Читать книгу More Straw Bale Building - Peter Mack - Страница 30

The building industry has not yet embraced straw bale construction because it offers limited opportunities for profit. Bales cannot be patented, nor would it be immediately feasible for a building supply company to go into straw bale production. Most advances in building technology come from companies who develop products, test them, then use their testing results to obtain building code approval — or better yet, code requirement — for the product. Straw bales have little or no immediate chance of receiving the high budget testing afforded by big companies or the promotional dollars that would convince contractors to use them.

Housing contractors have no incentive to spend money retraining workers and investing in new equipment for homes that are no more costly than the ones they already make. It’s just not good business to invest in a technology that does not yield a higher return than current practices.

Until consumers begin demanding highly efficient, environmentally responsible homes in sufficient quantity, straw bale construction will remain a marginal percentage of new home starts. And until consumer demand brings about widespread bale home construction, the kinds of prefabricated products that help contractors build quickly and efficiently won’t be produced for straw bale buildings.