HEMP BUILDING DIRECTORY 2022
Unveiled: New hemp building products for 2022 BY JEAN LOTUS ttendees at the U.S. Hemp Building Summit in Austin, Texas, got a sneak peek of some of the new products and services in the works in the hemp building and construction world for 2022. Hemp building pioneers revealed new prototypes, plans and processes as the hemp building industry ramps up. The industrial hemp plant was legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill following 80 years of prohibition. New hemp-based construction materials and services on the scene will include imported hemp blocks, decking, insulation products, hemp building classes and multiple new regional processing centers popping up across the country.
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Decarbonization in focus In 2022, the hemp building industry should get a boost from the federal government because the U.S. Department of Energy is taking a new look at hemp building materials, conference organizer Tommy Gibbons of Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc. told attendees at the 2021 event. “Decarbonization is the one word that really gets the Department of Energy excited,” Gibbons said. Gibbons is participating in a two-year fellowship with the DOE’s Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. “They really see hemp as a tool to take carbon out of the air, turn it into value-added products and do that at scale. Decarbonization has become a huge focus of this administration 10 Hemp Building Direcctory | 2022
and this Department of Energy, they are willing to go all-in on that,” he added.
USA-sourced HempWool insulation batts, hempcrete blocks, insulative sheathing Coming in 2022 from Hempitecture will be domestically sourced HempWool insulation batts manufactured at the company’s new Magic Valley, Idaho manufacturing facility. The batts will be made from American-grown hemp processed by IND HEMP in Montana. Hempitecture will also import multiple shipping containers of Belgium-based IsoHemp’s 6” and 10” hempcrete blocks through the port of Houston to offer as an introductory product, starting in early 2022, Gibbons said. The company also received a $400,000 R & D grant from the Department of Energy for a hemp fiber continuous insulation sheathing product, now in development, to roll out in late 2022, Gibbons said. “We’ve been thinking for a long time, how can we compete with these incumbent insulation manufacturers? And the answer is beat them at every single product that they provide,” Gibbons added.
HempWood: New factories, fiberboard, structural timber and decking Greg Wilson of Murray, KY-based HempWood said the company sells its carbon-negative compressed hemp flooring
“Decarbonization is the one word that really gets the Department of Energy excited.” Tommy Gibbons Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc. in multiple retail locations nationwide. Most recently, HempWood was used as shelving for a new BMW electric vehicle showroom opening in Beverly Hills. The company is also providing some components for the cars, Wilson said. HempWood has been used in California upscale cannabis dispensaries, as well as shelving for a Target store in San Francisco, Wilson said. “These big companies are starting to hear what everyone [in the hemp world] is saying,” Wilson told the crowd. The company also makes hardwood boards for furniture or lathing, similar to oak, and veneer for plywood cabinetry finishes. HempWood uses soy-based glue and has no off-gassing VOCs found in other flooring products, Wilson said. In 2022, the company is expanding with new factories planned in Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Poland, with other locations, possibly Montana, Missouri and Texas on the horizon, Wilson said. New products under development from HempWood include a hemp-based flat strand sheathing board similar to oriented strand board (OSB) which Wilson called “OHB,” as well as load-bearing laminated
