[GSBN] A Climate Ride Challenge - Post Ride Update

Sun May 26 09:37:36 UTC 2013

Hi Martin and all,

Carbon management and carbon off sets , a whole new world.

In my research in Australia  any carbon accounting benefit goes to the
producer... the farmer producing the straw or forester planting and
harvesting trees.

So as a strawbale builder we are unable to create ,collect, or  trade  any
carbon credits associated with the straw or timber in our buildings.

Conservative estimates would allocate straws and timber as a 1;1  weight of
straw or timber to co2e ( equivalent carbon in the atmosphere)

So while a strawbale building may contain 8 tonnes ( metric) of straw and 12
tonnes of timber, we can equate this to 20 tonnes of C02e .

In a carbon sensitive world , most carbon is only accounted for so as to ;

Identify a business carbon foot print,

Enable some choices in reduction 

And offset by buying someone else’s good carbon.

Appear green or highlight some degree of greenness.

Life cycle cost analysis , looks at the carbon footprint of a product ( in
our case a group of products  that make a house)

And ascertains the foot print of the product from its primary product thru
its use and including its deconstruction.

There are few ( very few) products that may be carbon neutral, 

some carbon accounting  systems do not put short cycle Carbon into the
equation. 

 short cycle = trees and crops....can supposed ably be replaced in our life
time....who’s living long enough to replace the 300 year old tree

that I used for my windows or the 120 year old fire wood we burn.

So where to from here, do a life cycle cost analyst ( LCA)of your buid, and
compare it to a steel, brick build  ( that is if they have done a LCA)

This will highlight the difference a strawbale home can make.

Or simply add up the straw and timber and promote on the basis of if being a
great store for co2.

(accredited accounting methods for co2e are preferred)

Regards lance Kairl

www.houseofbales.com.au

ps presently studying ( or is that failing ) carbon management.

From: GSBN-bounces at sustainablesources.com
[mailto:GSBN-bounces at sustainablesources.com] On Behalf Of M. Oehlmann
Sent: Sunday, 26 May 2013 6:01 PM
To: Global Straw Building Network
Subject: Re: [GSBN] A Climate Ride Challenge - Post Ride Update

Hello all and congretulations for all the inspiring news... 

About 3 years ago I was figuring out if it might be possible to declare
straw-bale housing (in this case with big bales) as CO2 sink, as the natural
materials like straw, wood and clay compensate the CO2-consuming material
like electric equipment, tyles etc. more than needed. UN FCCC and UN
ECE-CLRTAP however do not consider wood and straw as a CO2 storage. I talked
with the responsable manager of the Oeko-Institut in Darmstadt who is
advisor for the German government on this issue and he said, he would not
accept wood and straw as compensation. 

Of course there are window frames of wood who are not that durable, but all
depends on the quality of the wood, its protection and the design. Most of
the wood used in a house never will touch moisture and as such the straw.

Anybody more news on this topic, possibly within the last three years
insights on this have changed?

Greetings from the Netherlands at the moment,

Martin Oehlmann

2013/5/25 David Arkin <david at arkintilt.com>

Hi GSBN:

Our CASBA mini-bale pal 'Baley' and I rode the Xtracycle (±65 lbs. (29.5kg))
320 miles (515 km), raising awareness and a bit of hay-ll!

See our rig below (he's wearing a music player hat) and more fun pics on my
Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/david.arkintilt?ref=tn_tnmn

Team CASBA raised at least $6000, much of it going to support the code
effort.  However, we won't see those funds until the end of the year, so if
anyone else is feeling inspired to support this effort please make your
contribution directly to CASBA:
http://www.strawbuilding.org/sbweb/content/donate

Cheers,

David

*  *  *  *  *
Arkin Tilt Architects
Ecological Planning & Design

Please Support my 2013 CA Climate Ride (320 mile bicycle ride from Eureka to
San Francisco, May 19-23, with a fundraising goal of $3,000 to support
Straw-Bale outreach) 

http://bike.climateride.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant
<http://bike.climateride.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&par
ticipantID=2034> &participantID=2034

Thank you!

David Arkin, AIA, Architect
LEED Accredited Professional
CA #C22459/NV #5030

1101 8th St. #180, Berkeley, CA  94710
510/528-9830 ext. 2# <tel:510%2F528-9830%20ext.%202%23> 
www.arkintilt.com

"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way."
— A. J. Muste 

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