Would you feel a bit embarrassed inviting friends back to your house if it was made of straw?

In today's image-conscious world many might, but some people in Tangyuan County, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, certainly wouldn't.

This kind of new building material is gaining popularity in Tangyuan, with more and more local residents applying to build straw-bale houses.

It is now even considered cool to live in the houses built with straw-bales, which are compressed by a machine and then fixed in metal nets.

In June 2000, the county joined hands with Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA/China) to build 186 such straw-bale houses, with a total living area of 12,600 square meters.

With straw as the main material, building costs are much cheaper than those of ordinary redbrick houses.

"Each straw-bale house could save about 3,000 yuan (US$370) in construction costs compared to a redbrick house with same floor space," the Xinhua News Agency cited Song Congyi, a local resident, as saying.

People's scepticism was gradually dispelled after they realized the houses had many advantages. Straw-bale housing not only lowers building costs, it also saves energy and therefore, money.

This kind of house has very good soundproofing and insulating properties, which are very important wintertime considerations in this northeastern province.

Straw homes are also good at keeping the air moist and produce less carbon dioxide than brick houses.

The 186 houses have saved a total of 1.05 million yuan (US$129,000) in construction costs and 2.34 million yuan (US$288,000) in fuel bills since they were built in 2001.

The county's straw-bale house project has won the Human Settlement and Environment Award of the United Nation in 2005.

ADRA is pushing this new type of building material in northeast China, which is one of China's grain production bases.

(China Daily August 26, 2005)