According to many sources, including the U.S. Department of Energy, straw as a building material is environmentally sensitive, inexpensive, seismically sound, readily available, and very energy efficient.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 200 million tons of straw - the stalks that remain after the harvest of wheat, oats, barley, rice, rye, and flax - are wasted in this country alone every year. U.S. Department of Agriculture figures indicate that American farmers harvest enough straw each year to construct 4 million 2,000-square-foot homes - almost four times the number currently built using conventional materials.