Jenny Cottle
Recently I tripped across an article about a car made entirely from hemp and it was hailed as the world’s most eco-friendly car. The Kestrel, made by Canadian car company Motive Industries, is an electric city car. The prototype was launched in 2010.
So why hemp? Because it is the most amazing crop, it has strong fibres and has thousands of uses. It can be used as a bioplastic, building material, animal feed, fishing bait, nutritional supplement, cosmetic, many different types of fabric … the list goes on and on.
Hemp thrives without the use of pesticides and is so fast growing and efficient that crops can produce up to 25 tonnes per hectare per year. That is at least double of any other traditional crop.
Anything that timber is used to produce, hemp can be used with much higher yields of product for the area used to grow it. Hemp crops yield 3-4 times the amount of pulp as timber.
Compared with cotton, one hectare of hemp will produce as much fibre as 2-3 acres of cotton. Hemp can produce 250% more fibre than cotton and 600% more fibre than flax using the same amount of land.
Hemp produces high quality paper without the need for bleaching and recycles many more times than wood pulp.
Build with hemp. Hemp can made into insulation, fibreboard and even ‘hempcrete’, a stronger, lighter and more environmentally friendly version of concrete.
Hemp bioplastic is recyclable and can be manufactured to be 100% biodegradable. Also, it does not have the health and safety risks associated with plastics.
And back to cars – what is the good news here? Cars with hemp bodies weigh much less than traditional motor vehicles meaning they require less energy to move. They are also strong; hemp fibres are stronger than steel. And while we are waiting for a decent recharging network for electric cars, hemp can be used to make biodiesel to run a car.
Interestingly if you are after a little more stylish car made using hemp, then take a look at the Lotus Eco Elise, the BMW i3 or the new Mercedes C-class. This car has been designed and produced with a holistic approach to make every facet sustainable, from use of green technologies to use of green materials to the inclusion of software to help drivers maximise fuel efficiency. Go green in style.
www.lotuscars.com/gb/engineering/eco-elise
www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-bmw-i3-prototype-first-drive-review
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