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“I've had an idea about straw since the 60s,” he tells KCRW as he leads a tour of the home. “There's, I don't know, 10 different methods of making a house without using two by fours and two by sixes, and cutting down forests.” But, he says, as long as it’s easy to use lumber, that’s what builders will do. “There’s just the inertia. And so I wanted to do something about it. And we did.”
The straw naturally provides insulation, keeping the home’s energy bills very low. It’s packed so tightly that it isn’t susceptible to mold or fire.
The Malibu house and the straw bale house both have heat pumps, EV chargers, induction stoves, and solar panels. Thus, they’re cheaper to run than a home that uses fossil-fuel alternatives. Installing those electric options can be more expensive, but that’s why the federal government is stepping in with rebates to make the eco-friendly option just as affordable. 1 reply
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