Energy-Saving Potential of Straw Bale as a Bio-Based Building Material in Western Australia

In recent years, countries are looking for more sustainable solutions for the construction sector, and to improve their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions to mitigate global warming and climate change problems. Many countries including Australia, are progressing towards meeting their greenhouse gas emissions targets ۲۰۳۰ according to the Climate Paris Agreement. Additionally, due to the population growth and increasing demand for energy, reducing energy consumption in buildings and its environmental consequences have become a main issue within the construction industry. In this way, using bio-based building materials like straw bale is becoming more popular as it is effective, but it still remains limited its use in the construction market. One of the reasons is the lack of widespread public awareness of the many positive properties of straw bale as a material, including its exceptional thermal performance, reducing substantially energy loads throughout the year. Straw is available locally and globally, affordable and has the potential to absorb CO۲ during its growth. Brick veneer and Double Brick veneer [cavity brickwork] are the two most common, dominant conventional construction techniques in Australia and Western Australia. This study evaluates the energy performance of straw bale walls in a residential building in Perth climatic condition and compares it to that of conventional walls. A three-story house there, was selected and modeled in EnergyPlus software as the case study. Then the energy performance of three different wall types, including; ۱) straw bale, ۲) cavity brickwork, and ۳) brick veneer, were compared. Based on the simulation results, it can be concluded that straw bale can be used to build high performance sustainable buildings, and it has the potential to decrease both heating and cooling energy consumption significantly, in this region.

Keywords:

bio-based building materials , straw bale , conventional materials , sustainability , low energy construction