Fiber

By David Krough and AP

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Marijuana advocates are gearing up to legalize the drug for recreational use in Oregon with a new measure poised to go on the November ballot.

According to their website, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would "legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana." It would also set aside two percent of profits from cannabis sales for commissions that promote industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil.

Growers and sellers would need a state license and could only sell in cannabis-only stores.

Oregon became the second state to pass a marijuana law in 1998, following California. There are nearly 24,000 patients with medical marijuana cards in Oregon. Only state residents can obtain the card after registering as a patient in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program with a qualifying debilitating medical condition diagnosed by a doctor.

Organizers will start collecting signatures Saturday.

Kyndall Mason with the DemocracyResources.com organization was working with the National Organization for Reform of Mairjuana Laws (NORML) and Oregon groups to gather signatures starting Saturday.

"Oregon has a long history of laws that conflict with federal law, that includes the Death with Dignity Act," Mason said. "The feds have (recently) given states more autonomy, specifically regarding medical marijuana laws," she said.

Some researchers believe hemp has many properties that make it perfect for sustainability.

Our Future Planet investigates.

Reasoned argument over the value of hemp can often be tricky to achieve, polarized between die hard hemp and cannabis enthusiasts and skeptics regarding the arguments as woolly shirted, hippy doctrine.

The reality, as usual, is nowhere near as aggressive. For a start, a few facts surrounding the material do seem to indicate its worth within a sustainable agenda.

It appears industrial hemp can provide many of the raw materials we need as a society to function. Myriad websites list the uses: hemp food, hemp oil, hemp plastics, hemp insulation, hemp concrete, hemp paper, and other hemp composites.

‘Hemp is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, producing about ten tons of dry product per acre per year,’ explains http://www.hemp.com/. This is a pretty crucial fact. In a climate facing water shortages and rising temperatures, speed of production for sustainable materials is going to become key.

By Fibre 2 Fashion Staff

Inky Mark, Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette, on behalf of the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification announced government support to help Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd. strengthen economic opportunities in Gilbert Plains.

“This is one more way that our Government is investing in innovative projects that will open new market opportunities and boost the bottom line of our farmers,” said MP Inky Mark.

Under the project, Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd. will build a hemp fibre processing plant. The facility will process up to 18,000 metric tonnes of hemp annually and generate new export markets for western Canadian value-added agricultural products. This first of its kind facility in Canada, will provide permanent job opportunities for the community as well as employment during construction of the plant.

Federal funding of $3,375,000 is being provided through the Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan and $1,400,000 under the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Agri-Opportunities Program. Funding for the Agri-Opportunities project is subject to its meeting all eligibility requirements and the signing of a contribution agreement.

By Fiber for Fashion, Staff

From paper, cordage, furniture, and handicraft industries, uses of abaca (Musa textilis Nee) have extended to natural fiber-reinforced plastic composite material to replace some parts of cars.

Dr. Leslie Joy Lanticse-Diaz, chair, Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, shared this information with natural fiber stakeholders at the recently concluded National Conference on Natural Fibers held at Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City. The study conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr. Diaz aimed, among other things, to incorporate the natural fiber into plastic matrices for various applications.

Research results show that the fiber of abaca or Manila hemp displayed a tensile strength of up to 970 MPa, which means that 140,686 pounds per square inch of force is needed to break this fiber. Abaca fiber was also reported to reach a maximum of 3 meters that gives it the advantage of length. She explained that these were among the factors that made abaca fiber viable for automotive composites.

The researchers also concluded that weave construction and weave patterns are significant parameters to be optimized to ensure better control and consistency in the properties of the composite to be constructed with abaca as the natural fiber reinforcement.

By Krista Allan, News Writer

Alberta is going green, but not in the way some might think. Just outside the town of Vegreville, the Alberta Research Council is working to add hemp farming to Alberta’s list of lucrative industries.

