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Another Doomsday, Another Dollar: Shifting Science Towards Peace and Ecology
In his book, Our Final Hour, Cambridge professor and Britain’s “Astronomer Royal” Martin Rees predicts humanity has no more than a 50/50 chance of survival into the next century and that by 2020 a million people will perish due to scientific error...
Does Rain Making Really Work?
Whenever there's a drought, someone will come up with the idea of finding a rain maker, or holding a day of prayer for rain. Now far be it for me to make light of people who are in truly desperate straits and who are prepared to try anything to...
Identify the ways to save energy
People have started to be more and more aware about the fact that they need to save energy in their household for a variety of reasons. The first reason, which is in fact the one that mostly affects them, is related to the financial aspect. Thus, by...
Oil Forever ? ( I think not )
Oil Forever ? We all know that this country needs to reduce
its dependency on Foreign oil. The question is how (and how
long). Recently Ford Motor CEO Bill Ford addressed his concerns,
perhaps leading one to question how long it will be...
Solar Energy - Have the Sun pay part of your energy bill
Residential hot water is a significant energy consumer for most
households. In fact, hot water is sometimes the largest single
energy cost. Using solar energy to provide at least some of the
hot water in your household can result in significant...
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Straw as real estate building material
In the famous kid?s fairy tale ?The Three Little Pigs? one of the pigs built a house of straw that made him almost pay with his life. The pig was blamed in the tale for choosing the wrong building material. But his material was definitely the right one. He was just not aware of one important secret of construction. However, some of the professional builders know the secret, and they apply it in many places throughout the world. As the result, the winners of the situation are reasonable American millionaires.
Why straw? Firstly, it may sound as a paradox, but straw, when handled correctly, is the natural material that maximally resistant to decomposition. The recent researches by US scientists have shown that compressed straw packs about 100 years old contained some sorts of grasses, which have already disappeared. Moreover, they were preserved safe and sound. Geneticists received really unique materials for their work, while builders received confirmation of strength and durability of the forgotten building materials.
Secondly, in the course of studying the myth about straw?s fire risk was also denied. Fire tests gave out wondering results. Of course straw house can be burned down, unless straw is finished with plaster or stucco, for instance. However, after straw went under finishing, it could
compete with metal by refractoriness. The temperature that made metal constructions melt could be resisted by straw structures for extra 40 minutes. Apart from this, straw buildings showed high energy-saving coefficients.
I could spend hours telling you about positive impact of straw on human health. The USA and Western Europe witness the real straw-construction boom. And this is very easy to explain ? straw is a lot cheaper that most conventional building materials, while the final results corresponds considerably with the requirements of eco-houses. Although carcassless technology allows erecting only one-storied buildings, the construction on carcass basis enables to erect buildings with multiple number of floors.
Read more about articles within ?Eco-houses? series below
Eco-house concept: pro and con
Mega firmament in real estate
About the Author
Cameron G. Lindblom is a Sweden-born businessman who's built his success in real estate. Apart from running his business, he is the Editorial Board Manager at RealEstateGates Ltd (http://www.realestategates.com).
One of his outstanding works is called 'Drugs and Society', 1998.
"Wrong choice goes from ignorance of the better", Cameron often says to people and this seems to be his lifetime motto.
Eric Svein
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