Straw-Bale Home Construction Project in China

TC+ES assisted the Adventist Development and Relief Agency/China (ADRA/China) in developing and marketing its Straw-Bale Construction Project (Project) as a GHG offset opportunity in China. Fuel-use monitoring of straw-bale buildings indicated that their super-insulating qualities can result in a theoretical reduction of energy consumption on the order of 75-90 percent against the typical wood or mud and brick construction.

In 1999, the first group of 18 houses was constructed in Luan Jing Tan, approximately 500 miles west of Beijing. In the year 2000, the project was expanded to two additional housing sites in the Heilongjiang province. A total of 30 houses were built and several new construction teams were trained.

TC+ES procured pilot scale funding for this project from companies including Stonyfield Farm and Chevron/Texaco.