Matthew Nistico wrote: straw bale builders will ship in their bales on trucks from 700 miles away, yet fail to recognize or admit that in doing so they have effectively negated any advantage those bales might have had over other building materials
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This is the part that I don't understand, and I am really hoping that someone can explain it to me: why would anyone desire to ship bales across the country to build a straw bale home?
for most of us I believe it is Basic Economics.
Most of us don't really care exactly where all the materials come from, just the cost on site.
In my area baled straw is nearly non existent, the only baled material is high quality feed (expensive)... the straw is is not baled and is consumed on site.
For me to build with Straw and be cost effective the bales would be coming from a distant location... probably well over 200 miles.
Conventional stick frame or cinder block construction is far more cost and energy effective.