The Vegreville nursery is home to the largest research and production facility of hemp in North America. Industrial hemp grown in Alberta can be used in a number of products ranging anywhere from textiles to fibreglass. Products made from hemp have less environmental impact than those made from glass or plastics, and in many cases are more energy efficient.

Jan Slaski, breeder and plant physiologist at the Vegreville facility, explained why this is the case.

“Bio composites produced from hemp are more environmentally friendly. Replacing glass fibre with bio-fibre produces a much lighter product. A lighter product means that your car, boat, or airplane is lighter and uses less fuel. High-end European car manufacturers, particularly German manufacturers, use bio-composites in their panels,” he said.

Historically, hemp has been grown in Canada for hundreds of years, but was banned in 1938 due to the associations hemp has with marijuana. This ban was later lifted in 1998. Industrial hemp, unlike marijuana, does not contain high levels of THC, the compound in marijuana that causes intoxication.

According to Slaski, Canada has very strict guidelines for hemp farmers.

By Aimee Pianosi, Canoe.ca

In a white cloud of pollen, 43 acres of hemp was harvested from Hartacre Farms last Tuesday. Herb Hart grew the crop in partnership with Performance Plants Inc. of Kingston, as part of a biofuels project for Lafarge Bath Cement plant, which is working on methods of reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.

According to Kevin Gellatly, director of biofuels business development and media relations for Performance Plants, this particular test plot faced some challenges.

“There were some tough conditions on the lower ground, it got rained out.” There were delays in planting, and then rain and more rain which soaked out some of the seeds.

Gellatly said they were hoping for four to five tonnes per acre, but final yield won’t be determined for a while.

Because it’s a test plot, the seed was provided to Hart, but he said the input costs for the entire season were much lower compared to corn, but similar to other crops. Based on soil tests at the beginning of the season, he added 100 pounds of potash, 25 pounds of 11-52-0 and 20 gallons of UAN. The test plot Hart used is a randomly-tiled field and he said “you can see the patterns of the tiles in the height of the plants.”

“I added no chemicals after planting and that’s one of the biggest savings right there,” he added.

One other positive impact of hemp is that it breaks the disease cycle of other crops, as it is added into a crop rotation, according to Gellatly.

By Tom Grace, Cooperstown Bureau

The Chenango County Board of Supervisors has voted to legalize the growing and processing of industrial hemp to help the county's struggling farmers.

The resolution, sponsored by the county's Planing and Economic Development Committee, was passed without opposition July 13. It has been sent to state legislators and is on the way to federal representatives, committee Chairwoman Linda Natoli of Norwich said Friday.

The measure reads, in part, ``Whereas Chenango County has a rich agricultural history and agriculture continues to play an important role in the county's economy," and ``Whereas the decline in agriculture in recent years provides the opportunity for alternative crops such as hemp, and ``Whereas industrial hemp is now cultivated in more than 30 countries, including Canada, France and Great Britain."

The measure goes on to note that "industrial hemp has no intoxicating properties and is genetically distinguishable from marijuana, and the U.S. "is the largest importer of hemp-based products in the world" in citing the benefits that could be had through local production.

Natoli said she pushed for the measure because she sees no reason that local farmers should not be allowed to grow the cash crop.

``When we began to study this, I didn't know much about hemp and didn't have a position on it, but the more I learned, the more convinced I became that our farmers should be allowed to grow it,'' she said.

It took a decade to prove that hemp could be soft as cotton. Now Naturally Advanced Technologies is starting to draw interest in its product from big players.

By Erik Siemers, Portland Business Journal

After nearly a decade of working to prove that burlap-like hemp can be as soft as cotton, Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc. has caught the attention of some of the world’s biggest consumer brands.

Now it’s on the verge of generating revenue from its technology.

“The company is an eight-year overnight success,” said CEO Ken Barker.

The Portland, Oregon-based company this month announced a string of deals aimed at commercializing its Crailar Fiber Technology, which employs an enzyme treatment to make hemp and other organic fibers suitable for apparel and other uses.

