These high r-values reduce our reliance on electricity and the burning of fossil fuels for heating and cooling. Electricity in the west is overwhelmingly hydroelectric. Hydroelectric dams have had a devastating effect on the native salmon. The burning of fossil fuels leads to a multitude of air quality problems. Carbon dioxide, the leading culprit of the possible global warming effect, is a by-product of burning fossil fuels.
Air quality affects the water in which many amphibians live.
Current research links the possibility of deformations in frogs and lizards to poor water quality. Straw is renewed annually and is the natural waste of grain harvest. The US Department of Agriculture estimates there is enough straw left over from our grain harvest to build 4 million homes per year. Straw bales have a very low embodied energy. Generally, they are produced using simple machines requiring very little fuel input.