*Mattie Mead and Tommy Gibbons of Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc. Photo courtesy of Hempitecture*

Hempitecture Announces $8.4M Grant from US DOE

By Jean Lotus

The US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Jerome, Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc. an $8.4 million grant as part of the department’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC). The award is part of $428 million for 14 projects to accelerate domestic clean energy manufacturing in 15 coal communities across the United States, the company announced. The company will build an industrial fiber hemp processing and manufacturing facility to produce fiber-based products for building materials, packaging and the automotive industry creating 25 full-time jobs paying 15% higher than the prevailing wage, the agency announced.

Co-founder Mattie Mead called the award “game-changing.”

"We're truly honored to be selected through this highly competitive process that is designed to revitalize communities affected by the clean energy transition,” Mead said in a statement. “This funding will be allocated to the expansion of our production technology to eastern Tennessee, helping create economic vitality along the agricultural supply chain, leading directly into our decarbonizing materials."

Hempitecture put down Tennessee roots while co-founder Tommy Gibbons participated in a two-year program with the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Labs in 2022.

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Americhanvre

Texas Healthy Homes

South Bend Industrial Hemp

Sativa Building Systems

Whitefield Hemp Partners

Hemp Traders

Hillside Center for Sustainable Living

Gradek Contracting & Designs

*Hempitecture manufacturing facility in Sun Valley, ID. Courtesy of Hempitecture*

Since then, the company has been racking up awards and grants, including a $1.1 million award from the state of New York’s Natural Carbon Solutions Innovation Challenge and most recently winning an innovation award from the Nonwoven Fabrics Association and the RISE® – Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics Conference last month.

The company is also in the midst of a 1-year $5m equity raise through the crowd-funding site Wefunder.

Building supply chains in depressed areas.

White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said the DOE awards were part of a federal push to “build up the middle class’ with green technology infrastructure. “This is especially true in former coal communities, which are mounting a clean energy comeback by harnessing the urgent climate challenge in front of us and the clean energy solutions we invented here in America,” Zaidi said in a statement.

Midwest Hemp Technology

Hemp Carbon Standard

United Fiber Co

Hemp Building Co

*Tommy Gibbons and Mattie Mead pose in Idaho factory. Photo courtesy of Hempitecture*

8th Fire Innovations

Right Coast Hemp

Tiger Fiber

Plural Office Architects

The company rolled out a carpet underlayment product and will be launching natural fiber insulating boards.

PlantPanel is a “medium density continuous insulation that is designed to be used in ventilated rain screen cladding designed, or wherever continuous insulation is used in above ground applications,” Mead said in an email to HempBuildmag. PlantPanel tested under ASTM C612 standards and will be officially launched in 2025, with “testing conducted under ICC-ES standards that have been newly developed for natural fiber insulating boards.”

Mead said the investment in Hempitecture was a way to “bring value” to thousands of small investors.

“The validation of the Department of Energy in our business is a signal that biobased materials are here to stay, and that Hempitecture will remain positioned on the forefront of this emerging sector,” Mead said in a statement.