Cannabis Houses Have Lower Carbon Footprint

Written by Bryan Nelson


Published on April 14th,
2009


Posted in About Climate, About Environment,
In Europe

Houses built out of hemp instead of traditional building materials
leave a ‘better than zero carbon’ footprint, according to new
research out of the UK.


Aside from helping to combat global warming, building homes from the
cannabis plant could also give a boost to struggling rural economies.
That’s good news almost everywhere except for within the U.S., where
industrialized hemp is still illegal to grow under federal law.




The process for constructing the carbon neutral building material is a
unique one which uses lime-based adhesive to bind together hemp fibers.
Homes built from the hemp-lime material can reach carbon neutrality in
large part due to the remarkable efficiency by which the fast growing
hemp plant can store carbon as it grows. The lime adhesive is also
important due to its powerful insulating properties.
A consortium has been established out of the University of Bath,
where the research was initiated, to collect the necessary engineering
data so that British homes can start being built from the new material
as soon as possible. A spokesperson for the project stated:
“We will be measuring the properties of lime-hemp materials, such as
their strength and durability, as well as the energy efficiency of
buildings made of these materials.”
This news should also add fuel to the fire of a heated legalization
debate in the United States, which remains the only industrialized
country in the world that still outlaws the production of hemp. Unlike
elsewhere, U.S. law fails to make a distinction between hemp and
marijuana, and so growing industrialized hemp can bring the same
penalties as growing marijuana.
Technically speaking, hemp is the common name for plants of the
entire Cannabis genus, although the term is more typically used
to refer only to strains of industrialized varieties which are not
cultivated for drug use. Because industrialized hemp grows so quickly,
requires almost no pesticides or herbicides, controls topsoil erosion
and is a significant carbon sink, many environmentalists have been
touting the plant as an eco-friendly miracle crop for decades.
Furthermore, hemp can serve as a green-minded replacement for many other
raw materials which aren’t good for the environment, such as tree
paper, plastics and certain clothing fibers. Hemp seeds are also edible,
and hemp seed oils offer healthy alternatives to other cooking oils.
Now house-building materials can also be added to the long list of
cannabis’ benefits.
Although several U.S. states have defied the federal government and
legalized growing hemp, it still isn’t being grown anywhere due to
resistence from the Drug Enforcement Agency. If you’re interested in
helping to legalize the plant in the U.S., a nonprofit advocacy
organization called Vote Hemp is
currently calling upon voters to sign a petition for HR 1866, or the
Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009. They could use your signature.

Source ="http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/04/14/cannabis-houses-have-lower-carbon-footprint/"