Houses made of straw an earth-friendly trend

Build houses with straw? Yes. A Dutchman has made it the reality, not a fairy tale, in China.

Krijn Leendertse, the chairman and president of Leendertse Panel Board, last year built the world's first Oriented Structural Straw Board (OSSB) house in Mianzhu, Sichuan province.

He made the house earthquake-resistant and delivered it free to homeless people in the region devastated by last year's earthquake.

The house cost about 950 yuan per sq m to build - the same price as an average brick home. "And I will build more for the people there," Leendertse said.

Leendertse Panel Board last month established the world's first OSSB production line in the National Special Agricultural Zone in Xi'an Yangling, Shaanxi province, with a total investment of 250 million yuan and a yearly capacity of 60,000 cu m.

According to Leendertse, China's panel board market is about 90 million cu m.

"China has the opportunity to lead the world in this technology," he said.

Sixty percent of the equipment at the manufacturing plant is locally produced, and Leenderste expects 95 percent of the equipment to be locally produced in the near future.

"When I was on the way from the airport to Yangling two years ago, I saw so many small plants making bricks. I realized that China cannot continue digging holes in the ground," Leendertse, 65, said.

OSSB is manufactured with agricultural waste or fiber material, which Leenderste said is as strong and safe as traditional panel boards. But his product is made at a lower cost and in an environmentally sustainable manner, he added.

"The use of OSSB holds special significance for China, a nation with rich resources of fiber straw," Leendertse said.

OSSB production also will reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions in the Chinese construction industry, he added, explaining that OSSB housing creates only 25 percent of the carbon footprint of conventional brick and concrete housing.

"Using straw instead of wood to produce panel boards will also help protect forests and farms. The results of producing OSSB will not only be the recycling of resources, but also will promote economic and sustainable development, especially in the countryside," Leendertse said.

Statistics show that China currently produces about 200 million tons of useful fiber straw annually, but that less than 10 percent is used.

Most of the wheat and rice straw is burned, creating toxins that are detrimental to health and the environment, he said.

"This program anticipates the transformation of 40,000 tons of wheat straw into usable panel boards, thus decreasing the release of carbon dioxide," Leendertse said.

"Also, as farmers reuse the wheat straw, they will have an additional income, thus helping to benefit rural economic growth and promoting a solution for the Chinese government's Sannong issue, or three agricultural problems," he said.

Leendertse said straw houses will create employment opportunities to improve the standard of living of farmers, help regional governments become more energy-efficient and improve sustainable agricultural production.

"Another benefit of the OSSB house is that when you get home, it takes you only five to ten minutes to warm up the house," Leendertse said.

OSSB uses a year's supply of agricultural waste material as raw material, relying on specialized OSSB technologies to create its panel board products.

OSSB boards also can be used in packaging, renovation, furnishing and flooring sectors, he said.

Another goal is to build low-cost housing units using OSSB Panel Boards in combination with light-gauge steel.

He added that his homes have a very short construction time of about four days per house.

Leenderste is planning to build two additional plants this year in China: one in Yangling and the other in eastern Henan province.

The company plans to build 23 more OSSB plants next year, he said.

"We will set up OSSB plants step by step in the future, all in China's major wheat planting regions in Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Shaanxi provinces," he said.

(China Daily 11/30/2009 page4)