US Hemp Building Association members at the Members Online Event June 15 voted for the top Hemp House built in the past year.

Building with hemp-lime (“hempcrete”) is about to get a visibility boost in popular culture after international clothing giant Patagonia completed filming a new short film that shines the spotlight on the hempcrete home-building of the Lower Sioux in Morton, MN.

Commercial and residential architects will be able to more easily design for US buildings using hemp-lime (hempcrete) thanks to new technical resources released this week through the US Hemp Building Association.

Imagine one day having the possibility of building a home on Maui using locally grown hemp. As a construction product, hemp has extraordinary qualities. Mixed with lime, water and volcanic minerals to create hempcrete, this eco-friendly building material is not only fire, mold and termite resistant, it’s also a non-toxic, sound insulating, energy efficient product which absorbs carbon dioxide from the air.

Hemp could become a key tool in the fight against climate change.

“Beyond my wildest dreams,” is how Cameron McIntosh described the fruits of his decision with his wife three years ago to license and distribute the French EREASY spray-applied hemp-lime application system. 

The Trinidad, CA-based Indigenous Habitat Institute (IHI) will use grant awards of close to $630,000 to build the supply chain for hemp-lime tribal housing and start a workforce training program for a hemp-lime (“hempcrete”) panel factory, the organization announced.

Have you built a US hempcrete home in the past year? The US Hemp Building Association is seeking submissions for the Best New Hemp Building 2023-24 Contest.

Hemp building materials will return to the National Mall in Washington DC in June where US Hemp Building Association will be exhibiting in the 4th annual Innovative Housing Showcase 2024. 

From afar, there’s little to suggest this worksite is not your typical build, but actually a first-of-its-kind project in Austin ... until you come closer and see the 400-pound bags of hemp hurd, sacks of lime powder, and a specialized hempcrete mixer.

A group of Tasmanian women hemp farmers ran a crowdfunding campaign this August raising over 1.5 million Australian dollars (about $1 M USD) from 900 investors.

A proverb says a lie can travel half way around the world before the Truth gets its trousers on. This is certainly more true in the internet age, especially with aggregated news gathering.

When construction is complete next April, the Lower Sioux — also known as part of the Mdewakanton Band of Dakota — will have a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing campus that will allow them to pioneer a green experiment, the first of its kind in the United States.

The US Hemp Building Association, trade association for the hemp building industry, announced upcoming developments for 2024, including hemp-lime (“hempcrete”) listed in US building codes, removing barriers for commercial architects and designers and helping hemp processors attain a “building grade” hemp spec.

Since the two hemp homes at Wally Farm have been completed, I have been spending some time thinking about how to illustrate the relevance of having used hemp lime (which is now completely invisible like most insulation products are) and how to scale up the conversation from two tiny homes to greater impact.

Once again hemp-lime is proving to be a resilient material, this time in a flood zone. Homeowner Gayle Killen says the remediation she has done to her historic home in Ellicott City, Maryland, has saved the house from flood damage where others have not been so lucky.

Hemp building materials took a prominent place at the Rocky Mountain Natural Building Conference Oct. 20-22. Hemp took the podium along with cob, straw bale, passive house, natural plaster and other natural building technologies, at the Natural Building Alliance's 20th anniversary conference.

In October, I joined a swarm of fanatics, innovators and curious observers, as they descended on Kanteen 25 in the northern outskirts of Amsterdam, Netherlands. One thing was on everyones’ mind at the 11th International Hemp Building symposium -- INDUSTRIAL HEMP and most importantly, how is it altering the future of construction?

Chicago union carpenters and bricklayers got an exposure to hemp-lime materials in a four-day certification workshop led by a Canadian hemp block maker this week.

Wolf Jordan, who transitioned from the world of traditional construction to become a fierce proponent of natural building solutions, and who inspired ecologically-minded builders the world over, has died at age 75.