The most notable is a joint development agreement with Hanesbrands Inc., which is among the world’s largest consumer apparel brands with $4.2 billion in sales last year.

Under the agreement, Naturally Advanced will retrofit existing Hanes dyeing equipment with the company’s enzyme process to study how its organic fibers can be entered into mainstream production.

If that phase is successful, the companies will work toward a marketing plan for Crailar in various Hanes categories and determine how it could be commercialized.

But whether hemp can rise above niche status to mainstream appeal will have a lot to do with cost.

By David Finlayson, Edmonton Journal

A car made of hemp may sound like someone's wacky fantasy, but it's as real as General Motors' bankruptcy.

Motive Industries in Calgary is building a vehicle using panels and other parts made of a hemp fibre material that's lighter and cheaper than glass fibre.

It's being put together to try to win the$10 millionXPrizecompetition for the car that gets 100 miles to the gallon and beats other green cars in a race.

And Motive will benefit from the $15 million Alberta Biomaterials Development Centre announced Thursday, says John Wolodko, polymers group leader at Alberta Research Council.

The structural components of the car, which will start trials in mid June, will still be made of more traditional materials, said Wolodko, whose team is helping with the Motive project.

Eventually more environmentally friendly fibres made of hemp and flax will replace glass fibre in cars and other manufacturing processes, he said.

"Some European car manufacturers are already using bio-materials."

The new centre, to be set up at ARC's agricultural research facility in Vegreville and at the University of Alberta, will also help Pildysh Technologies, which is developing portland cement blocks impregnated with bio-fibres that make them lighter and stronger.

Calgary-based Pildysh is a couple of years away from marketing a product, and vice-president Richard Bueble said the new centre should help speed the process.

By Barney DuBois, BiobasedNews.com

We're talking trillions of dollars. The world's apparel industry is one of the three necessities of life, remember? And we humans spend more for clothing than we do for anything else but the other two - which are food and shelter.

It wasn't long ago that we depended on large department stores plus neighborhood boutiques and shops - augmented by an occasional catalog order or lay-away purchase - to keep ourselves snappily attired for anything. This was interrupted by Wal-Mart, Target and the hundreds of specialty retailers whose brands we have memorized and forgotten. And now, the Internet is taking us to yet another level of confusion - and making lots of business for FedEx and UPS!

The term "green clothing" emerged somewhere during this massive retailing shift of the past decade, and the term's definition is yet being decided in the open market. Vogue magazine's latest issue underscores the importance of this debate, featuring the hottest new "green" styles (including an eco-bikini) worn by actress Cameron Diaz. The fashion mag's cover is even printed in green ink! But inside its pages are also the kinds of things you would expect - including a bachelorette party dress that requires $11,495 of your "green" and is about as recyclable as a can of motor oil.

by sfnoggin, Daily Kos

Last week, Maine's Senate passed LD 1159 on a vote of 25-10. The bill would establish a licensing regime for farming industrial hemp. The State of Oregon is also on the verge of passing industrial hemp legislation. If the bills succeed, these states would join fifteen others that have passed hemp bills.

There's no doubt, it's our federalist system that is enabling this long stigmatized agricultural crop to rise from the ashes.

Follow me over the bump.

As many of you know, since 1937, this highly versatile crop (uses include food, fuel, building material, textile, and energy to name a few) has been linked - via the Marijuana Tax Act - to the recreational and medicinal strains of the same species: Cannabis sativa L. But make no mistake, they are genetically distinct and nothing like the other.

The battle has been long. The last legal hemp crop grown in the U.S. was harvested 50 years ago. In 1970, with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, farming hemp in the U.S. was effectively outlawed. And since then, the courts have offered no relief claiming only Congress can change the status quo.

Nonetheless, with the hemp renaissance's onset in the 80s - and the 90s when states began introducing hemp legislation - grassroots efforts have led to a growing hemp ground swell headed straight towards D.C.

By Michael Torrice, Mercury News

The plank looks like a polished piece of plywood, and someday people may build coffee tables with it. But this wood was not grown in a forest — it was born from the greenhouse gasses seeping from landfills.

