“Most people who go there have already discovered it’s made of hemp,” hemp advocate Dick Clarke told the Ministry of Hemp. “But they are surprised to see how normal it looks — what were they expecting I wonder?”

Continued Clarke:

“(They’re) equally surprised at how nice it feels inside, and how comfortable it is. This is when the lightbulbs go on about temperature and internal humidity control. It’s fun to watch. Then when they start talking, excitedly, they are blown away by the quiet acoustics.”

‘The most comfortable home I have ever slept in’

Clarke from Sydney-based firm Envirotecture won the Paul Dass Memorial Prize in the BDA National Design Awards, for outstanding building design for the house near Mudgee, northwest of Sydney.

He has been building hemp homes since 2013. AK Constructions Mudgee built the award-winning house, with a design by Envirotecture, and the hemp building materials supplied by Australian Hemp Masonry Company (AHMC).

“Having visited the house in a cold winter time, I can say that it is the most comfortable home I have ever slept in,” said Clarke.

“While there was frost on the ground outside, we slept under a light blanket, with no additional heating. The house has a sense of settled quietness which is hard to understand without experiencing it.”

The hemp home cost about $700,000. Thats about 15% more than a normal timber and fibre cement building. Clarke told us they’ve struggled to get Australia’s construction code to acknowledge the unique benefits of hempcrete and the Grattai house.

It’s not the only award-winning hemp home in Australia. In 2017 “Balanced Earth” in Byron Bay, a trendy spot on the country’s east coast, won the New South Wales Master Builders Award for Energy Efficient Housing.

AHMC have been developing the Australian hemp construction industry since 1999 and supply Building Code of Australia (BCA) compliant green building products, consulting services and also give training and advice.

AHMC manufacture lime binder, hemp-lime render, and insulation products in Sydney. Their materials are low-embodied energy, thermally efficient and greatly reduce energy use in buildings. They developed and tested them over six years at the Australian Centre for Construction Innovation at the University of New South Wales, and then for a further six years in the field.

Hempcrete homes built regularly in Australia

Klara Marosszeky, AHMC managing director, said they had built 140 hemp homes. With multiple occupants living in them there could be a total 400 people residing in a hemp house thanks to AHMC.

AHMC builds houses on a regular basis in Tasmania, Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria. They were about to start on homes in Queensland and South Australia, as well as New Zealand. There are currently nine builds underway, mostly in New South Wales but also in Victoria and Western Australia. This was despite the misconception, she said, that Australia didn’t have its own hempcrete building products.

“We’ve had feedback from people from homes in Mudgee for example where it’s been 40 plus degrees for over a week and it doesn’t get hotter than 27 inside a hemp home,” Marosszeky told the Ministry of Hemp.

“So (hempcrete) works thermally in a whole range of ways. 

She continues “It’s light thermal mass, it’s highly insulative and because it’s a breathable material (it’s) vapor permeable, it draws moisture out of the atmosphere, so deals with humidity very well.”

In February, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, declared the 2018-19 summer the hottest on record. 

Meanwhile regional New South Wales is undergoing a record drought, which is where hemp — a drought-resilient hardy crop that can guarantee farmers income during these periods — also comes in.  

‘Miracle house’ made from hemp

The manager of a community radio network in Victoria also installed two unrendered hemp walls during the retrofit of his home. He discovered working there was the equivalent of working in a sound booth. He’s now building a hemp music studio, said Marosszeky. 

One award-winning house in the Sydney, built under the city’s flight path also has both acoustic and thermally insulative benefits thanks to hemp.

The house has a sense of settled quietness which is hard to understand without experiencing it.

Dick Clarke, award-winning hempcrete architect

Others hemp homes in Australia include a family with teenage aged triplets with muscular dystrophy who require wheelchairs. Clarke designed their house in central-west New South Wales. Locals dubbed it a “miracle house.”

“What had to be designed was a home where three people in wheelchairs could get around without busting the house to pieces,” said Marosszeky.

“In a normal home that wouldn’t work so it’s sort of like a mini hospital size building. And the community built it.”

Australias first commercial hempcrete building

More recently AHMC carried out their first commercial build at the Innovation Centre at the Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School in Byron Bay in New South Wales. It’s Australia’s first commercial hemp building. AHMC consider construction of the new maths and science centre a major milestone for hempcrete in Australia. 

Marosszeky first began looking at hemp in the mid-1990s when she started searching or an alternative to timber, not to stop using it altogether, but to use it more carefully.

“We haven’t got our heads around forests and how much we need how much vegetation we need to keep going on the planet to be able to harvest the amount of emissions that are out there,” she said.

