Sustainability

Our farmers need this valuable crop to be returned as an option for commercial agriculture

By D. Paul Stanford, Hemp News Director

Hemp is the ultimate cash crop, producing more fiber, food and oil than any other plant on the planet. According to the Notre Dame University publication, The Midlands Naturalist, from a 1975 article called, "Feral Hemp in Southern Illinois," about the wild hemp fields that annual efforts from law enforcement eradication teams cannot wipe out, an acre of hemp produces:

1. 8,000 pounds of hemp seed per acre.

* When cold-pressed, the 8,000 pounds of hemp seed yield over 300 gallons of hemp seed oil and a byproduct of
* 6,000 pounds of high protein hemp flour.

These seed oils are both a food and a biodiesel fuel. Currently, the most productive seed oil crops are soybeans, sunflower seeds and rape seed or canola. Each of these three seed oil crops produce between 100 to 120 gallons of oil per acre. Hemp seed produces three times more oil per acre than the next most productive seed oil crops, or over 300 gallons per acre, with a byproduct of 3 tons of food per acre. Hemp seed oil is also far more nutritious and beneficial for our health than any other seed oil crop.

In addition to the food and oil produced, there are several other byproducts and benefits to the cultivation of hemp.

2. Six to ten tons per acre of hemp bast fiber. Bast fiber makes canvas, rope, lace, linen, and ultra-thin specialty papers like cigarette and bible papers.

By JOCE DeWITT Corvallis Gazette-Times

Industrial hemp expert Anndrea Hermann gave Oregon State University faculty members and students a sneak peek Tuesday at a class she’ll offer through OSU’s Ecampus about the benefits of uses of the plant.

The preview came in the form of a seminar titled “Industrial Hemp Today, Where We Are, Where We’re Going,” and it offered context for the online class, which will be offered this spring through the College of Forestry. It will focus on the botany and biology of hemp, as well as the implications of legal and social issues surrounding its use.

Hermann, who will instruct the industrial hemp course, is the president of the Hemp Industries Association and owns The Ridge International Cannabis Consulting.

Hermann, who lives in Canada, said she was excited that OSU decided to incorporate industrial hemp into its curriculum and recognize its significance.

“This is the first time in world history that we know of that a four-credit class solely based on industrial hemp is being offered,” she said. “It’s a cool thing for the university to put it out there.”

American Lime Technology, the North American leader in sustainable hemp and lime-based green building construction materials is proud to announce construction is underway at the first green home in Florida utilizing Tradical Hemcrete.

By PRWeb

American Lime Technology, the North American leader in sustainable hemp and lime-based green building construction materials is proud to announce construction is underway at the first green home in Florida utilizing Tradical Hemcrete.

Located just blocks from the coast, this green home will offer extraordinary benefits to occupant health, comfort, fire resistance, pest resistance, sustainability and energy consumption, as well as protect its occupants from Hurricane force winds. With a design typical of single family homes in Florida, this house is subtle, practical and quietly makes a bold statement about green construction for mainstream consumers.

Hemp and lime-based binder are cast over a largely conventional wood frame. Lime render (think breathable stucco without portland cement) exterior finish will be directly applied to the Hemcrete walls. The interior of the Hemcrete walls will be a coated with a thin layer of breathable natural hydraulic lime plaster that will allow the beautiful organic hemp aggregate texture to show through. The plaster will be finished with a limewash color coat.

By Christina Williams, Sustainable Business Oregon editor

Both of Oregon's Democratic Senators added their names to an effort to support the farming of industrial hemp, a move that would remove Federal restrictions on growing non-drug Cannabis.

Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to introduce a Senate companion bill to The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, which was introduced in the House last May.

Ten states, including Oregon, have removed barriers to the production of industrial hemp, including oilseed and fiber varieties which have numerous uses including foods, textiles and personal care products. The problem is that despite state authorization, hemp farmers still run afoul of federal law which doesn't distinguish hemp grown for industrial uses from marijuana.

Wyden got involved with the pro-hemp effort in June when he introduced an amendment to the U.S. Farm Bill that would have addressed the same issue by distinguishing industrial hemp from its druggy cousin. The amendment didn't make it into the final version of the bill.

Creating a market can present a challenge for producers, but there's a new option on the horizon in Canada: Hemp.

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

Canada's Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced that the government is investing in Advanced Foods and Materials Canada (AFM) to increase production capabilities of technology that turns flax and hemp straw into high-quality fiber. AFM will invest the money to increase the capacity of the bio refining process.

"These are by-products. Most farmers would rake up their flax straw and burn it in the fall. This now gives them potential value in re-manufacturing of that waste product," stated Ritz.

"When you see something like this that takes a waste by-product and puts the potential of tremendous value into it, it's a no-brainer to invest in those types of strategic initiatives," proclaimed Ritz.

