Strawbale Archive for March 2002

So a 2-way trip would release:

  by car: low estimate: 2 * 0.23 * 3000 = 1380 kg CO2
          high estimate: 2 * 0.4 * 3000 = 2400 kg CO2

  by plane: low: 2 * 29 * 4 = 232 kg CO2
            high: 2 * 198 * 4 = 1584 kg CO2

  by bus: = car/3 = 460 to 800 kg of CO2

The car assumes 1 person in the car.
The plane assumes 80% full.
The bus assumes 80% full.

So anywhere from 232 to 2400 kg CO2 is released
into our environment from the trip. (hmmm...the
232 kg seems low for a plane flight).

Let's see how much CO2 I add to the environment by
using cement on my walls.  Portland cement releases about
0.2 kg CO2 for every kg of cement produced.
If I used 40 bags of portland cement on my house,
this is 1600 kg of cement. This corresponds to 320 kg
of CO2 released to the environment.

I'm not so sure travelling so far is such a good idea.
Obviously the numbers above are not exact - they
are rough estimates. But they do show the CO2
effects of travel are much more important than
the CO2 effect of using cement on your straw bale
wall v.s. not using it.

I think I'd better ride my bike to Arizona.
Now that would be fun!  :-)

But I agree, earthen plaster looks wonderful and
does help the environment (a little bit and every little
counts!).  And I think it is great that there
are people, like yourself, who are doing this
earthen plaster work. Also, as many have said,
compared to cement plaster, earthen plaster is
easier to apply, is more vapour permeable, easier
to clean up and easier on the skin. I agree!

I just received Athena and Bill's book
'The beauty of straw' and I can see how lovely
this plaster is - there is no doubt in my mind.
The book has some wonderful photos of sb houses.

cheers,
John

PS - this reminds me of something - our friend's
daughter is taking environmental studies at
university right now. Just recently she applied
for a summer course to do field studies in eastern canada.
But unfortunately the course was canceled.
Why? because not enough of her classmates
applied for the course. They all applied
to take a summer environmental studies
course in Costa Rica. This is a 5 hour,
one-way, flight away from here. It boggles the mind!!!

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