Hemp contains so many environmental and nutritional benefits that it almost seems too good to be true! We even find ourselves asking: What can't this plant do?! The answer is nothing, there is nothing that hemp cannot do. Hemp is well known to have some of the strongest natural fibres on Earth. Not only are hemp fibres strong but they are extremely diverse and flexible in their range of uses.
Clothing:
Hemp clothing is known to be stronger, warmer and more durable than cotton clothing while also being easier and more environmentally friendly to produce. But hemp fibres can be used to do so much more...
Housing:
Hemp fibre can be combined with lime and water to form 'hempcrete', a strong, insulator with excellent sound-proof qualities. Whats more, hempcrete is fire resistant and easy to use!
Auto-industry
Hemp fibres have even made their way into the auto-industry! BMW has developed a new line of electric vehicles which incorporate hemp fibre into the upholstery and body of the vehicles! BMW's i3 has used hemp composites in the panels of the vehicle, achieving a substance that is 2-3x stronger than steel.
You guessed it- there's more!
These incredible uses of hemp fibre may seem like recent technological advancements... But Henry Ford, creator of Ford Motors, actually built a hemp-based prototype in 1938! Ford's hemp vehicle body was created from hemp fibre composites and was reported to be so strong that they couldn't dent the body, even with an axe!. Ford's hemp vehicle ran on hemp seed-oil and could have revolutionised the auto-industry forever. But alas, the very same year that Ford developed his hemp-based car, hemp became a controlled substance and Ford's progress was halted. Now that we are able to legally explore the uses of this plant again, we have seen many exciting recent advances in this space! A great example of exciting new developments using hemp fibre is an aeroplane built from 70% hemp fibre that runs on hemp seed oil.