Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Billy Weitzenfeld stands in the straw studio he is building behind the Jacksonville Center in Floyd. Straw is a popular building material with environmental advocates because it spares trees from being felled for lumber and provides great insulation. The Sustainable Living Education Center exhibit includes a working fuel cell and example of other green building technqiues, such as the model home below.

FLOYD -- An organization that promotes green construction is building a 400-square-foot studio out of straw bales on the grounds of the Jacksonville Center for the Arts.

Generally viewed as waste good for little but lining stalls, straw is a popular building material with environmental advocates because it can be obtained locally, spares trees from being felled for lumber, and provides great insulation, reducing the amount of energy needed for heating or air conditioning.

The straw studio is one of several examples of environmentally friendly building methods being showcased by the Sustainable Living Education Center, a joint organization run by the Jackson Center, the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals and the Architectural Alternatives firm of Blacksburg.

"We're trying to get people to realize there are alternatives to conventional products," said Billy Weitzenfeld, AECP's executive director.

His office is located in the education center building, where finishing touches are being put on displays. The displays include a working fuel cell, architectural renderings and an electricity meter connected to both a conventional and a compact fluorescent light bulb to show the vast difference in power consumption. Part of the electricity for the building comes from a wind turbine just outside.

Weitzenfeld said the education center will have an official opening in the near future. The center building has been furnished with environmentally friendly materials, including wallpaper and shelving made from straw. Flooring material includes recycled carpet, bamboo and cork. The latter two are far easier to replenish than hardwood trees.

Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

A windmill and solar panel are part of the Sustainable Living Education Center exhibit behind the Jacksonsville Center in Floyd.

In an age when recycling programs are commonplace, organic food is in Wal-Mart and hybrid cars are selling well, interest in green construction is also booming. Environmentally sensitive building got a prominent endorsement last month with the announcement that the new structures to be put up on the World Trade Center site will be designed to meet the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The council has accredited 623 projects since starting the program in 2000, though only 24 were homes.

Straw bale buildings were common in Nebraska more than a century ago as settlers made do with what materials were available to them. The technique was largely abandoned, but interest in it revived in recent years, in the wake of an article in Shelter, a construction trade publication, said Joyce Coppinger, managing editor of The Last Straw, a Nebraska-based publication that focuses on straw bale construction.

"In 1997 we had two new straw bale buildings in Nebraska in addition to 10 historic ones," she said. "Now there are 32 new structures."

Her group helps maintain a registry of straw bale buildings. The registry listed 482 buildings nationwide, second only to China's 597. Listing is voluntary, and the number of actual buildings is higher.

The straw bale building in Floyd was designed by a Virginia Tech architecture student, Leon Davis, who has since graduated and moved to Washington state, Weitzenfeld said.

As is typical for straw buildings, the one at the Jackson Center has large roof overhangs to lessen the chances of its walls getting wet. Damp straw will deteriorate quickly, so sealing it properly is critical, said David Zachow, principal of Ancient Hills Cottage Builders, who consulted on the project. He said he has built three straw bale buildings in the county but declined to say where because they were for private clients.

Comparing the cost of straw homes to those built of other materials is tough because the former are almost universally custom jobs, and the owners often do much of the work themselves. Straw is cheap, but building with it is labor-intensive, said several people who have built homes with the material.

"If you hire a contractor to do it, it will cost the same or slightly more than a custom building," Zachow said.

While building with straw may cost more initially, the energy savings can be tremendous, advocates say.

Jonathan Weintraub, who lives in a 2,200-square-foot straw bale house in Lovettsville, said he paid $90 a month on heat last winter, one-third of what his neighbors spent.

"It's comfortable and wonderful," he said.