MEN Fair 2012 - Energy Performance Of Natural Buildings

Energy Performance of Natural Buildings
Presented by Ace McArelton and Jacob Deva Racusin of New Frameworks Natural Building

The presentation began with a description of the design philosophy that Ace and Jacob use when designing straw bale homes. Their goal is to provide each home with good shoes, a good hat, a good coat, and buttons, zippers, and belt. The foundation is the shoes, the roof is the hat, the wall and finish is the coat, and transition areas around doors, windows, and timber connections are the buttons, zippers, and belt.

The next part of the workshop was a discussion of a test they had performed on several homes they had previously designed. Their goal was to determine how the homes were standing up to moisture and well as to see how well sealed they were after a number of years. They shared some of their data from the report, and said that the rest was available on their website.

I also came away with a couple of interesting links that I need to look at more closely. The first was a link to the NESEA conference in Boston. The second is a company called ReUse Action which specializes in "green" demolition and the recovery and resell of building materials.

Ace and Jacob have also written a book, titled The Natural Building Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to Integrative Design and Construction. I was able to flip through a copy of the book, and was very interested until seeing the price tag. It was later pointed out, however, that the book also comes with an instructional DVD, which explains the added cost and makes it seem much more reasonable.