News Brief

CMHC Strawbale Energy Study

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has completed a survey in which straw-bale houses were found to use an average of 21% less space-heating energy than conventional houses.

There has been growing interest in straw-bale house construction in Canada. This straw-bale home in Montreal belongs to architect Julia Burke.

Photo courtesy of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has completed a survey in which

straw-bale houses were found to use an average of 21% less space-heating energy than conventional houses. Because comparable conventional homes were not available, the study compared eleven straw-bale homes of various sizes and bale wall types to conventional houses modeled by HOT2000 software. Nine of the 11 straw-bale houses performed better than the conventional models, with savings ranging from 4.7 to 38.7%. The research report is available online at evolvebuilders.ca.

 

 

Published September 1, 2002

(2002, September 1). CMHC Strawbale Energy Study. Retrieved from https://www.buildinggreen.com/newsbrief/cmhc-strawbale-energy-study

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