The development of this technology will substantially increase the value per acre of hemp and flax crops by finding uses for parts of plants that are currently considered waste. The group believes the increased production and availability of high-value cellulose products will create living wage jobs in manufacturing, transportation, and research and development, which will in-turn benefit the agricultural sector and stimulate Canada's economy.

Report by Bill Hudson, CBS

PRESCOTT, Wis. (WCCO) – Chances are pretty good that if somebody asks you about hemp, your first thoughts might land on the weed that gets rolled into joints. And that's the unfortunate reality plaguing proponents who seek to strip federal regulations on industrial grade hemp.

"You don't want to tamp too much or we're going to lose our insulation properties," said Ken Anderson as he oversaw the installation of a cement-like hemp mixture into a wall cavity. Anderson's company, Original Green Distribution, instructed builders Tuesday on the correct use of its product, HempStone. It is a breathable material made of hemp fibers and lime that Anderson sees as a safer and more efficient alternative to conventional building materials.

"Not only does it have great R-value, it also has thermal mass, which will then capture heat and bring it in when it's cooler in the house and also transfer heat through the house," Anderson said.

Jeffrey Head, LA Times

Woody Harrelson championed the environmental benefits of hemp. Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein incorporated it into their collections. Now a company promoting hemp as the eco-building material of the moment said it wants to build California's first hemp house.

Hemp Technologies said it wants to use hemp-based materials to construct a 500-square-foot structure at the ruins of Knapp's Castle near Santa Barbara. The castle, completed in 1920, was built for Union Carbide founder George Owen Knapp but destroyed by wildfire in 1940. Since then, all that has remained on the property are the sandstone blocks outlining the once-grand estate.

The principal material for the project is Hempcrete, made of the woody internal stem of the Cannabis sativa plant, which is processed into chips and mixed with a lime-based binder. That concoction is then sprayed on, poured into slabs or formed into blocks like concrete to create the shell of a building. Interior surfaces are plastered, and exterior surfaces are stuccoed.

“The walls are to be framed and earthquake-braced internally with lumber,” said Greg Flavall, Hemp Technologies' co-founder, who added that “hemp is very close in cellulosic value to wood.” The material helps to keep structures warm in winter and cool in summer, he said.

By Simon Johanson, Sydney Morning Herald

TWO eco-friendly houses are rising from the ground in suburban Melbourne built from a plant normally associated with 1960s hippie heaven: hemp.

In an Australian-mainland first, the walls of the semi-detached homes in trendy inner-city Northcote will be made from the cannabis-based building product Hempcrete, pioneered by a Queensland company for its carbon-neutral properties.

The eight-star green rated homes are the inspiration of two medical practitioners, a father and daughter team who will live side by side with their three generations in the one construction.

Along with the hemp walls, the architect-designed homes will have a solid rammed-earth dividing wall, double-glazed windows, underground water tanks and grey-water recycling, as well as solar panels for electricity, hot water and hydronic heating.

Michelle Leadston and her father, Bill, bought the large block in Northcote three years ago intent on building two sustainable homes for their families to live in.

"I've always said I'm going to look after my parents when they get old," she said. "This was the most convenient option. The babysitter's next door. And it's not too close. There's a big wall in between."

Both families wanted to share a common backyard and other design features such as lower, child-friendly windows and intimate, internal courtyards, said Dorit Przyborowski of Steffen Welsch Architects.

By BBC News

A storage facility made of hemp is being erected at the Science Museum at Wroughton in Wiltshire.

The former airfield near Swindon is the large objects storage facility for the London Science Museum, housing more than 16,000 objects in 11 hangars.

As part of an £800,000 project, the hemp building is being installed inside one of the hangars to reduce humidity.

Matt Moore, from the museum, said: "Essentially it will be deep storage - preserving objects for evermore."

He said: "The environment in the hangars for the majority of objects is pretty good, pretty constant, but some items with wood and leather would do better with not quite so much humidity to preserve them for even longer.

"So we've gone back to basics and have decided to use hemp to stabilise the environment."

Lime Technology is supplying the pre-fabricated hemp building.

Ian Pritchett, the company's technical director, said: "We build lots of hemp buildings but this is a building within a building which is far more challenging.

"The hangar is fairly enormous - about an acre of space."

Construction began in January and is due to be completed by the end of April.

"It's a bit like that child's tile game," said Mr Moore.

"As we refurbish a hangar, we can get more stuff into it and so we're moving objects when there's a space free to move them.

"We originally wanted to do all the hangars at once but we've got a more moderate approach now."

By Debi Brazzale, Colorado News Agency

Denver, Colo. — Planting fields of hemp to absorb toxins in contaminated soil is a concept worth looking at, said two rural lawmakers at the Capitol.

Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, and Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, D-Sterling, are having a bill drafted that would create a pilot program, funded by gifts, grants and donations, to research the crop’s potential.

Areas that may benefit, said McKinley, are Rocky Flats, once the site of a nuclear weapons plant, and the Cotter Corporation’s uranium mine near Golden, as well as numerous abandoned mining properties around the state.

The hemp plants, which have been shown to absorb toxins from soil, would also provide benefits to both farmers and consumers, said McKinley.

"It would be nice to clean up these contaminated areas," said McKinley. "Hemp can be a very beneficial crop providing food, fuel and fiber."

Sonnenberg says if the study proves right, the plant could address agricultural problems with contaminated soil, too.

"There are so many possibilities for industrial hemp that it only makes sense to create win-win situations for agriculture," said Sonnenberg.


Source: http://www.agjournalonline.com/news/x66783502/Hemp-study-pushed-by-lawma...

Biomass Fuels From Hemp (PDF)

By Agua Das1 and Thomas B. Reed2

Historically Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) has been a very high yielding plant (Haney 1975). Assuming that hemp produces up to 4 tons/acre seed plus 10 tons/acre stalks. Table 1 shows how many gallons of liquid fuel import could be saved by each of the following proven conversion routes.

Recent hemp yield data is largely unavailable, due to restrictions on the growth of hemp. Cultivation of hemp currently requires permits under Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) form 225. Patented hemp seed varieties are now available in the EC and Eastern Europe which are effectively denatured and drug free. The hemp plant is a promising high yield biomass fuel crop cultivar and both production and utilization should be included in the DOE/TVA and regional biomass screening programs. One would hope that DOE regional biomass program contractors should not have difficulty qualifying for the necessary permits.

By Chris Reiter, Bloomberg

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) will give a new electric-powered city car a lounge feel with bench seats, naturally tanned “mocha brown” leather and hemp fibers in the floor covering to hold off Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s Audi.

BMW for the first time showed concept versions of the i3 electric city car and the i8 hybrid supercar, which Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer said will cost more than 100,000 euros ($143,000), in Frankfurt today. The models, developed from scratch, will anchor BMW’s new “i” sub-brand.

“The majority of current electric vehicles are so-called conversions of traditional vehicles but conversions are always compromises,” development chief Klaus Draeger said. “We wanted to bring e-mobility to the streets without compromise.”

BMW is betting that the 530 million euros investment to set up production of the vehicles will pay off in the race with Audi, which overtook Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes-Benz this year and has vowed to topple the Munich-based carmaker as the luxury-car leader by 2015. Initial volumes for the models could be in the “tens of thousands,” with the potential to grow rapidly depending on market and regulatory developments, sales chief Ian Robertson told Bloomberg TV.

COVINGTON—Two of the three gubernatorial candidates debated in Covington Thursday afternoon, Republican State Senate President David Williams and independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced earlier in the week that a scheduling conflict would keep him from attending the debate at the joint conference of the Kentucky County Judge/Executives Association and the Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioners Association held at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

Williams criticized Beshear as having no agenda.

"My favorite Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, talks about people in the arena who have the blood and sweat and get in there and try," Williams said. "Gatewood, thank you for being here today and offering yourself for public office. You're in the arena. Two out of three candidates are here, and the other will be engaged when he chooses, but he's not here today."

Galbraith blamed partisan politics for Kentucky's woes and said as an independent, he will work with both sides of the aisle.

"I foresee that after my stint as governor, I'm going to be one of the most disliked people in the state because I'm going to have to make decisions that neither party candidate can possibly make, because they've got to answer to the party," Galbraith said. "I don't answer to anybody except God and an occasional judge or two."

One of the questions involved the state gas tax, which funds road improvements throughout Kentucky.

By Silvia Pikal, Mobile Mag

While hemp can be used for food, textiles, paper, fabric, and fuel oil, the misunderstood crop breeds fear amongst politicians in the United States and has led to the crop being illegal to grow without a DEA permit, which is pretty hard to get. But growing hemp is legal in Canada. Canadian company Motive Industries has taken advantage of this, and have been working on an electric car made of hemp plastic. Touted as Canada’s first bio composite electric car, the Motive Kestrel’s top speed is 135 km/h, with a range of 160 km. The ultralight car is a 3 door 4 passenger electric vehicle, and packs 16 kWh of lithium battery juice to keep the car going 160 kilometers per charge.

Now Motive has announced that bio composite materials derived from hemp and flax fibre will also be used in the car’s interior. They will be used to create the headliner, door panels, door trim, floor tub and center tunnel, instrument panel and the center console panel. The prototype should be coming out sometime this year, with a production goal of 2012.

High on a hill, this looks like many other examples of elegant modern architecture but it's been built from a special ingredient.


Source: http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/property/domain/high-living-in-a-house...