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Straw-bale 'Greenehouse' at Logan High School called a model of things to come By
Will Bettmann
It is 2:30 p.m. on a Thursday. High school is over for the day, and cars pour out of the parking lot. Through the newly budded trees, the baseball team is barely visible, but the quintessentially, American springtime sounds of the bat's crack and the chatter of team members drifts over the field. In a remote corner of Logan High School, behind a utility shed, a half-dozen students dip their hands into a wheelbarrow full of mud and then mold the ooze onto what looks like some kind of foundation. This is environmental science teacher Jack Greene's pet project. With the help of a diverse group, including students of LHS, students from Utah State University's Bear River Institute of Experiential Learning (BRI), builders from Cache Valley and beyond, and donations from a number of businesses, Greene is building a straw-bale greenhouse. The structure will be 20 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 10- 12 feet high. It will contain a number of innovative features designed to help make the most efficient use of resources such as solar energy. The appropriately named Greene has spent almost 30 years trying to inspire high school students with hands-on, outdoor learning, and judging by his current students at Logan High School, he has largely succeeded. Louie Huang is a junior involved with Greene through Logan Environmental Action Force (LEAF), a group of LHS environmental activists, and Envirothon, a state-wide environmental science competition. "I think Mr. Greene is one of the best teachers in the state," he said. "When you go on a walk with him, he can identify all the trees, all the bird calls, even animal scat. He gets people involved and caring." Senior Kelly Randleman, who has taken a number of classes with Greene, agreed with Huang, calling Greene "a fountain of knowledge." Huang and Randleman were among the students on Thursday wearing yellow latex gloves and smushing mud onto the foundation, which is made of bags filled with a lot of dirt and a little concrete, and then stacked together like bricks. Huang said one the major aspects of the project was the focus on sustainability, which is basically an attempt to maintain healthy ecosystems through better management of earth's limited resources. "Sustainability is the wave of the future," Huang said. "Almost all the materials for the greenhouse were already there -- the dirt, the straw bales, the glass. We're just reusing them. All the labor is from volunteers. Sustainable architecture is one of the hottest degrees right now." Greene said one of his main missions in life is promoting and educating others about sustainability. He first became aware of straw-bale building about five years ago, and he has been seriously planning this project for the last few years. On a recent Saturday, Greene and his crew began stacking the straw bales which will comprise the 21-inch-thick walls of the greenhouse. The bales will be covered with chicken wire and then plastered. Also, the back wall of the greenhouse is constructed entirely of concrete cinder blocks which will capture the sun's rays during the day and then radiate the heat at night. Straw bales are increasingly popular with environmentally-conscious builders for a couple of reasons. Firstly, straw bales are inexpensive, relatively easy to use, and because of their thickness they provide better insulation than almost any conventional building material. Secondly, straw, which is made of the stems of cereal grain after the seed heads have been removed, cannot be used by animals for feed, and every year millions of tons of straw are discarded or burned, making it a perfect choice for those interested in recycling materials. In addition to straw-bale architecture, the "Greenehouse" will feature photovoltaic (solar-electric) panels on the roof, which will provide energy to run fans and vents. There will also be a rainwater harvesting system set up to make more efficient use of water. Greene said part of his aim in creating the greenhouse was to provide an example of a sustainable building. "I think that our education system in general is failing miserably in terms of educating kids about issues like sustainability," said Greene. "And our economic and political systems are the same. I want to do whatever I can to bring about more awareness." Straw-bale houses were first built in America in the early 1900s by Nebraska farmers who had virtually no wood available. Those structures were known for being well-insulated, and a few of them are still standing. There are straw-bale houses and structures around the world, from Mongolia to Belarus to New Mexico. There are even a few straw-bale schoolhouses in America. Although it will probably be awhile until Logan High School's building is scrapped in favor of a more eco-friendly, straw-bale version, Greene's students are clearly passionate about what they're doing. Greene said he liked to give as much control to his students as possible. "My dream for a school is to let kids do a lot of the planning; for them to decide 'OK, let's learn about this,' and then focus on that subject. The kids involved with this greenhouse project and Envirothon are great - they're so self-motivated, I rarely have to tell them to do anything," Greene said. Greene said he was amazed by the amount of the support the project has received. Wayne Bingham, an architect from Salt Lake City, helped design the greenhouse. Dennis Cofield, a builder and architecture instructor at the University of Utah, has helped build the frame. Stan Peterson, a master mason from Tremonton, has helped with the mortar and plaster. Greene said a number of local businesses have donated materials for the project. Both Cache Valley Builders and Burton Lumber helped out with wood. Niederhauser Construction Co. helped excavate the foundation for the greenhouse. Architectural Design West, Inc. provided the glass windows, and Legrand Johnson donated cement. Shelley Wiegand, a USU student involved with the BRI said watching the straw-bale walls go up on Saturday was very satisfying. "Building the foundation seemed like it took a long time," said Wiegand "But when the walls went up, it was so cool. I hadn't ever seen that done before. It went really fast, and we didn't need a ton of tools." Greene said his first attempt to build a straw-bale greenhouse at LHS failed. He said the area he choose was inaccessible to machines so he and his students spent many hours digging out the rocky soil for a foundation, only to be told when they were done that their foundation area was needed for a new heating and air conditioning system. "It ended up OK though," said Greene. "Because the current spot I think is a lot nicer." He said he hopes to have the greenhouse completed by the end this school year so it will be ready for use next fall. He said he believes the greenhouse could be put to use by a number of classes, particularly biology and environmental science. He is looking forward to building something of a demonstration center, with the greenhouse as the centerpiece. Greene is looking at a few projects in the future, including the possible development of wind and water power generators. Around the greenhouse he would like to do some xeriscaping, which is landscaping for areas with arid climates (such as Utah's) that makes use of native plants that require less water. More information about straw-bale construction is available at the "surfin' straw-bale" website at http://mha-net.org/html/sblinks.htm.
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