Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the U.S. federal government awarded over $6 million in grants to the Hemp Building Institute. The nonprofit, which is based in Nashville, manufactures a material similar from hemp that is similar to concrete; the substance is known as hempcrete. The institute works with organizations that use and manufacture construction products.
In total, Hemp Building Institute will be allocated $6,186,200 for the development of life-cycle assessments and environmental product declarations for biogenic materials, including materials manufactured from soy, hemp and straw bale.
The awarded grant is part of a $160 million financing round announced by the EPA in July. The agency announced that these awards would support 38 nonprofits, universities and businesses in all states across the country. It also noted that this grant offered an opportunity to directly decrease emissions of greenhouse gases from the built environment and address climate change.
The objective of the grant is to educate more people, particularly builders and manufacturers, about building materials manufactured from agricultural products such as hemp. This education is part of an effort to reduce dependence on materials that increase emissions of greenhouse gases, such as concrete.
In a video posted on Instagram, Jacob Waddell, Hemp Building Institute president, stated that this was a huge victory for hemp and other natural building materials.
The grant’s description states that the objective of this initiative is to put all tools, protocols, training and assessments in an ecosystem focused on increasing the use of biogenic building materials. It also highlights that organizers will offer extensive training, education and technical assistance while also developing an open-source database for biogenic materials.
The Hemp Building Institute will collaborate with EntreVator, a business incubator based in Maryland, to roll out the Biogenic Building Materials project. EntreVator founder, Todd Hughes, stated in an email to the hemp council that the organization was honored to be awarded this grant. He noted that it marked the beginning of an important journey toward universal adoption of biogenic building materials.
The scheme will also partner with the California Straw Bale Association and Alabama State University. Other partners will include the National Hemp Association and the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design, New York.
The grant may also finance activity in Alabama, California, Tennessee and Maryland.
In 2022, the Energy Department awarded more than $3 million to fund a project 3D-printing hempcrete products. The department’s objective was to create affordable housing using a carbon-negative material that offered major benefit to the environment.
These projects looking to develop sustainable building materials from hemp and other agricultural materials could one day find viable ways to use the byproducts from marijuana after companies such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) have removed the parts required for their production processes.
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