Hemp, twice as effective as trees at capturing carbon

According to Darshil Shah, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, the hemp can capture carbon from the atmosphere twice as efficiently as forests, while providing carbon-neutral biomaterials to architects and designers.

«Many studies estimate that hemp is one of the most effective converters of CO2 into biomass,» said Shah, who is a principal investigator at the Center for Natural Material Innovation from Cambridge.

«It's even more effective than trees,», he added. «Industrial hemp absorbs between 8 and 15 metric tons of CO2 per hectare of crop.».

«By comparison, forests generally capture 2 to 6 metric tons of CO2 per hectare per year, depending on the number of years of growth, the climate region, the type of trees, and so on.»

Bioplastics and low-carbon building materials made from the plant can be used to «replace fiberglass composites, aluminum, and other materials in a wide range of applications,» he added.

Mr. Shah, who studies engineered wood, bamboo, natural fiber composites, and hemp, said that hemp «offers an incredible opportunity to cultivate a better future» while producing fewer emissions than conventional crops and more usable fiber per hectare than forestry.

The interior of the hemp house

The Cambridge researcher recently collaborated with a filmmaker who converted his 20-hectare farm to hemp production and then built a house using the crop.

Mr. Shah is working with the farm to develop carbon-neutral manufacturing and construction materials that he believes could replace fiberglass composites, aluminum, and other materials.