Straw 藁

This straw bale house is one of the most sustainable houses I know, equipped with the solar power, rainwater tank, composting toilet and surrounded with highly productive fruits and vegetable gardens. It is a home of Beris Hansberry, an active environmentalist, which she built on top of the hill of Lottah, Blue Tier, Tasmania. The house has a warm welcoming air as the thick bale blocks, although solid and strong, do not divide in and outside space – letting and demanding you to be part of the surrounding environment. Such is an ultimate 5-star living, which also requires a hardwork and commitment.

Straws (wara, 藁) generally refers to rice plants has been used in Japan in various parts of live eg flooring (tatami), footwear (wara-ji), roofing (wara-buki). The tatami flooring is becoming less suitable to today’s houses that have less air flow compared to the traditional wooden houses. Although it adapts well to both cold and hot weather, tatami is susceptible to high humidity and without sufficient airflow, it will be damaged with mold and house mites. In Japan, straw bale houses have been built by those interested in low-impact buildings and eco-villages, but its potential may be stronger as a bio-fuel.

Japan currently produces 9,062,000t of rice a year from 1,706,000ha rice fields. The rice straw are used for cattle feed and compost, but largely discarded or burnt, which is causing a major hazard in many regions. Researchers expect that 1t of straw would produce 150 liter of ethanol and with a maximum yield of 200liter/day, it can be sold for around ￥90/liter. As well as the abundant rice straws, fermentation technique can be adopted from the traditional food production eg sake, miso, shoyu. The rice plant is used for the 5-yen coin (issued in 1949) that includes design symbolic to agriculture, fishery and forestry. Those ‘primary industries’ has been on a serious decline affected by low-cost imports, ageing population and general lifestyle changes. Use of rice straw for more environmentally sustainable way of living - rice as a Slow Food, straw as Slow Building, and straw bio-ethanol as renewable energy, provides a good example of the change possible within the industry.