Caparol hemp insulation successful with GreenTec Awards 2016

Intelligent, sustainable facade insulation Hemp is one of the oldest plants cultivated by man and until the start of the 20th century it also played an important role as a raw material source. For some years now the plant has experienced a renaissance and is being rediscovered for an increasing number of fields of application. Due to its extraordinary robustness and resilience this natural material has the best prerequisites for the manufacture of versatile building materials.    For instance, with its new hemp facade insulation Caparol is offering an innovative system solution which combines qualities in building physics and ecology. Based on the natural material, hemp, and equipped with modern product properties, it facilitates the production of an intelligent, sustainable facade insulation with an outstanding life cycle assessment extending from the harvest through to recycling the raw material.   First class life cycle assessment    Hemp grows very quickly – by up to four metres in 100 days in sunny weather. The plants do not need any fertiliser and, since they are pest-resistant, they render the use of insecticides superfluous. Up to 97 percent of the hemp plant can be utilised. Fibres, straw and seeds provide valuable raw materials also for the manufacture of clothing, nutritional supplements and medicaments. A further ecological plus point – as an annually renewable plant, hemp binds a large amount of carbon dioxide during its growth. This means that insulation materials in hemp have a better life cycle assessment than many other natural building material.