What you should know about hemp
From the beginning
Hemp is a plant that has been used since ancient times. The first recorded fiber usage is from 2800 b.c.e. It was a plant, that grew in almost every part of the world and was used to make food, medicine, clothing and building materials. This plant has been with us since the beginning, and seems like we had forgotten about it for a while, but now we are rediscovering and developing its potential.
How hemp affects the Earth
Hemp, renowned as the world's most efficient biomass, possesses remarkable qualities that set it apart. Its unparalleled durability and exceptional material efficiency make it a standout choice. Notably, hemp's cultivation and subsequent product creation demand significantly less energy compared to other crops. In addition, its eco-friendliness shines through as it thrives without the need for pesticides or chemical fertilizers. With each seed sown, hemp aids in soil regeneration and actively combats pollution.
One of hemp's most astonishing attributes lies in its negative carbon footprint. It surpasses mere carbon neutrality, absorbing more carbon dioxide than it requires for growth and material production.
Astonishingly, this versatile plant reaches harvest stage within a mere 4-5 months, showcasing its exceptional efficiency in both time and energy consumption.
Relative to alternative crops and raw material sources, hemp outshines in numerous aspects. It necessitates less land and water, while providing heightened nutritional value and superior yields.
Eco system and hemp
Hemp flowers attract bees. Birds love the nutritious seeds and the wild animals feed on the tasty leaves.
The lack of pesticides in hemp fields create friendly environment for micro organisms and fungi which is the essential base for other life form to grow.
What we can do out hemp
Food
Hemp seeds are one of the most nutritious foods available in nature. It contains a high level of protein, essential vitamins, minerals, and perfectly balanced ratio of fatty acids (Omega-3 and Omega-6). It is easily digestible, anti-inflammatory and helps to heal immune deficiency diseases. It sustains our dietary needs, even without consuming any other food. Not only is hemp a superfood, it's also very tasty and diverse in its potential. You can make with it any basic food, such as oil, milk and flour, to more advanced, like vegan meat, cheese, pasta and desserts.
Health and wellbeing
One of the most known usage of hemp is CBD oil. A lot of research states that it helps to treat anxiety and depression, epileptic seizures, reduces PTSD, relieves unimaginable pain, treats opioid addiction and protects against neurological diseases. The list is way longer. Essential oil made out of hemp is very beneficial for the nervous system. It is well known to relieve anxiety and to help you sleep.
Textiles and clothes
Any kind of textile or eco-leather made out of hemp is a great choice of material, since it's breathable for your skin. The fiber is the most durable of all the plants. Changing your clothes from cotton and polyester to hemp is a game changer for the climate.
In 2015, Stockholm Environment Institute published a major report comparing cotton, hemp, and polyester from an environmental perspective. The study found that polyester takes 10 times more energy to produce and pollutes much higher carbon oxide than hemp and cotton. Polyester is made out of fossil fuels and while wearing it, it releases around 16 000 microfibers in 12 hours. In the oceans there's around 270,000 tons of plastic and 98% of it is microfibers. These small pieces of plastic contain toxins, which get released into the sea, air, and further to animals, including humans. That's one of the ways in which we intoxicate the ecosystem and ourselves.
The textile industry is the third largest water consumer in the world. One kilogram of cotton needs around 10,000 kg. Hemp requires only 2500 kg of water for 1 kg of fabric.
It takes 2700 kg of water to make a cotton t-shirt, which is around 2,5 years of drinking water for one person, and it needs to be exchanged for a new one faster than a hemp t-shirt.
Another issue with cotton is the vast soil degradation (compared to hemp which enriches the soil ) and the big usage of pesticides and fertilizers. Cotton production uses 25% of all pesticides and 7% of all fertilizers in the world. This is a major problem, since it runs off into rivers, wetlands and seas, pollutes the water, and affects the bio-diversity and extinction of species. Today we find in water toxins from pesticides, that we dumped 40 years ago in the process of growing crops.
Paper
Paper made by trees causes a lot of pollution. It only contains only 30 % cellulose, which has to be removed from the remaining 70% of the tree. This process uses toxic chemicals, which are dumped into water. They don't decompose, but pollute the water. Hemp takes 4-5 months from seed to harvest, when the forest industry takes 20 years to grow, pollutes 70% more and gives 3 times less paper.
Unlike traditional paper, hemp paper does not crack, become yellow or deteriorate over time and can be recycled 8 times compared to regular paper that can only be recycled up to 3 times. Wider use of hemp paper can reduce a lot of pollution, resources, energy, and deforestation.
