21/04/2007 16:00:00
UK: British Hemp The Solution To Climate Friendly Homes?
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British Hemp The Solution To Climate Friendly Homes?
News from the Centre for Alternative Technology
Europe's leading eco-centre, The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT)
is hosting the Hemp and Lime conference on Saturday 28th April 2007.
The conference will seek to investigate whether hemp and lime insulated
homes have the potential to be carbon neutral.
Conference organiser, Ranyl Rhydwen, said "To build and run our
buildings currently accounts for 50% of the UK's carbon dioxide
emissions. Therefore using materials that reduce emissions seems
sensible, and hemp hurds (currently being used for horse bedding) mixed
with lime (Hempcrete) is a material that potentially causes none at all.
Houses built from hempcrete have been found to create less waste and
need less fuel to heat than conventionally constructed homes, both
saving carbon dioxide emissions associated with a building.
"The hemp crop already has a multitude of uses, although using hemp
hurds for buildings is a potential new and large market for builders and
farmers in the UK. Fast growing hemp captures and stores carbon from the
atmosphere during growth and overall the CO2 balance of the hemp crop
means that CO2 may actually be removed from the atmosphere and locked
away into the fabric of hempcrete homes.
"To be a carbon neutral building material, hemp needs to be British hemp
and therefore the potential of hemp being a profitable crop to the UK
farmer will also be investigated by John Garstang (ADAS advisor and
Co-author DEFRA: Hemp and Flax report 2005) and Bodil Pallersen (Danish
Agricultural Advisory Service Hemp and Flax advisor)."
The conference will host a wealth of expertise in the area of hemp and
lime construction, including architect Pat Borer, who is currently
building CAT's Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE), Ralph
Carpenter (architect for several hempcrete builds) and lime expert
Stafford Holmes (co author "Building with Lime").
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12478
Author:
OilFiredUp.com via UKCIA
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