Hi,

I'm doing a life-cycle analysis on the Modcell structurally insulated straw-bale panel as part of one of my final year modules at university. I'm wondering, because the straw used in the panel is a by-product of the agricultural industry does this mean i should take into account the carbon used/sequestered for the growing and harvesting of it..or just from when it is ready to be gathered, baled and collected..?if that makes sense.

Thanks

(1) Presumably there are sets of rules for doing LCA that define such things?
(2) What is done for timber buildings/components?

Louis
I would discount everything before transport to the building site.
Justified because straw is a waste product of cereal growing (unless it is grown explicitly for straw bale building, but this is unlikely) some years ago straw was burnt on the field as the cost of bailing and removing was too high. Air pollution caused that practice to be banned. Unless a farm is fully integrated with a balance of livestock and cereal then a cereal growing farm will have a surplus of straw which will need to be removed from the field regardless of any further use.

The rubbish cycle come to mind here, - reduce, reuse, recycle.
Straw production is reduced by modern varieties of cereal having a short stem, about half that of the old varieties, done to reduce the volume of waste and to aid the modern combine harvesters
Straw bale building reuses a waste product rather than recycles it as it uses it in the original form.

Of course it is a different matter that when you go to enquire about the waste straw you find that nearly all farms nowadays use round bailers rather than the old fashioned square bales and it is with difficulty that you build a house with round bales!

As a livestock farmer who does not grow cereal I can get all the straw I need just for the asking, bailing and taking away.
Peter