Hemp’s potential as a biofuel is not exactly a secret, but it’s not common knowledge either. Well, the biomass industry is well aware of it’s potential, and the lawsuit being waged North Dakota farmers seems to have the industry watching hemp closer than usual. A recent article in Biomass Magazine titled US industrial hemp development continues echoed how:

Developers and farmers continue to pave the way for hemp as a biomass crop in the United States.

The North Dakota case is, undoubtedly, and important. It will effectively determine the future of industrial hemp in the US for generation to come. As much as that will impact on the biomass industry, it will effect so much more. Hemp is also a particularly pomising cotton alternative, not to mention a great source of nutrition.

Of course, when the energy sector starts eyeing a profit maker, things usually give sooner rather than later. So perhaps there might be some behind the scenes political dealing that will play out in favor of not only the plaintiff farmers in the North Dakota case, but hemp enthusiasts and entrepreneurs writ large.

New legislation in Australia recently legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp in the province of New South Wales. Farmers in NSW are now being encouraged to take up the crop. Although it still remain illegal for humans to consume hemp product in Australia, it seems that dogs are exempt. That’s right, farmers are being to encouraged to grow hemp that will be used in everything from bio-diesel to dog food. And it looks like farmers are keen on playing ball. As ABC.net.au reports:

New South Wales farmers are being encouraged to start growing industrial hemp.

The Government recently passed legislation allowing the plant to be grown for use in products ranging from bio-fuel to dog food.

The Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, says measures have been put in place to prevent hemp crops being used to camouflage marijuana plantations.

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“It’ll require farmers who wish to grow industrial hemp to register to get a licence.

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“Already we’ve had over 200 farmers express interest in growing hemp across the state,” he said.

Well, I guess that dogs really are man’s best friend down under — to the point of receiving preferential treatment. I wonder if hemp-based food products will also be made available to dingos… it just might keep them well-nourished enough to keep them away from all the babies.

Just last week, we posted about an article in the University of Maryland’s student newspaper, The Retriever Weekly about hemp in American history. Well, it seems that the editor at that student paper have are sympathetic toward the cannabis plant, and have just run another piece. This one looks at the environmental potential of hemp biofuel. The article is called Government should look toward hemp as a viable alternative fuel, and in addition to discussing how hemp can be used to actually produce biofuel, the author also provides an overview of all the other environmental benefits of cultivating the hemp plant en masse:

Hemp Global Solutions researches the use of hemp as a biofuel. They advocate hemp as a “potential solution to some of the major social and environmental challenges of the 21st century.”
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Perhaps one of hemp’s best characteristics is its environmental friendliness. It grows faster than other crops like corn or rice and it comes with the added benefit of improving soil quality where it’s grown. Similarly, it does not need cleared land to grow and is naturally pest resistant, meaning that pesticides are not necessary which would help to ultimately reduce CFCs and nutrient leeching. Furthermore, hemp even kills pests in the soil, further reducing the need for pesticides. Unlike fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide and sulfur into the air, hemp actually converts carbon dioxide back into biomass at an astounding rate. The crop itself is extremely diverse and able to grow in conditions that other biofuel crops cannot. Its drought resistance makes it an ideal crop for farmers in the Midwest and other areas that are so-called “dust bowls.”

Although researchers have been looking at corn as a possible biofuel, hemp is much more productive and cost-effective. One acre of hemp can produce ten times as much methanol as an acre of corn, with an exponentially faster rate of growth. Capable of producing ten tons of biomass per acre in less than four months, hemp would only take six percent of the American land mass to grow enough hemp to completely eliminate our need for fossil fuels. The infrastructure change would not be a problem either, as traditional farming equipment could be used to harvest hemp.

Written by the same author as the article that The Retriever ran last week, this piece also touches on the role that hemp has played throughout US history — from Henry Ford’s famous hemp car to how Congress lifted marijuana prohibition during WW II. This writer just might be someone for the hemp industry to keep an eye. Of course, he might also just be another starry-eyed student who’s bound to grow disenchanted and apathetic once he actually has to start paying taxes and bills. Let’s hope that the former wins out over the latter.

An opinion piece on OpEd News points to an interesting paper by Lynn Osburn. Appearing to have been written in 1990, Toward a Green Economy outlines some of major environmental dilemmas caused by our economy, and then explores how industrial hemp might be able to solve them. Here’s an excerpt on how using industrial hemp for paper production can save forests:

About seventy-five years ago two dedicated USDA scientists projected that at the rate the U.S. was using paper we would deplete the forests in our lifetimes. [...] So USDA scientists Dewey and Merrill looked for an alternate agricultural resource for paper products to prevent the disaster we now face.

They found the ideal candidate to be the waste material left in the fields after the hemp harvest. The left over pulp, called hemp hurds, was traditionally burned in the fields when the hemp fiber had been removed after the time consuming retting (partially rotting the hemp stalk to separate the fiber from the hurds) process was completed.

Hemp hurds are richer in cellulose and contain less lignin than wood pulp. Dewey and Merrill found after much experimentation that harsh sulfur acids used to break down the lignin in wood pulp were not necessary when making paper from hemp hurds. Sulfur acid wastes from paper mills are known to be a major source of waterway pollution. The coarse paper they made from hemp hurds was stronger and had greater folding durability than course wood pulp paper. Hemp hurd paper would make better cardboard and paper bag products than wood paper. They found the fine print quality hemp hurd paper to be equal to writing quality wood pulp paper. [ Dewey and Merrill, Bulletin #404, Hemp Hurds As Paper-Making Material, U.S.D.A., Washington, D.C., October 14, 1916.]

The only problem to implementing the paper industry resource change from wood to hemp hurds was machinery to separate hemp fiber from the hurds needed to be developed. Separation was still done by hand after the machine breaks had softened the hemp stalks.

The paper seems focused on how forests need to be protected because emissions aren’t going to go away. Of course, hemp has quite a few uses that can help us cut down on emissions, such as biofuel and replacing a slew of other synthetic products that cause emission when manufactured. Mind you, Toward a Green Economy was written nearly two decades ago, so many of the advances in hemp processing that we have today had not yet been made.

As three Nebraska senate hopefuls discussed their views on ethanol as a renewable energy sources last week, Nebraska Greeen Party candidate, Steve Larrick, went on the record as seeing a great amount potential in hemp. As the Beatrice Daily Sun reports:

Larrick went to a more “green” side of the debate. He said the best thing to do is look at the options for cellulosic ethanol.

Cellulosic ethanol is using the corn waste products to make ethanol, instead of the corn itself. Many believe this could lessen the higher cost of corn food products. Others believe that those waste products are important to make top soil for the next year’s crop.

An issue Larrick will fight for is getting the ban on industrial hemp lifted. Unlike medicinal marijuana, industrial hemp has a low THC level, meaning that the drug effects are minimal.

Larrick said that Canada and countries in Europe use industrial hemp to make ethanol and their production has increased 300 percent in the past few years.

“We need to invest in truly renewable energy,” he said. “We need to get our young people knowledgeable about truly renewable energy sources.”

Hemp seems like a preferable source of biofuel because it grows quickly and is not a food crop. Using corn for biofuel production , for example, cuts into food supplies and drives the price of food up even higher.

Furthermore, not only can hemp reduce emissions when used as a biofuel, it can reverse them while it is being cultivated. An acre of hemp can yield 500 gallons of gasoline, and while growing can remove tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some of this carbon dioxide is then deposited in the ground, where it increases soil fertility and no longer contributes to global warming.