Homes built with innovative material: hemp

Hemp – Uses

“It makes perfect sense to use materials from annual and renewable crops to make building materials. In just four months, three hectares of hemp produce enough to build a T3 house.”

FlashBack – Hemp – 1st Edition of A Folha

The University of Bath's 3-year project will collect new scientific data and test this material for large-scale use to build housing in the UK.

The funding comes from a consortium of institutes and private companies interested in the development of this innovative product.

The material, made up of hemp fiber and lime, will be tested to find out the durability, strength and energy efficiency of buildings made of this “alloy”, compared to conventional building materials.

Homes will have a residual environmental cost and will be much more sustainable.

As Professor Pete Walker, director of BRE – Center for Innovation in Building Materials, says: “It makes perfect sense to use materials from annual and renewable harvests to make building materials. In just four months, three hectares of hemp produce enough to build a T3 house”.

Using much less polluting materials and leaving a much smaller ecological footprint, since hemp is a material that has a smaller carbon footprint than zero, due to the fact that the cannabis plant has more than one annual cycle and a fast growth rate, while being an excellent carbon sink.

In addition, it eliminates the use of large amounts of herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, reduces soil erosion and has an excellent rate of reuse of derivatives for a wide range of industries.

We can now join the hemp bricks to the plant's endless list of uses, ranging from clutch discs to paper for all uses, food, drink, clothing or energy.

**Warning: Possession and cultivation of seeds not approved by the Portuguese State and the European Union is punishable by law. Canábis Clube de Portugal and A Folha are not responsible for the use that is given to the information contained in these pages, as well as warning that these facts are reviewed as they are articles that are present in the printed versions of A Folha. We urge our readers to be responsible and respect the law. **

The leaf: Issue No. 1