
High Times Beckon for Using Hemp to Build Houses - IntronExon
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/science/hemp-homes-cannabis.html
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lalos
A must watch for the impact of construction and infrastructure in the world is
the documentary Sand Wars. They lightly mention alternatives such as hemp
blocks at the end. Never thought sand was so problematic and important (just
behind water and oil).

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spodek
Another use of hemp is for clothing.

I searched for years to find a great winter coat minimizing animal products
and fossil fuels. Finally, I found Hemp Hoodlamb's parka
[https://us.hoodlamb.com/collections/fw17-man/products/aw17-m...](https://us.hoodlamb.com/collections/fw17-man/products/aw17-mens-
nordic-parka) which fits the bill and keeps me warm.

The company has a couple videos showing their hemp production in China.

On another note, from the article:

> _Getting a mature plant in just a few months — with less fertilizer than
> needed for industrial crops like corn, and without chemical fertilizers or
> bug sprays — makes the potential for profit huge._

That's not how profit works. Fast growth may make the potential market size
huge, but without barriers to entry, competition will bring profits down.

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Kalium
If memory serves, hempcrete's physical characteristics are such that it's only
good for shorter buildings. We won't be building any dense housing out of the
stuff.

So it's a very useful building material for rural areas.

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andrewwharton
Absolutely, its compressive strength (~1 MPa) is so low that it's better to
think of it as rigid insulation that anything structural or load bearing.

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dogma1138
For reference that’s less than dry wall...

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imglorp
Well that might be ok if you make it thicker. Eg straw bale walls for housing.
Also only good for about one story but it's nice to have alternatives.

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gkgicccj
I feel bad posting this here but if you can wade through the terrible language
there's a lot of good architecture comparative info on this page-
[https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/140759957/](https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/140759957/)

Warning- text unsafe for life.

