EU Invests in Hemp
Nov 7, 2008 News
Last month, there was some buzz around a Lotus sports car made with hemp. The car was part of the company’s green edition of its Elise sports car (the “Eco Elise”), which used natural materials, including hemp.
Well, it seems like this kind of thinking is catching on, and the EU is one of the bodies following suit and investing in the future of the hemp industry. As Business Weekly reports:
Carbon and climate-friendly hemp for car parts are one of the types of innovative methods that will be supported by a new scheme funded by the European Union and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to boost eco-businesses and create jobs.
Innovation in Crops, or InCrops, has received a total of £2 million from EEDA and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Competitiveness programme to develop an enterprise hub linking the region’s top researchers with businesses looking to develop new products.
Norfolk-based Lotus Cars is already doing this, by piloting the use of locally-produced hemp in fibreglass panels. By replacing the man-made materials, the amount of embedded carbon in the finished product can be reduced, as well as cutting the carbon needed in transportation.
[...]
The scheme is also good news for farmers as new markets for novel crops will be created, using plants which can thrive in a changing climate. Demand for post-harvest waste is also set to increase as new uses are found such as biomass fuel.
Hemp is an extremely versatile plant, able to be used as fuel, plastic, concrete, and much more. That large governmental and bureaucratic bodies are beginning to invest in its potential is promising for both the planet and the human race — not mention help us overcome some of the investment challenges facing the hemp industry.
Hemp Sports Car
Oct 14, 2008 News
Last week we posted about an eco-boat made of hemp. Well now it seems that the maker of high-end luxury sport cars, Lotus, has also started to consider hemp as a raw material. As Eureka Magazine reports:
Lotus has developed a special green edition of its Elise sports car, the “Eco Elise”, using natural materials, [...] Hemp, wool and sisal have been used in body panels and trim, and combined with water-based paint. Hemp technical fabrics have been used in the “A”class composite body panels and spoiler, in conjunction with polyester to form a hybrid composite. [...] The hard top is made of hemp, and two solar panels have been integrated into the roof. The hemp fibres were grown locally in East Anglia.
The car has a bunch of other neat eco-features that you can read about in the original article. It’s worth noting, however, that as forward-thinking as this is of Lotus, they are not the first car manufacturer to consider hemp as a raw material. In fact, Henry Ford explored using hemp to make body panels as far back as the 1920s. As HempCar.org points out:
Ford recognized the utility of the hemp plant. He constructed a car of resin stiffened hemp fiber, and even ran the car on ethanol made from hemp. Ford knew that hemp could produce vast economic resources if widely cultivated.
Of course, hemp’s potential as a building material doesn’t stop there. For more stationary feats of engineering, there is also hempcrete.
Tags: Eco Elise, hemp car, henry ford, lotus
.jpg)