The Stanford University researchers who produced this wood alternative are part of a movement to support greener buildings by developing construction materials that are created and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

Green buildings are not only about replacing standard light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs or toilets with low-flush alternatives. Because manufacturing traditional building materials requires large amounts of energy and emits greenhouse gases, finding green alternatives will improve a building's overall environmental footprint.

However, inventors still must convince the construction industry that these products can replace centuries-old building materials.

"When it comes to construction and the environment, structural engineers make a mess and environmental engineers clean it up," said Sarah Billington, the Stanford researcher who leads the wood project. "We wanted to fix the mess from the start."

Building materials are responsible for about 20 percent of the greenhouse gasses emitted by a building during its lifetime, said Brent Constantz, founder of Calera, a company that is producing green cement.

Wine Society's warehouse uses preformed panels of hemp and lime that locks in carbon dioxide

By Stephen Kennett

The UK's first warehouse building to be constructed using preformed wall panels made out of hemp has now been completed.

The £3.7m warehouse for the Wine Society in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, has been designed by architect Vincent & Gorbing and has exterior walls built of Tradical Hemcrete, which is a mixture of hemp stalk and modified lime. It is a development of cast insitu hemp-lime walling that locks carbon dioxide within the wall construction.

Mark Chandler, architect and director of Vincent & Gorbing, said: “The design responds to the requirement for minimal heating and cooling equipment with the resultant reduction in energy consumption.”

The cladding offers good insulation properties, explains Chandler, and helps maintain a stable internal air temperature throughout the summer and winter.

The 8.5m2 panels, which are 300mm thick, are mounted on the building's steel truss frame, while a 40mm-thick composite aluminium panel is used to provide weather protection on the external face.

Together with the highly insulated roofing system, it provides an insulated internal space that exceeds Building Regulations requirements.


Related: http://www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk/article.php?category_id=1&
article_id=202

Source: http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3139965

What if Americans could buy cigarettes but were banned from growing tobacco? Buy bread but not allowed to grow wheat? That is the case with industrial hemp, a product in everything from car doors to milk...legally.

By CNBC

By Innovation in Textiles

Paris - At the recent JEC Composites exhibition at Porte de Versailles, Paris, CELC Masters of Linen showcased the use of flax and hemp fibres in the future world of renewable composites. According to CELC, the environmentally sustainable properties of these two European-grown fibres are proving increasingly attractive to manufacturers seeking to incorporate sustainable solutions into their products.

The natural mechanical properties of flax and hemp bring high performance and competitive cost to new composite materials now being used in the Automotive, Furniture, Boat Building and Leisure Industries, the organization says.

“As renewable fibres, European grown flax and hemp help safeguard the environment, as their cultivation requires no irrigation, little or no artificial fertilisation and no pesticides. Their use within an otherwise intensive crop rotation regime, allows the land to recover fertility and quality, to enjoy an “environmental pause” , encouraging bio-diversity.” A spokesperson for CELC Masters of Linen said, adding:

“The mechanical properties of flax and hemp fibres, comparable to those of glass-fibres, offer lightness, low density and flexibility and are increasingly being used to reinforce PVC, PE and PP polymers replacing traditional synthetics. Both fibres can be structured into complex forms by extrusion or injection moulding."

By BBC News

Hemp, a member of the cannabis family, could be used to build carbon-neutral houses, say researchers.

A team based at the University of Bath is looking at the cost and insulation efficiencies of using the plant in construction materials in the UK.

The hemp plant stores carbon, giving a "better than zero" carbon footprint.

A spokesman involved in the project said: "It only takes an area the size of a rugby pitch four months to grow enough hemp for a three bedroom house."

'Social benefit'

The building material uses hemp fibres that are bound together using a lime-based adhesive, which itself has a low carbon footprint.

Professor Pete Walker, who is working on the project, said: "Growing crops such as hemp can also provide economic and social benefits to rural economies through new agricultural markets for farmers and associated industries."

