November 7, 2009 – Assess for us, if you would, the qualities of this sustainable construction material:

* Bio-negative manufacturing (more carbon dioxide is locked up in the process of growing and harvesting the component materials than is released during the production of the binding ingredient)
* 100% recyclable (can be used as fertilizer after being demolished)
* Waterproof
* Fireproof
* Insulates well
* Does not rot when used above ground

What is this mysterious construction material, and why isn’t it in your home? The material is hemp, and it’s not used in the United States because of laws prohibiting growing of so-called industrial hemp. Hemcrete bricks, made from hemp, lime and water, have been used in Europe for years now. Growing hemp—even low-THC varieties specifically raised for food, fiber and industrial use—is illegal in all but a handful of states in America, making construction with sustainable hemp bricks prohibitively expensive. Figures from the Hemp Industries Association show that virtually 100 percent of the hemp used in American hemp products last year—products worth approximately $360 million in retail value—were imported.

Progress toward legalizing industrial hemp farming in the United States is crawling. Oregon recently became the ninth state to remove legal barriers to industrial hemp farming. Reports StoptheDrugWar.org:

Hemp is a member of the cannabis family, but is distinguished from smokeable marijuana by its low THC content and its lanky, fibrous appearance. The Oregon law specifies that industrial hemp must contain less than 0.3% THC. So does pending federal legislation, HR 1866, sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), which would remove low-THC hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and thus the DEA’s domain. The eight other states that have removed barriers to hemp production or research are Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia. Oregon joins North Dakota as the only states that do not require farmers to obtain federal permits from the DEA to grow hemp. By Lisa Poisso. Source.

July 16th, 2009 – Archial Architects recently unveiled a house made from a combination of hemp and a lime-based binding agent. The innovative design combines the industrial strength fibers of the hemp plant with a binding agent to create what has been dubbed “hempcrete.” Among the benefits of using hempcrete in housing construction is the fact that the entire process of growing the hemp and processing it for use in hempcrete is claimed to leave a negative carbon footprint. Other claimed benefits include good insulation as a result of low thermal-conductivity and the cost-effectiveness of using hempcrete over more traditional timber and brick construction.

The entire idea seems quite reasonable. Hemp offers significant advantages over timber in many potential areas. Hemp creates stronger paper since its fibers are just about the strongest you can find naturally. Also, because hemp is a weed, it grows extremely quickly and can be harvested and processed relatively inexpensively. This is a double win over using timber, because the time it takes to plant and grow a tree is significantly longer than the time it would take to plant and harvest hemp. As long as the strength of hempcrete stands up to testing, would there be any reason for the U.S. not to begin researching into incorporating some type of hemp-based building material into low income housing and other government subsidized housing programs? Not only would this allow for fast and efficient construction of homes and other buildings in places that need them, but it would allow for the preservation of forests by alleviating the reliance on timber. Of course, there is much more to this issue than what I’ve mentioned, but stepping beyond lobbyist idiosyncrasies and politics as usual, this is definitely an area that ought to be looked into by the U.S. Government.

The question remains whether the American Government, blissful in its ignorance, would be able to look past the fact that industrial strength hemp is incapable of getting you high with a THC content of about 0.3% or less. As it stands now, the U.S. is one of the few modern industrialized nations to not cultivate industrial hemp as a result of Federal Law. Source.