“Hemp just immediately goes into that and it has this history of durability.” 

Marosszeky continued: “It has the health benefits, so good indoor air quality, and then it hits these targets for thermal efficiency.”

Training others in Australia to build hempcrete homes 

Marosszeky has run workshops for years, teaching people to build hemp houses, providing formal and hands on training on building with hemp masonry or hemp lime construction materials for builders, building designers, architects and owner builders. 

This could be a pole structure, standard pine frame or construction which starts on stone in wet or tropical areas or cold regions. AHMC distributes training manuals which detail everything needed for a code compliant home.

In Australia, there is demand for hempcrete homes for health. 

“We know what is inside our buildings is making us sick,” said Marosszeky, adding that molds don’t grow in hemp buildings because they have breathable walls.

“A huge amount of buildings in Australia and everywhere in the world have got molds, molds are responsible for about 75% of allergies with respiratory and skin allergies.”

“She added: “so it’s quite an important thing to not have molds in your home because that’s what’s triggering all of your allergies.” 

AHMC also work closely with farmers and processors in Australia. They are currently setting up for early stage investment. 

The post Hempcrete In Australia: Hemp To The Rescue During Heat & Drought appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

The Highland Hemp House is a unique hempcrete home in Bellingham, Washington.

Originally built in 1969, owner Pamela Bosch wanted to replace older, toxic building materials with something healthy, sustainable, and eco-friendly. The answer was hempcrete, made from combining the hurd (woody core) of industrial hemp plants with lime and water. Bosch hired Hempitecture to oversee a total hempcrete retrofit.

Previously, Hempitecture created a hempcrete retreat center at 7,468’ in Idaho’s Lost River mountains. Idaho Basecamp uses the center for yoga classes and other events to help people feel in touch with nature.

HIGHLAND HEMP HOUSE: HEMPCRETE IS HEALTHIER & MORE SUSTAINABLE

Why choose hempcrete? Hempcrete is more breathable, making it healthier for occupants. Hempcrete is mold-resistant, pest-resistant, and fire-resistant. It’s carbon-negative, since it’s absorbs CO2 from occupants over time. Hempcrete is an energy efficient insulator, completely non-toxic and even has great acoustics.

Best of all, Hempcrete is so easy to work with anyone can learn. To create hempcrete walls, builders first mix, then spread the hempcrete into forms. After it dries, the forms are removed, and the walls will naturally grow even more durable over time. Highland Hemp House is frequently open for workshops, tours, and hands-on building. So far, they’ve put in over 1150 hours of labor and poured over 587 batches of hempcrete.

As work continues, Pamela Bosch hopes Highland Hemp House will be “a physical testament to the beauty and potential in hemp building.”

Thanks to TAAP Media for video production assistance.

The post Highland Hemp House: Sharing The Beauty & Potential In Hemp Homes (VIDEO) appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Hemp packaging could be a solution to the problem of disposable, single-use paper and plastic.

Update December 16, 2020: Sana Packaging founders visited the Ministry of Hemp podcast to discuss how they started their hemp plastic packaging company, after forming Ron Vasak-Smith, CEO, and James Eichner

Hemp packaging could replace disposable, single-use plastic

“The statistics are in: every second … a half acre of trees are cut down,” said Matthew Glyer of Hemp.Press. “7.5 bllion trees for paper alone is not sustainable.”

Every industry is struggling with the growing problem of waste. The legal cannabis industry is no exception. Most medical and recreational dispensaries use single-use plastic and foil containers. Consumers throw them away after consuming the products inside. For the most part, these materials are not biodegradable. Single-use paper packaging is also commonplace in the industry.

Researches haven’t perfected hemp plastic, yet. Meanwhile, companies like Sana Packaging are already creating composites from hemp and corn. Sana Packaging’s products combine hemp hurd, the fibrous woody core of agricultural hemp, with corn to create composite bioplastic.

Working with domestically-sourced materials also ensures the sustainability of their products. Sana Packaging sources all their hemp domestically, from Kentucky, then processes it in North Dakota.

“We manufacture in Minnesota and Arizona,” said Ron Basak-Smith of Sana Packaging. “All American made, all American supply chain.”

Hemp.Press also targets the cannabis industry with products that replace boxes or display cards made from trees with hemp paper.

Both companies want to change the laws, too. Currently, most states with legal medical or recreational marijuana programs prohibit the re-use of packaging at cannabis dispensaries. Ideally, consumers would use refillable packaging that they could bring to the dispensary over and over.

The post Hemp Packaging Offers Sustainable Alternatives To Paper & Plastic (VIDEO) appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.