Stak Block makes green use of rice straw

[Dover]

By ZAHID SARDAR
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Rice, planted abundantly in California, has for centuries fed millions in India, China and the rest of Asia. But the silica-rich rice straw - an agricultural waste product - is typically burned because it is too expensive to gather for composting and ill-suited for animal feed. Now its value is being explored by architect and inventor Ben Korman and partner Jay Ruskey at their company, Oryzatech, in Goleta (Santa Barbara County).

Korman and Ruskey have created Stak Block, an experimental Lego-like 12-by-12-by-24-inch building block made of dried rice straw. The straw is mixed with formaldehyde-free glue and tightly compressed in metal molds at temperatures around 300 degrees.

"Rice straw has green, energy-saving qualities," says Korman, a former NASA consultant who was designing living habitats for Mars.

"I decided to do something on Earth instead," he said. He focused on rice straw, one of earth's largest bio-waste materials, because it needs no additional resources in its production. A ton of rice results in about a 1 1/2 tons of waste straw. That's why, coupled with essential food production, "Straw is a rapidly renewable building resource," Korman says. At 30 pounds, each Stak Block is relatively easy to handle. The blocks, mortised together without cement, are clamped together by a grid of threaded rebar inserted through their holes and bolted to the foundation and a top plate of wood. The densely packed rice straw can be used to form thick walls and doubles as insulation that is more efficient than fiberglass or even eco-friendly insulation materials such as shredded denim. Stak Block also absorbs noise and in cases of fire will merely char on the outside while its dense inner core will remain unscathed because it keeps out oxygen..cont'd

http://www.seattlepi.com/athome/412662_stakblock1125.html




Top Ten Green Products For 2009

http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2009/12/1/BuildingGreen-Announces-2009-Top-10-Green-Products/

[yellowcanine]

1. Three little pigs could weigh in on houses built of straw.......

Sorry, could not resist.

[Andy823]

2. I think it's great!

The more people use waste products like this, the better we will all be. This kind of thinking can help with jobs, energy savings, and help the environment by using the material instead of burning it.

[Schema Thing]

3. filled with win

[formercia]

4. Moses would be proud. n/t

[truedelphi]

5. K & R n/t