ON CUTTING EDGE OF BUILDING GREEN HOMES - WITH HEMP

Asheville, N.C., Pioneers Walls That Spare Trees

Hemp is turning a new leaf. The plant fiber used to make the sails
that took Christopher Columbus' ships to the New World is now a
building material.

In Asheville, N.C., a home built with thick hemp walls was completed
this summer, and two more are in the works.

Dozens of hemp homes have been built in Europe, but they're new to
the United States, says David Madera of Hemp Technologies, a company
that supplied the mixture of ground-up hemp stalks, lime and water.

The industrial hemp is imported because it cannot be grown legally in
this country - it comes from the same plant as marijuana.

Its new use reflects an increasing effort to make U.S. homes not only
energy-efficient but also healthier. Madera and other proponents say
hemp-filled walls are non-toxic, mildew-resistant, pest-free and
flame-resistant.

There is a growing interest in less toxic building materials, says
Peter Ashley, director of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control.

"The potential health benefits are significant," he says, citing a
recent study of a Seattle public housing complex that saw residents'
health improve after their homes got a green makeover.

The U.S. government has not taken a "systemic approach" to studying
chemicals in homes and instead addresses problems such as asbestos,
lead, arsenic and formaldehyde only after people get sick, says
Rebecca Morley of the National Center for Healthy Housing, a research group.

Morley says green building so far has focused mostly on the
environment, not the health of the people inside.

Ashley agrees that federal attention has been "sporadic," but says an
interagency group began meeting last year to tackle the issue more broadly.

"We are taking the next step in green building," says Anthony
Brenner, an artist who designed Asheville's first hemp home. "We're
trying to develop a system that's more health-based."

Brenner says he has been searching for non-toxic materials because he
wants to build a home for his 9-year-old daughter, Bailey, who has a
disorder that makes her extremely sensitive to chemicals. "We have to
keep her away from anything synthetic," he says, or she'll have seizures.

He says a hemp home can be affordable, even though importing hemp
makes it more expensive than other building materials, because
skilled labor is unnecessary and hemp is so strong that less lumber is needed.

The hemp mixture - four parts ground-up hemp to one part lime and one
part water - is placed inside 2-by-4-foot wall forms. Once it sets,
the forms are removed. Although it hardens to a concrete-like form,
wood framing is used for structural support.

"This is like a living, breathing wall," Madera says. Hemp absorbs
carbon dioxide and puts nitrogen into the soil, so it's good for the
environment, he says.

Alex Wilson of Environmental Building News says hemp can be grown
with minimal use of chemicals and water. He says it has a midlevel
insulating value but is usually installed in a thick-enough wall
system that makes it appropriate for all but the most severe climates.

The hemp mixture has not previously been used in U.S. homes, but in
2008, it went into a community center on the Pine Ridge Reservation
in Badlands, S.D., as well as a small chapel and pottery studio near
Houston, says Mario Machnicki of American Lime Technology, a Chicago
company that imports hemp from the United Kingdom.

Asheville's second hemp home will be finished in about six weeks,
says builder Clarke Snell of the Nauhaus Institute, a non-profit
group of designers, developers and others interested in sustainable
urban living.

Snell says the home, which has 16-inch-thick walls, is airtight and
energy-efficient. He expects it to meet rigorous Passive House
Institute standards, which call for homes to use up to 90% less
energy than regular ones.

"On the coldest day in winter, the body heat of 10 people should heat
the home," he says.

Snell says his group will own the 1,750-square-foot house, and its
engineer will live there for a couple of years to monitor energy use.

He doesn't know how much it will cost because, as a prototype, it was
built with donations and volunteer labor.

The owners of the first hemp home say it cost $133 a square foot to
build, not including land and excavation. "That's pretty remarkable"
for a custom-built home in Asheville, which is a pricey area, says
Karon Korp, who moved into the house in July.

Korp says she and her husband, Russ Martin, wanted primarily an
energy-efficient home. They hope their house sets an example for the nation.

Martin says they have spent less than $100 a month to cool the home,
which has 3,000 square feet plus a garage. Korp says they might add a
windmill, because the house sits atop a mountain.