Building Revolution: If Hemp Is Legalized, Hempcrete Will Change The Construction Industry

Hempcrete is a mixture of hemp hurds and lime used as a material for construction and insulation. It is marketed under names like Hempcrete, Canobiote, Canosmose, and Isochanvre. Apart from insulation and putting up a house, Hempcrete can be used for flooring, walls, roofing and more. According to experts, it is fire-proof, water-proof, and rot-proof as long as it’s above ground.

Hempcrete is easier to work with than traditional lime mixes and acts as an insulator and moisture regulator. It lacks the brittleness of concrete and consequently does not need expansion joints. It also creates a negative carbon footprint, for those who are concerned with environmental damage. It is said that earthquakes cannot crack Hempcrete structures as they are three times more resistant than regular concrete. It is a superior building material due to the fact that it is a very strong, lightweight and breathable material.

An expert in Hempcrete- Joe Martino, gave a detailed explanation of how the material works on Collective-Evolution, saying “As humidity is taken in from the external environment, the Hempcrete holds that humidity until it is ready to be released again when the climate is less humid. Since the lime is wrapped in cellulose, the lime takes a bit longer for it to fully url-2 petrify but is still incredibly strong. Over time, the lime looks to turn back to a rock, so the material becomes harder and harder until it petrifies completely. This means the wall will last thousands of years vs. 40 – 100 like normal building materials today.  Another great aspect to Hempcrete is that if too much is mixed during building, you can return it to the soil as a great fertilizer.”

Martino also explained that since lime is the binding material, builders do not have to heat up the lime as much as a supplier would need to in the industrial creation of concrete. This results in a lot of energy url-4 conservation when producing Hempcrete vs. concrete. Jumping back to the carbon aspect, Hempcrete sequesters (hides or puts away) carbon as it is very high in cellulose. Through its growing life cycle, it takes in large amounts of carbon, which is then built into the home or building it is being used to construct. This does not allow the carbon to be released into the atmosphere. A home can save about 20,000 lbs of carbon when being built out of Hempcrete.

Hemp itself grows to maturity within 14 weeks. This makes it cheap and sustainable, since getting the hemp hurds will not be difficult. But the big question is, if Hempcrete really does have these enormous benefits, why has our governments kept silent as we struggle to put up more houses and other building, using materials that in the end increase our bills and casts a negative effect on the environment?

Martino has the answer: “When it comes to new and sustainable housing ideas, it seems to always be about creating a more efficient home in terms of insulation, lighting, electricity, etc. Mainstream belief on the subject would have you believe that top corporations and government projects are working with the best possible technology to bring forth solutions that work and are going to be great for the environment. If that was truly the case, I can guarantee you that the whole world would be using Hempcrete right now. Haven’t heard of it? I’m not too surprised.”

From Martino’s conclusion, if hemp is made legal and people can freely use it, our governments and the big corporations will lose. According to Martino, they are therefore keeping us in the dark for their own parochial interests.

You want to support Anonymous Independent & Investigative News? Please, follow us on Twitter: Follow @AnonymousNewsHQ

This Article (Building Revolution: If Hemp Is Legalized, Hempcrete Will Change The Construction Industry) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.