Hemp Voices, Zachery Popp, Sativa Building Systems
Zach Popp, founder and CEO of Wittenberg, WI- \based Sativa Building Systems, oversees all operations within the company.
Being a new company, I still get my hands plenty dirty in the day-to-day functions of the business.
I have always been impressed with the performance potential of hemp buildings and the associated impacts on the wellbeing of people. Personally, I was attracted to hempcrete due to its mold resistance. When I talk about hemp construction, I often get asked “why is this not yet mainstream?” There are multiple answers to that question, but one reason is not because of uncompetitive performance compared to the standard alternatives. My goal has always been, and always will be, to get hemp construction into the mainstream, to have it recognized as the best-in-class material option. That will happen soon.
What was a win for your company in the past year?
We had three big wins this last year: We launched the Cultivated Tiny Home, a professionally built tiny home on wheels (THOW) that incorporates our own Z Panel hempcrete technology. We were also selected to engage in an SBIR contract with the US ARMY to explore bio-based binder alternatives for the Z Panel. We also completed a third-party Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) analysis which showed each Z Panel captures 1.1 kg of CO2eq.
What is something about hemp building/construction/processing you didn’t know a year ago?
I have been impressed with the infrastructure that has been coming online over the last year or so. Hemp construction would not exist without hemp farmers and hemp processors. It appears the industry is starting to settle in, and I have been excited about some of the potential suppliers that popped up in this past year right in our backyard.
What challenges does the hemp building industry face that it must overcome in the next five years?
I believe the biggest challenge is still awareness. Hemp construction is still a little way off from being commonly known among the general population. I’ve said for a while that using hemp construction will eventually become a “no-brainer” decision in the industry. It has been demonstrated to perform superiorly and it will eventually become very cost competitive, if not cost saving. At that point the only barrier will be if people, (contractors, architects, developers, and individual consumers) are aware of its existence.
