Straw Bale Calculations

Combined with the Road article that indicates 13M acres of available roadsides - and bale density of 110 kg/m3, [1] - and a bale yield of approximately 2 dry tons per acre [2] - we have:

1. 26 million tons of bales
2. 236 million cubic meters of bales
3. 19" straw bales (~50 cm) - R27 [3]
4. One cubic meter of bale gives about 2 square meters of wall insulation.
5. Take Seed Home - 3000 sf of wall (all-enclosing) or 300 m2, or 150 cubic meters of bale.
6. This suffices for about 1.6M new homes. This is more than enough for all new USA construction of 1.2M homes. [4]