Hemp building is good for your health, good for the environment, and has potential to be lucrative for entrepreneurs and existing businesses. We have the answer everyone is looking for, we just need to prove it to them.

By Jacob Waddell, President of the U.S. Hemp Building Association

The world is changing. What was once a whisper has become a roar. The ideas that were once preached by fringe environmentalists have now become common knowledge. In order for our species to survive long-term, we need to start working with our environment.

Now governments are making commitments to decrease their negative impact on our planet and big businesses are realizing that the best plan to improve their long term success is to move towards sustainable practices. Research and development is focusing on how we can improve our relationship with our environment. We are discovering that certain practices and materials we have been using are having unintended negative consequences.

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The construction industry accounts for 39% of carbon dioxide emissions globally, with 11% coming from the manufacturing of building materials. There is also greater awareness that our health is being adversely affected by the buildings we live and work in. Our current construction practices are hurting our environment and hurting the health of ourselves and the people we love.

Hemp is a solution to all these issues. Due to its long prohibition, hemp has untapped potential that innovators and entrepreneurs are taking advantage of. This has opened the door for many new hemp-based building products. The most widely used hemp based building material is hempcrete. Hempcrete offers a construction material that has great insulative properties while also sequestering large amounts of carbon. This leads to healthy carbon-negative housing options.

In order to move hemp to the forefront of the construction industry, we need to create acceptance of products utilizing hemp. This process starts with creating data-driven arguments for using hemp and then educating professionals. In order to create data that will be accepted by the industry, we need to perform testing in accepted ways to compare hemp based products with current products.

Once we can make a compelling argument for hemp-based products, then we can start presenting the information to governments and businesses who are looking for the answer. This will provide opportunities for growth in the market and creation of more robust supply chains.

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The US Hemp Building Association is working to determine the specific methodology to perform testing required by building codes to approve the material performance of hemp building products. We are simultaneously working with a coalition to define the methodology to evaluate the environmental impact of bio-based building materials. By determining the way to assess the performance and the environmental impact of hemp based materials within the accepted systems, we can start collecting the data that is needed to convince the construction industry of our benefits.

This leads to education. Education can take many forms from targeted material to professionals or government agencies to educating your friends and neighbors. HempBuild Magazine is a great opportunity for the hemp building industry to gather information and news, to educate ourselves and to create a depot of information to direct others that are interested in hemp building materials.

The world is changing and it has created a great opportunity. Now we have to take advantage of it. Hemp building is good for your health, good for the environment, and has potential to be lucrative for entrepreneurs and existing businesses. We have the answer everyone is looking for, we just need to prove it to them.

This is a call to action. If you believe in the potential of hemp in the construction industry, we need you. We need you to do whatever it is you are good at for the industry. There is no mold to fit, there are no requirements, all we need is passion and perseverance. Together we can move the hemp building products industry forward.