A carbon footprint measures the impact on the environment and is related to the amount of greenhouse gases are produced. Scientists believe that large amounts of greenhouse gases are leading to climate change.

The three year project will cost £750,000.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/7989924.stm

By Press Association

A form of cannabis could be used to build carbon-neutral homes of the future, university researchers have said.

A consortium, led by the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials at the University of Bath, has embarked on a housing project to develop the use of construction materials made of hemp.

Hemp-lime is a lightweight building material made of fibres from the fast-growing cannabis plant, bound together using a lime-based adhesive.

The hemp plant stores carbon during its growth and this, combined with the low carbon footprint of lime and its efficient insulating properties, gives the material a "better than zero carbon" footprint, researchers said.

Professor Pete Walker, director of the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, said: "We will be looking at the feasibility of using hemp-lime in place of traditional materials, so that they can be used widely in the building industry.

"We will be measuring the properties of lime-hemp materials, such as their strength and durability, as well as the energy efficiency of buildings made of these materials.

"Using renewable crops to make building materials makes real sense - it only takes an area the size of a rugby pitch four months to grow enough hemp to build a typical three bedroom house."

By Home Textiles Today Staff

At the New York Market – Trident Group has extended its towel offerings across several collections, all on display at their showroom in suite 909 at 295 Fifth Ave.

A collection called Magic is made using hemp and cotton fiber blends. Valued for its strength and durability, the natural fiber hemp is abundantly available in nature with negligible intervention of chemical inputs of fertilizers or pesticides.

The extra-absorbent, ultra-soft Magic towel line also resists mold and can withstand many washes, the company said.

The Q-Dry towel wicks away the moisture up to 30% faster than conventional towels, the Ludhiana, India-based Trident said. A “sustainable luxury,” Q-Dry conserves water and energy during its life cycle, due to its faster drying time.

Silver Fresh uses silver yarn in the base of the towel. The biologically active properties of silver ions offer lasting anti-microbial ability along with skin-enhancing gentleness by reducing static electricity and by extension, cutting down on dust and dirt retention. These properties do not diminish over time or use.

Nature-Pro is Trident’s all-new Cupro towel. Produced from cotton lint and down fiber which hitherto has been considered a waste, Nature-Pro has a natural sheen and softness. Trident calls Nature-Pro an example of its credo of “managing waste through smart innovation.”

Source: http://www.hometextilestoday.com/article/CA6642865.html

By Suzanne Atkinson, AgriNews Contributor

STIRLING – Central Ontario’s hemp decortication facility took a huge step closer to reality recently when three foreign investors pledged more than $2-million to join a company here in processing the crop.

President and CEO John Baker of Stonehedge Bio-Resources, Inc., said a processing facility will be built between Cobourg and Trenton which will process hemp into building and insulation materials.

U.K. investors have been processing hemp stalk or hurd into a building material. When blended with a lime-based binder, a bio-based composite building material is created which "locks up around 110kg of CO2 per m_ of wall. It provides one of the best value materials for low impact, sustainable and commercially viable construction."

Joining an anonymous U.K. investor in anteing up funds are Lime Technology Ltd, a pioneer in the development of hemcrete, and American Lime Technology

A huge opportunity exists in Canadian for hemp production, Baker says, because it is illegal in the U.S.

"Americans don’t distinguish between hemp and marijuana like we do," Baker said during an interview with AgriNews.

"We’ve got our foot in the door. We have to move at lightning speed."

By Andy Birkey, Minnesota Independent

It can be made into paper, rope, food, biodegradable plastic and even low-carbon concrete, but in Minnesota it is illegal to grow hemp. A bipartisan group of legislators is hoping hemp production will be a boon to Minnesota farmers and manufacturers as demand for the plant and its byproducts continues to grow. The Industrial Hemp Development Act (HF 608) would allow the state to issue licenses to qualified farmers who pass background checks.

