Natural & Sustainable, High-Performing Building Materials
by Kate Hull
Charged with a mission to build a better world with better materials for both people and the planet, Hempitecture manufactures building materials that are bio-based, with carbon-capturing natural fibers to promote higher performing building practices with sustainability in mind. The company’s flagship product, HempWool, is a thermal insulation product with a low to negative carbon footprint; it offsets and stores more carbon dioxide than is emitted from the manufacturing of the product itself. Used to insulate walls, floors, attics, ceilings, and anywhere in the home’s thermal envelope, HempWool is a 90-percent plant fiber-based hemp fiber. It has an insulation factor comparable to market standards of fiberglass and sheep’s wool.
“By opting for bio-based, nontoxic products, you can increase the thermal comfort and health of your home. It is not just choosing insulation, it is choosing material that benefits ecosystems in the Intermountain West. It starts on the farm, then goes to the small business, to creating jobs, and improving your own home.”
–Matthew Mead, Founder, CEO, Hempitecture
“Often homes are made with materials that are synthetic and have a large carbon footprint,” Hempitecture founder and CEO Matthew Mead says. “I worked in custom construction in Idaho and worked for a framing company. We were building these incredible homes you’d see in the pages of a magazine. But after it was complete, we’d see that they would be filled with spray foam insulation and fiberglass. To see someone in basically a spacesuit insulating a home that a family is going to move into seemed counterintuitive to creating a healthy sanctuary.”
“Insulation can be out of sight, out of mind, but it has a huge impact on a project.”
–Matthew Mead, Founder, CEO, Hempitecture
After studying architecture and environmental science and working in construction, Matthew saw this disconnect between the building environment and the natural world. What started as a question—How can we make homes more sustainable while keeping high performance?—led to an innovative business that has discovered a natural solution to home insulation. Made of the agricultural commodity known as industrial hemp, Hempitecture’s products have no element of CBD, or THC.
Hempitecture is headquartered in Ketchum with a manufacturing facility in nearby Jerome. The natural hemp fiber is grown and produced in Montana and parts of Canada, all within a 500-mile radius of the Jerome manufacturing facility, anchoring its roots firmly in Idaho. “This product is not only helping create healthier homes and habitats, but also creating jobs in rural economies and unlocking the potential of an agricultural commodity that is new to the United States,” Matthew says. “We are an Idaho-based company and we wanted to create jobs in Idaho and bring economic opportunities to a rural area. Also, we needed to be within close proximity to the raw material supply and the Intermountain West markets we serve.”
The Jerome, Idaho, facility is designing products that not only make the home more comfortable and more sustainable, but ones that turn the home into a carbon storage device as well. Presently, Hempitecture has expanded its product line with AcoustiBatts, a natural fiber engineered to minimize sound transmission from room to room.
“No matter how you view carbon emissions or climate change, everyone can agree that making homes more sustainable and building in a way that is more in balance with the environment is a step forward we need to take,” Matthew says. “Our building materials help reconcile the issue that 40 percent of our carbon emissions come from the built environment. Being the first manufacturer of hemp fiber insulation products in the United States is catalyzing a change to reducing this impact.”
“Insulation can be out of sight, out of mind,” Matthew says, “but it has a huge impact on a project.” In a typical home build, insulation makes up two to three percent of the overall home construction budget. Matthew adds that the benefits are immense by increasing one’s budget slightly to account for this higher-performing insulation.
The decision to opt for a natural fiber product from Hempitecture has ripple effects beyond the exterior of the home. Each build is an intentional move toward building better homes for a better environmental future. “By opting for bio-based, nontoxic products, you can increase the thermal comfort and health of your home,” Matthew says. “It is not just choosing insulation, it is choosing material that benefits ecosystems in the Intermountain West. It starts on the farm, then goes to the small business, to creating jobs, and improving your own home.”
“No matter how you view carbon emissions or climate change, everyone can agree that making homes more sustainable and building in a way that is more in balance with the environment is a step forward we need to take.”
–Matthew Mead, Founder, CEO, Hempitecture
