Find out more about this incredible commodity and how it can help the New Zealand construction industry in the latest iHemp Magazine – Fibre Construction.
# 1 Impact of the global climate crisis on NZ
The construction industry globally is responsible for 25% of all carbon emissions. To address this statistic and the impact it has on climate change, the New Zealand Green Building Council is calling for all new homes to be carbon zero by 2030.
This is to support the NZ government’s legislated commitment to our being carbon zero, as a country, by 2050.
For new homes to actually be carbon zero, we need to be using construction materials that have a carbon zero footprint. Why not hemp?
# 2 Hemp as a carbon neutral/negative building material
Hempcrete is one of the few building materials that can actually achieve a NEGATIVE carbon footprint. Hemp sequesters (takes out) significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere as it is growing, and then continues to do so to a certain capacity once it is combined with its lime binder.
# 3 Minimal heating or cooling
Hempcrete homes require minimal heating/cooling because of the unique combination of hempcrete’s very good R Value AND its strong thermal mass performance (the ability to absorb heat and release it back into the interior space when the temperature drops).
# 4 No more damp, mouldy, leaking kiwi houses
Hempcrete has a natural hygroscopic performance capacity. This means a hempcrete wall can absorb moisture from inside the building when there is an increase in humidity.
# 5 New Zealand’s leaky home crisis
The leaky home crisis in New Zealand is affecting around 90,000 existing homes and will cost at least NZ$48 billion to fix. A hempcrete house effectively fossilizes or ‘cures’ so it becomes harder each year. Building homes in New Zealand with hempcrete, provides a real and achievable solution.
# 6 Hempcrete’s fire resistance
Hempcrete is a fire-resistant building material (meaning it is almost impossible to catch fire.
Professor Marton Marosszeky, Director at BCRC (specialist consultants in materials for construction), Sydney, NSW, performed a fire test, which we report on in detail in the latest iHemp magazine.
Intrigued by the prospects of building with industrial hemp? Learn more about Hempcrete and the use of industrial hemp in construction by reaching out to those in the know:
- iHemp Magazine – Fibre Construction
- Hemp Building Association NZ: hba.nz
- Hempcrete builders: www.erkhartconstruction.co.nz or www.hempmasonry.com.au
- Photo credit: Toby Ricketts