Canada already allows for industrial hemp production, and North Dakota has passed laws to allow its farmers to produce hemp — only to be stymied by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency.

Hemp farmers are required to gain a permit from the DEA, but the agency has continued to reject the applications of North Dakota farmers, prompting them to file suit against the federal government. Six other states have legalized hemp production — Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana and West Virginia — yet none is producing the crop because of DEA resistance.

by Rolf B. Priesnitz, Hemphasis.net & Wikipedia

Houses built from hemp have been found to use less energy, create less waste and take less fuel to heat than conventionally constructed homes.

Hemp is perhaps best known for its Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids that make it a great addition to a healthy diet, and as a cotton substitute in ecologically-sound clothing and bedding. But it is also a versatile, environmentally-sound building material.

A hemp crop can be grown without the use of herbicides or insecticides and produces up to four tonnes of material per acre per year. Hemp is categorized as a bast fiber crop. It has a stem consisting of an outer skin containing long, strong fibers and a hollow wood-like core or pith. Processing the stems results in two materials: hurds and fibers, both of which have properties that make them extremely useful in building construction.

A variety of wood-like products, such as fiberboard, roofing tiles, wallboard, paneling, insulation and bricks, can be made from the compressed hurds. The fibers can also be used like straw in bale wall construction or with mud in a sort of modified cob style of building.

By The Manila Times

NATURAL fibers ease the pain of poverty.

In many developing countries, proceeds from the sale and export of natural fibers contribute significantly to the income and the food security of poor farmers and those working in fiber processing and marketing.

Worldwide, some 30 million tons of natural fibers are produced annually. But they have lost market share to synthetic fibers.

The International Year of Natural Fibers raises the profile of these fibers and emphasizes their value to consumers while helping to sustain farmers’ income.

Plant fibers

Abaca, once a favored source of rope, is known as Manila hemp. It shows promise as an energy-saving replacement for glass fibers in automobiles and is now pulped and processed into tea bags, casing for sausages, banknotes, cigarette papers and high-quality writing paper.

Coir, a coarse, short fiber extracted from the outer shell of coconuts, is found in ropes, mattresses, brushes, geotextiles and automobile seats.

Globally, around 500,000 tons of coir is produced every year, mainly in India and Sri Lanka. The value of coir production has been put at around US$100 million annually. India and Sri Lanka are the main exporters of coir, followed by Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Long ago when these ancient Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850 all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable.

A 44-gun frigate like our cherished Old Ironsides took over 60 tons of hemp for rigging, including an anchor cable 25 inches in circumference. The Conestoga wagons and prairie schooners of pioneer days were covered with hemp canvas. Indeed the very word canvas comes from the Arabic word for hemp. In those days hemp was an important crop in Kentucky and Missouri. Then came cheaper imported fibers for cordage, like jute, sisal and Manila hemp, and the culture of hemp in America declined.

By Thijs Westerbeek

Cotton cultivation is a disaster for the environment and the farmers who grow cotton don't see many benefits from their labour. However, if researchers at the Netherlands' University of Wageningen get their way, things will be very different in a few years' time thanks to the new varieties of hemp they have created.

There's a small field of hemp less than ten kilometres east of Wageningen, but it doesn't look very promising. The plants have all been chopped down and have been left, exposed to the elements, rotting on the ground.

Even though the hemp field doesn't look very prepossessing, the investigators from Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) are extremely pleased with the crop, as this new hemp variety may be able to break cotton's monopoly position as the textile crop of choice. Leaving the hemp to rot is simply part of the production process.

Visitors to Dr Ton den Nijs' office - a plant researcher at WUR - are invited to try on the jeans that are draped over the desk. At first glance, the jeans do not appear to be particularly unusual. However, the fabric is strong yet supple and once you have them on, they are remarkably comfortable.

Fibre crops

The secret behind these jeans is that they are almost entirely made from hemp. It's not the hemp variety that you get high from but hemp as a fibre crop. The plant is doesn't contain a single milligram of THC, the main psychoactive substance found in hashish and marijuana.