. Large-scale polycultures would then be possible.
How do you apply this construction technique in cold climates, where the walls need to be 50 cm. thick to achieve a proper insulation?
Sure no one should burn those supposed wastes. Permaculture already reuse them. Unfortunately Starwjet doesn’t seem to be a very strong material… What about termites? I’d like to propose any good idea against deforestation, but I need fisrt to be convinced. I have visited Stawjet website, but there is no price. Hope anyway that Strawjet will be helpful everywhere it is useful.
One could anaerobically digest all that straw. One would then get the energy off as clean-burning biogas fuel and still have ALL the nutrients and humus to give back to the soil — instead of a little bit of ash. Digestion is much more helpful for increasing carbon sequestration and organic matter in the soil.
Excellent! The possibilities here in Bali are endless. Most rice farmers here continue to burn their left over rice straw with little understanding of the damage they are doing to the soils, rivers and air. This could really help fix some of Bali’s worsening environmental problems.
What a fantastic idea there are several ideas for the use of the rolls but one question? what form of power doese it use to run this machine for situations where either electricity or fuel for diesel genorators is unavailable or very exspensive needy people would not be able to use this machine even if they had the raw materials needed for this machine to process . Alot of places that need cheap building materials to provide shelter have neither due to drought or famine . A machine that could mix clay and sticks together to make a rigid log could be a another idea on this theme for drought effected areas .Roger
@Roger. Don’t forget the great success of straw bale building. I have Experience in this method and I am confident that it works in cold climates. Straw Bale homes are very well thermal and sound insulated due to the thickness of the bales.
A lot of people will be able to take on building their own house after a brief workshop as it is a very low tech method of construction and does not require trained people i.e. carpenters.
Straw Bale walls breathe and naturally regulates air moisture content and create an healthy indoor climate. It is also easy to maintain the lime or clay plaster and is very resistant to fire. In fact strawbale walls clay rendered have been lab tested in germany to withstand fire/flash over for 50+ minutes.
They can be load bearing requiring no timber framing etc etc.
I guess straw jet has it’s place, but should not have to replace straw bale building where unnecessary. Besides there are a great number of balers out there already. They do not produce fuel like straw jet are capable of and are occuring less frequent in developing regions (like most technology).
I guess a straw jet being brought into a region suffering from deforestation should always be accompanied by permaculture designers/teachers to work with locals and teach them more sustainable practises, i.e. improved stoves, rotation coppicing and less fear of trees on food producing land..
Asbjörn – Sweden