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For answers to about straw bale construction please visit the Organic Environments Straw Bale Portal.
Straw bale buildings are ideally suited to use in affordable rent and affordable purchase housing. Straw bale walls are super insulated, sound proof, and very strong, resist both accidental and intentional damage very well, and have an ASTM E-119 two hour commercial fire rating. Ongoing savings in heating and cooling costs averaging over 20% (CMHC) offer opportunities to reduce ongoing support costs to reduce losses or even increase profits for those providing affordable housing.
Organic Environments can provide RFP response, bid development , design development, development consulting, and construction support services. Our experienced personnel can provide on site training for laborers and trades people, on-site construction supervision, and straw bale construction inspection services to ensure that your project runs smoothly.
We provide a range of inexpensive and free plans for modest straw bale buildings which meet the requirements for low rent and low purchase price housing in Canada. Free plans may be used by those building a home for themselves or by agencies developing qualified low rent housing. Organic Environments will provide limited free regulatory support to owner builders using our free plans to develop housing for themselves or their families. Please email us for more information.
Organic Environments President, Anita Carr, is Métis and is dedicated to bringing affordable, beautiful, high quality, long term housing to first nations peoples. We can provide design input and support services to help you to design buildings that work well with straw bale construction. Our trainers and construction support specialists can then teach your people the best ways to raise straw bale buildings that will last for generations. We can prepare customized straw bale construction presentations, run customized on-site workshops, and provide mentored demonstration project management. We also have contacts at the municipal, provincial, and federal government levels who can provide support and funding for some portions of the project.
We would love to discuss opportunities to partner with any First Nation to develop long term housing solutions. Please contact us if you are interested in discussing opportunities to work together.
Straw bale construction offers an excellent opportunity for municipalities to demonstrate their commitment to fighting climate change. Straw bale buildings have been found to consume an average of 20% less energy for heating and cooling than similar conventional buildings in the same locations. Straw bales are readily available close to every municipality in Canada. Straw bales contain a large amount of carbon which is sequestered during the construction process further increasing their benefit to the environment. Supporting or encouraging the development of a straw bale eco-village is an excellent way for your municipality to get ahead of the curve and will bring in a great deal of media coverage and will position your community as a center of excellence for environmental development and straw bale construction.
Organic Environments will provide customized briefings, presentations, and training to your municipal staff. We can provide the information your building officials and planners need to make informed decisions to support your environmental and straw bale construction goals.
Our friends and associates can also provide renewable energy, waste management, and healthy building materials recommendations and supply products to support your project.
Please contact us for more information about our municipal service suite.
Straw bale construction provides an excellent tool for municipalities, developers, faith based housing providers, housing co-operatives, and not-for-profit groups to build fast, high quality housing using sustainable and infinitely renewable materials which are easy to maintain and offer substantial savings in heating and cooling costs. This increase the financial viability of affordable housing projects and can make the difference in terms of encouraging the development of affordable housing in your province.
Organic Environments will provide customized briefings, presentations, and training to your provincial staff. We can provide information for your Municipal Affairs and Housing, Building Code Commission, or Building Materials Evaluation Committee to help them to make an informed decision to support your environmental and straw bale construction goals.
Please consider not only the long term benefits to the environment but also to your province and your municipalities when deciding whether or not you will support and encourage your provincial straw bale building community.
Let us support you in your efforts to convince your colleagues of the benefits of straw bale construction. Contact us for more information.
Conventional builders, trades people, and developers are often not familiar with straw bale construction. Straw bale construction began more than 150 years ago in the Sand Hills region of Nebraska. Modern load bearing straw bale structures are still called Nebraska Style straw bale buildings. Straw bale buildings are often 80% or more conventional and offer an exceptional opportunity for conventional builders and developers who are often unfairly labeled by the greener-than-thou crowd as profit driven being energy wasters to make a real stand for the environment.
We can help you to establish yourself as a real force in the environmental movement. Through our proven real world methods and easy to use system you can begin right away to build beautiful, highly renewable, energy efficient buildings. Let us help your engineers, architects, and designers to make the move to straw bale building design. We can teach your laborers and trades people how to include a straw bale exterior wall system into your buildings. We can provide on-site supervision and management of the straw bale construction process using your personnel to turn over a completed envelope that your conventional trades people can then finish.
We have a number of ideas to help you to capitalize on your investment in straw bale construction technology including marketing plans, publication plans, and ongoing research projects which will produce a great deal of traffic on your corporate website from those interested in saving the planet. We can help you to become a world leader in environmental building with straw bales. Please contact us to discuss opportunities to work together.
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