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Houses made of straw an earth-friendly trend
By Li Fangfang (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-30 08:02
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 An Oriented Structural Straw Board house is under construction in Sichuan province. Leendertse Panel Board is promoting using straw instead of wood to build high-quality, inexpensive and environmentally friendly houses. [File photo] |
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.
"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.
