Straw bale houses in Australia and India S25 Ep29

Ravish Sran commissioned Peter Lockyer to build a straw bale house in his family village in Punjab, from 2016 to practical completion in 2020. Ravish was impressed with straw bale houses in Victoria, and together with his mother liked one in Nagambie. “This house in India can demonstrate energy efficient housing”.  Passive solar design, rainwater harvesting and in-ground brick tanks, straw bale walls of rice straw, saved from being burnt as “rubbish”. And rooftop solar. Completed, it does attract interest. But does it change housing design?

What is the interest, and are there Government incentives to build energy efficient houses in India? Is this just the province of the wealthy? Ravish Sran joins Peter Lockyer on EarthChat and they discuss THAT house, and opportunities and barriers to smarter house design and construction.

Want an idea of what it looks like in practice? Here is fun video about the house.