This is a picture of a house insulated with rice hulls. Seems like the best insulation material was sitting right under southerners' noses.
The rice hulls are unique within nature. They contain approximately 20% opaline silica in combination with a large amount of the phenyl propanoid structural polymer called lignin. This abundant agricultural waste has all of the properties one could ever expect of some of the best insulating materials. Recent ASTM testing conducted R&D Services of Cookville, Tennessee, reveals that rice hulls do not flame or smolder very easily, they are highly resistant to moisture penetration and fungal decomposition, they do not transfer heat very well, they do not smell or emit gases, and they are not corrosive with respect to aluminum, copper or steel. In their raw and unprocessed state, rice hulls constitute a Class A or Class I insulation material, and therefore, they can be used very economically to insulate the wall, floor and roof cavities of a super-insulated Rice Hull House...
From Home remodling news
Some other information is
here and this guy really has some good ideas about constructing economical rice hull homes
here. If I lived in the south, I would certainly look into this. Transportation costs would be a consideration further north.
This is a picture of a house insulated with rice hulls. Seems like the best insulation material was sitting right under southerners' noses.
Remember that rice production isn't limited to the south. The area just north of Sacramento, CA is a huge rice production area.
ReplyDeleteJim
Fellow future house dreamer
JimQPublic ... at ... gmail.com
You might want to see the work at recycledrice.org as well~
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