Houston, We Have a Problem....

Addressing image problems associating with hempcrete

We embrace hempcrete as the best marketing terminology to use going forward, benefiting from a universal conceptual framework and and inertia of international brand-recognition. 

Thanks to the shoulders of many who have stood before us in the hempcrete realm, and most especially to our friend and mentor Alex Sparrow, we are able to communicate effectively on the nuances around hempcrete properties and nomenclature.

That said, the term hempcrete does face some marketing hurdles, and work is needed industry-wide to guide communications and steer branding. In this blog, I offer an exploration into the challenges of hemp and concrete, which are the parent terms for hempcrete.

Hemp already has a brand identity

In the US, hemp is not yet enmeshed in the public consciousness as a dramatically ecological and versatile solution for improving our daily lives. Though slow in coming, awareness of the ecological benefits of hemp will come to prominence as current research in bioplastics transitions to the marketplace. The ubiquity of single-use and lifestyle plastics is poised to put hemp bioplastics in the hands of billions. This will undoubtedly change public perception. Until then, the hemp building industry has a branding problem.

Right now, the US is still internally divided about the plant, and thus, hemp as a building material is somewhat plagued by its association to recreational use of cannabis. Common sentiments we’ve heard: 

Can you smoke it? What’s the house smell like? Do you get high on the job site? Will the house go up in flames, and when it does, do firefighters get high?

Although 67% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, our Federal Government has not legalized its use in certain applications, and hemp is highly regulated otherwise. As a result, tension and confusion abounds, and all hemp production and use suffers, not just the psychoactive strains.

The building industry isn’t much for controversy – it’s a particularly risk-averse, slow-to-transform industry. While time will tell for certain, I believe that our ties to the hemp plant are at best a mixed blessing. 

On one hand, hemp is sexy; vibrant, progressive, cool. This is great for baked goods and good vibes, and hip clients who are curious about building with hempcrete. But trendy can be a real detriment in a market where insulation materials like rockwool, developed for the building market 70 years ago, are still considered new.

It’s too early to know if hemp will overcome the challenges that other plant-based insulation materials have faced to win market share. I am speaking mainly of cellulose fiber and wood fiberboard - products which have been on the market for over 50 years, yet still command less than 5% of the insulation market share.

Whichever side of the line the association rests at, we certainly have our work cut out for us. 

There are several things going for hemp, including

a) An entrance to market at a time when the construction industry is becoming sophisticated about building science, which means we can make informed decisions about building assemblies using biogenic materials.

b) Hemp has a long and vibrant recorded history, and although that knowledge has been obscured and taken out of common consciousness, facts don’t lie. Hemp is a resoundingly robust material that can endure harsh conditions and has the potential to remain stable in construction systems for centuries.

c) Used in construction, hemp provides a rare carbon-storing benefit in assemblies, and thanks to its propensity to grow in so a wide array of climate conditions, can be utilized in communities throughout the country at scale.  With climate change on the forefront of people’s minds these days, hemp is well positioned to be hailed as a superstar material in its own right.

We see a real value to the hemp building industry of pioneers leading the way on buildings, monitoring the performance of the building, and publishing findings. We look forward to facilitating these collaborations with two New England hempcrete buildings in 2020.

Concrete suffers from bad press

Concrete is getting a bad rap these days, and we believe the criticisms have merit. It’s not that concrete itself is evil; it’s more about the dominant mindset in our industry that everything needs to be built with it. This is simply not true – and the fact that we are using concrete at the rate we do globally is not responsible.

As we’ve mentioned the term hempcrete immediately draws an association to concrete, due to its ubiquitous use throughout the world. Concrete is both famous, and more recently, infamous.

Climate and Concrete are intimately linked. Concrete alone accounts for 8% of the carbon emissions globally. The critiques of concrete have brought this disparity into our collective awareness. The bottom line is that It’s not a great time to be associated with the concrete industry – given the social and environmental climate of the day.

Researchers and entrepreneurs across the continent are working at break-neck speed to re-imagine concrete in order to get these emissions down. Bio-concretes, Bio-blocks, eco-concrete, eco-cellular concretes and portlandite cements are just a few coming to or already in the marketplace. They are inventing solutions that use more natural processes or make use of existing waste streams. Their brand nomenclature represents their work, and the public is hailing the effort.

Leverage points:

a) Branding hempcrete as a biocomposite is one way way the hemp building industry can differentiate hempcrete from concrete. By doing so, we have the opportunity to be acknowledged for creating materials that store carbon and can safely return to the earth at the end of building life.

b) Concrete is seen as resilient; when people fear the effects of climate change, they often look to concrete as a solution due to its indestructible nature. It’s a bit counter-intuitive when looking at the whole picture - using carbon emitting solutions to respond to climate change effects that are driven by carbon emitting practices - but people’s view can narrow when acting from a place of fear. Given that both concrete and hempcrete are lime-based, there can be an advantage to connecting the lime dots to the composites shared characteristic - namely in time-tested durability, mold and pest resistance, fireproof nature, and flexibility of form, while noting the lower carbon emissions of avoiding portland cement.

Bottom line: Every challenge can be re-framed as an opportunity, if you’re willing to see the potential. For us at HempStone, that’s what being entrepreneurs in a brand new industry is all about.