Image via WikipediaAmerica's first house made primarily of hemp has been built. Using a product known as Hemcrete - a mix of industrial hemp, lime and water - a team of 40 volunteers, sub-contractors and designers have recently completed construction of a hemp house located in Ashville, North Carolina (NC). Eco-friendly design and construction company Push Design has gained the support of community members and local officials alike and now plans to build more.
Using a product known as Hemcrete - a mix of industrial hemp, lime and water - a team of 40 volunteers, sub-contractors and designers recently completed construction of the hemp house in Ashville, North Carolina (NC). Eco-friendly design and construction company Push Design have gained the support of community members and local officials alike and now plan to build more.
Using hemp as a building material is not new. Hemcrete is a registered brand of hempcrete, a material has been an alternative building material used in Europe and Australia since the 1960's. The use of hemp in buildings dates back millennia in Asia and the Middle East where the Cannabis plant originates from. The biggest challenges of using hemp as a building material in the U.S are regulation, supply and cost, all of which are related.
David Mosrie of Push Design explains: "The main negative effect of the legal situation [in the U.S] is the cost to import it, which is frankly very high. Even while [the government] is legalizing medical marijuana now in 19 states, [they] can't seem to allow industrial hemp production. Local production would not only lower the environmental impact exponentially versus bringing it from Europe, but would bolster a struggling economic group and prop up local farming, a long regional tradition. It frankly makes no sense to keep up the ban , at the state or federal level, but it continues on." {Read on}
