Hemp is a versatile and eco-friendly building material that has incredible thermal properties.

Known as hempcrete, the building material is breathable and carbon negative. It can be used to create walls or to increase insulation for existing walls.

Hempcrete is becoming a building material of choice for many who want an sustainable and affordable option that works in harmony with the environment.

The basis of hempcrete is hemp, the balsa wood-like core (or ‘Shiv’) of a cannabis sativa plant. Hemp can be combined with lime and water to form hempcrete. The hemp has a high silica content, a unique property among natural fibres, which allows it to bind well with the lime. As a lightweight cementitious insulating material, it weighs only one-seventh to one-eighth that of concrete.

Hemp as a building material has been used across Europe for centuries, and as a modern building material, industrial hemp is now grown by certified commercial growers.

Hempcrete is proving a popular material in the construction of tiny homes. Community First! Village – a 27-acre master planned community that provides affordable, permanent housing for the disabled, chronically homeless in Austin, Texas – is currently building Austin’s 1st hempcrete Tiny House that will used by the homeless.

Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief @rosamedea