Strawjet - A Modern Marvel Top 25 Invention of 2006
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 03.24.06
The History Channel has just announced 25 finalists in The Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge, en route to eventually selecting the Invention of 2006. One of the finalists is the Strawjet — a decade long project by David Ward, with the Ashland School of Environmental Technology (ASET). Basically straw is harvested in the field, and aligned in roughly parallel lanes so it can be fed into a machine which makes a straw cable, bound with polyester twine. Another machine, the Strawcore Binder, then “assembles 4 cables in a square pattern with a papercrete binder and wraps them together with yarn. A final coating of papercrete completes the process. The form of papercrete used in this process is made from recycled paper, clay bearing soil, and a small amount of Portland cement.” These can be further bundled into continuous beams, that are able to be cut at any length.
Strawbale construction has taken the owner-builder market by storm in the past 10 years. If the Strawjet is commercialised, it could prove equally fortuitious, as the processing can pretty much occur onsite, at the farm. For as ASET put it, “converting straw to a building material would save resources, provide the farmer with another source of income, and for every ton of straw preserved in this fashion approximately 894 lbs. of carbon would be sequestered for the lifetime of the building.” Other fibres such as Jerusalem Artichoke, teasel and bamboo as also being investigated. (Another invention in the running for the History Channel challenge is the 'solar-powered bus stop light', which allows a waiting passenger to signal an approaching bus to stop.) Via ::Biz. Yahoo.Com
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On the one hand it's neat, but on the other hand, this looks like it's going to be rather more expensive than straw bales.
May be more expensive than straw bales, but if it is able to be used for load bearing applications such as posts and beams, it creates a much more versatile building product.
I wonder about the strength of it, and if it is used where ther is any moister present, over time the small holes in the straw might collect moisture and rot.
I built a building 14' X 14' using a mixture of newpaper and portland cement. I want to build another with added chopped straw to the mixture for stength and to expand the mix. I live in southern oregon and have had no problems with mold or structure problems after 1 year. The roof is sheetmetal that is at least 16" past all walls. The building cost about $300. All the newspaper was free. The acrylic paint was $10. Most of the cost was sheetmetal.
This might really not be that much more expensive in the end, esp if fuel costs stay up.
The tractor/compactor addition looks like a one time purchase, may be inexpensive (it looks like a really simple machine), and may be a multi-function machine.
The density of these beams is much higher than a regular bales, so you can ship all the walls/beams pre-manufactured for a fraction of the cost. You could maybe ship the walls for 10+ homes in a rail freight container, for the same cost of shipping enough bales for 1.5 homes.
They obviously have less surface area, which means less cement. If the hemp/lime concrete handles stress as well as regular cement (I don't know), you'd have an incredibly light and strong building material capable of supporting weight.
They're also lighter and way quicker to install, which means less labor costs. Considering their density, and that they'd probably be manufactured, they'd be better quality (and maybe have a warranty) and have a longer lifespan than something made on-site by whoever.
They should dry run this stuff on Rezervations...
They're undergoing EPA stress tests now to see how they hold up as supports/beams.
Check out their site - strawjet (dot) com