Banned for 90 Years, This Building Material Returns With 15x Concrete's Insulation and Centuries of CO₂ Storage

[sl8]

4. But the hempcrete is only being used as insulation, not as structure

Last edited Fri May 22, 2026, 02:34 PM - Edit history (1)

In other words, they're not replacing wooden studs with "hemp studs" (because this hemp material has very little structural strength), they're replacing fiberglass insulation with hempcrete insulation.

In the example shown, the hempcrete is to fill the cavities in a wood framed wall, instead of the typical foam or fiberglas fill, so it makes sense to compare R values of the hempcrete with other insulation materials, not with the insulating qualities of the wood stucture. They specifically point out that the hemp material isn't used structurally, as it lacks the strength of standard concrete.

Likewise,the forest vs. hemp sustainability argument doesn't work. You still need just as much framing material if you use hempcrete for insulation rather than using more common insulation. You could use steel for framing instead of wood, but you could do that with more common insulating materials just as well.

Wikipedia article on hempcrete/hemplime:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hempcrete