The small township of Douro-Dummer in Ontario has developed a green building program that utilizes insulation made from Hemp Fibre.
Century-old Camp Kawartha on Clear Lake is in the township of Douro-Dummer. The camp recently constructed a new nursing station using low-carbon, sustainable building practices. The station was built with straw bale walls and hemp insulation.
Douro-Dummer’s Sustainable Development Program was established in an effort to tackle climate change. Brian Fawcett, the township’s chief building official, says the program focuses on embodied carbon, the emissions associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building or infrastructure.
Traditional insulations, such as sprayfoam and polystyrene, have a heavy carbon footprint. When materials such as straw and hemp are grown, they actually capture carbon from the air and store it. As insulation, straw and hemp absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they release, counteracting areas of construction that produce carbon emissions.
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