Posts in environmental building
Hemp Building Association Announces Elections, Call for Candidates

The US Hemp Building Association, the American trade association for the promotion of hemp building materials and construction, on Nov. 17 announced an upcoming election and call for candidates of its complete seven-member volunteer board of directors.

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Greenbuild Expo Welcomes Hemp Building Materials

Hemp-based construction companies have been knocking on the door of events like San Francisco’s Greenbuild Expo for years. But this year, three companies presented their products and networked with the many designers, builders, architects, engineers and city officials attending.

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Hemp and Magnesium Oxide Workshop in Texas

Texas workshop participants this fall will get to test a new handcast building method with hemp and Magnesium Oxide, a combination that builds a cement-like wall infill structure that’s stronger than concrete, organizers say. Magnesium Oxide works like lime to create a vapor-permeable wall assembly, one of the advantages of a hemp-based building.

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Hempcrete Approved for US Residential Building Codes

Hemp building materials were officially approved in the model US residential building code at a Louisville, KY public hearing overseen by the International Code Council (ICC) last week.

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Portugal: Hempcrete Mixed with Charcoal Builds Solid Walls

Burnt, charred wood is historically used as a wood protection measure on the exterior of buildings. It is a technique usually attributed to the Japanese, called Sugi Ban, which we wanted to adapt for hemp construction, by inserting charcoal into the mixture and/or burning the hemp straw itself.

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Hemp Block Company Brings Together Israeli, Palestinian Entrepreneurs

Two Israelis living in the south of Alentejo have teamed up with two Palestinians to found an innovative hemp block business for sustainable construction. Its aim is to encourage the local economy with as little ecological footprint as possible and, of course, lots of love. From this unlikely relationship of Israeli-Palestinian friendship, Hemp was born.

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Spotlight: 3 New Hemp Houses in the USA

We’d like to introduce you to three new hempcrete builds in Texas, Colorado and Michigan. All three projects began, or were completed, in 2022 and the builders/subcontractors are already starting new projects.

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Data Reveals Hemp’s Low Carbon Footprint in Construction

A Colorado engineering professor’s 2020 research has given builders and designers a new way to measure the way hemp-based biomaterials can store carbon in buildings. By comparing data from a life cycle assessment of hemp+lime insulation, or hempcrete, using digital tools, builders can easily see the benefits of hemp as compared to traditional construction materials.

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Measuring Embodied Carbon in NY Hempcrete Build

One of the biggest motivations in using hemp and lime as a construction material was our interest in building “net zero” or “carbon-negative” or “climate-positive” or “carbon-neutral”– there are a lot of different terms being used, ultimately, it is about achieving a balance between the carbon emitted into the atmosphere, and the carbon removed from it.

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Defiant Ukrainian Pioneer Builds Hemp Houses as War Rages

Sergiy Kovalenkov has built a business in Ukraine and has no intention of ceasing operations during the war. In fact, he feels strongly that this is the time to double down on is efforts to support others in the hemp industry, and to work to move the Ukrainian medical cannabis initiative forward as well.

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