Last month, there was some buzz around a Lotus sports car made with hemp. The car was part of the company’s green edition of its Elise sports car (the “Eco Elise”), which used natural materials, including hemp.
Well, it seems like this kind of thinking is catching on, and the EU is one of the bodies following suit and investing in the future of the hemp industry. As Business Weekly reports:
Carbon and climate-friendly hemp for car parts are one of the types of innovative methods that will be supported by a new scheme funded by the European Union and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to boost eco-businesses and create jobs.
Innovation in Crops, or InCrops, has received a total of £2 million from EEDA and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Competitiveness programme to develop an enterprise hub linking the region’s top researchers with businesses looking to develop new products.
Norfolk-based Lotus Cars is already doing this, by piloting the use of locally-produced hemp in fibreglass panels. By replacing the man-made materials, the amount of embedded carbon in the finished product can be reduced, as well as cutting the carbon needed in transportation.
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The scheme is also good news for farmers as new markets for novel crops will be created, using plants which can thrive in a changing climate. Demand for post-harvest waste is also set to increase as new uses are found such as biomass fuel.
Hemp is an extremely versatile plant, able to be used as fuel, plastic, concrete, and much more. That large governmental and bureaucratic bodies are beginning to invest in its potential is promising for both the planet and the human race — not mention help us overcome some of the investment challenges facing the hemp industry.