Hemp is of the oldest domesticate crops known to man. Throughout history it has been used to make paper, rope and textiles. Nowadays, the hemp plant has over 25,000 uses and has the potential to be a billion dollar crop. Here are 5 uses for this wonderful plant.
Cleaning up Chemicals
One largely unknown use of the hemp plant is for cleaning up soil contamination. During the 90s hemp was tested at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine. This test showed that hemp was effective in reducing the contamination in the soil. Due to the fast growth rate of hemp (it is a weed afterall) and the number of plants that can be packed into a square meter, 250-400 plants each growing up to 15 feet, hemp shows great potential in cleaning up soil. The hemp plant also has potential in cleaning up land which is contaminated with heavy metals and sewage sludge.
Housing Insulation
Traditional insulation is made from materials such as mineral wool. Hemp can be used as an alternative more eco-friendly way to insulate a home. Hemp based insulation materials are carbon-negative, meaning that can absorb more greenhouse gases over their lifetime that they emit during the production process. Conversely, the production of mineral wool contributes to the production of greenhouse gases.
Hemp Concrete –Hempcrete
Hemp can be mixed with concrete to produce Hempcrete. Hemp concrete can be used for a a variety of different construction need including building walls, making roof insulation as well as flooring. Hemp concrete, like hemp insulation, is also carbon-negative and it is also easier to work with. Hemp concrete has properties like moisture regulation and natural insulation. In addition, due to the lack of brittleness of concrete, hemp concrete does not require expansion joints.
Graphene
The future of nanotechnology is often said to be in graphene. It is the thinnest, strongest and lightest material ever made. However, hemp fibres can be used to create nanomaterial with similar properties as graphene, but more inexpensively.
Clothing
Another use for hemp is in clothing. The old pieces of hemp fabrics were found in China and date back to 8,000 BC. Online, you can find many different articles of clothing made from hemp. From, hemp jeans, skirts, t-shirts to lightweight and durable hemp running shoes, there is no shortage of hemp clothing products.
I wonder what hemp clothing is like? This seems like a very useful plant.
its a very usefull plant indeed @randolphrope