Plastic
Plastic is something we see and use on our daily basis. It's very useful, but it has incredibly negative impact on the planet and the climate. Since we've started using plastic, we've produced trillion tons of plastic. Currently we produce every year around 335 million metric tons of plastic.
Plastic made out of fossil fuel emits extreme amounts of pollution, which causes global warming and the destruction of ecosystems. It takes hundreds of years to break down plastic. When it does, it turns into trillions of pieces of microplastic, which absorb toxins that go into all kinds of organisms, including humans.
Plastic contains BPA, which is harmful for people. This chemical has a negative impact on the endocrine system. It may cause reproductive, immune and neurological problems, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Hemp plastic is a great alternative. It's non-toxic and safe for the environment and living creatures. It's 3.5 times stronger compared to petrol-based plastic. It's 100% biodegradable - it can be decomposed in 6 months and recycled indefinitely.
Construction
- Hempcrete - the eco-friendly way to build a house
Hempcrete is 10 times stronger than concrete and has 1/6 of the weight. Conventional concrete is responsible for 8 % of the yearly emissions of carbon oxide compared to hempcrete, which is the only building material that absorbs carbon oxide from the air and stores it in its fiber, which makes it stronger (307 kg/cubic meter). It's sound isolating and non-toxic, compared to conventional concrete. It's highly durable and resistant to mold, pests and fire. Hempcrete can last hundreds of years. It's able to naturally regulate buildings humidity and temperature, therefore reduces energy consumption and improves thermal comfort.
- Isolation
Hemp isolation is a non-toxic solution compared to the conventional one. Due to all the toxic materials used to create isolation, modern houses have become life-threatening spaces. One of them is VOC, which is emitted as gases and may have short- and long-term adverse health effects, like headaches, irritations, damage to the liver, kidney and central nervous system, and even cancer.
Hemp isolation is non-toxic and improves air quality by binding and capturing air pollutants.
- Wood
Wood made out of hemp is 10 times stronger than the one made from trees. It takes around 4 months to grow hemp, compared to a forest that takes 20-40 years, depending on the wood. One hectare of hemp captures between 8-15 tons of CO2 per year. The same area of wood absorbs 2-4 tons of CO2 at the same time. One hectare of hemp grown for 40 years has 4 times higher fiber usage.
Therefore, hemp is highly efficient in terms of time, space and material, and it's good for the environment. Hemp wood is lighter and less expensive to produce. It's naturally anti-fungi and anti-bacterial. It has low flammability and doesn't require any toxins in harvesting or producing the wood.
Machines and vehicles
We can create all kinds of vehicles out of hemp - cars, bikes, and even airplanes! If fact, the father of this idea was Henry Ford. Being concerned with the environemental issues, he had created in 1941, the first hemp car.
Hemp steel is 10 times stronger and lighter than traditional glass fiber and steel. Henry Ford took an ax to the show car, and it simply bounced back. This makes cars more safe in the case of accidents.
Since hemp steel it's lighter than normally used materials, it's more efficient in energy, both for the environment and money wise.
Energy
Hemp is the most sustainable and efficient raw material in the world. We can use it to make bio-fuel, warm our homes and even create batteries.
“If someone is already growing hemp, they might be able to produce enough fuel to power their whole farm with the oil from the seeds they produce”, says professor Richard Parnas from UConn. The seeds from the hemp plant, which are usually seen as a rest product, can be turned into oil to fuel any car driven on petrol. It's just as efficient as regular used petrol. Hemp oil even burns CO2 naturally and doesn't produce any soot or harmful gases.
Many households use wood pellets to create heat. Hemp pellet fuel is just as efficient, but costs less. It's more efficient in time and resources, gives out much less ashes, and is less corrosive to burn. In the US, around 9 million tons of wood pellets were produced and sold in 2020. If we replace hemp fibers, 1,9 millions of trees can be saved from becoming pellet fuel in one growing season of hemp.
With hemp bark, it's possible to create a bio-based battery without lithium, lead, cadmium, or any other nanowire. The inner hemp plants bark, that usually is a rest product, by hydrothermal synthesis can be used to create a sustainable, thousand times cheaper and better battery, that most of us use today. It's ultra-fast, can store and give lots of energy for machines that require much power. It's 1/1000 of the price of graphene. It can provide more energy, being a much more sustainable option.
