Imagine living in a society
very evolved where a big slice
of the economy gravitates around one
industrial agro supply chain from a plant
paper tissues are obtained
insulation material for building the
all respecting the environment and the
people
a continuous annual cycle starting from
field with the cultivation of the precious
plant passes from industry to his
transformation and get to us for his
use and subsequent recycling one
community of healthy people happy in
harmony and aware of the fortune of
have a gift from heaven
it would be nice eh but it is clear that yes
it is a dream of a utopia
let’s forget this madness e
let’s go back today
let’s go back twenty years or so
little more
in the period between mine
adolescence and the end of the university
I lived with my family in one
beautiful cottage on Lake Como had been
built by my grandparents in the 70s
pity that my room did not have
any kind of insulation were on in
unheated garage and the only thing that
I remember it was a bad cold comfort
for seven months the year is cold and wet
then another three months of sultry heat
which left me only two months
typically May and September when i
I felt at ease
after a few years they decide to leave
for Ireland to attend a Masters in
sustainable development I have no savings e
so I play everything with a loan in
bank
clearly to sustain oneself during those
eighteen months of study the squeeze of
fail to repay the debt yes
transforms into a desire to live fully
every single moment and gives birth to me
the awareness of having in your hands
the opportunity of a life I immerse myself
in elections in individual work
in group work and in books
I learn and connect the enormous ones
problems that the earth spaceship is about
facing and I also realize that
solutions already exist but not
they are effective because they are limited in the
scale and therefore in impact
while searching for a theme around the
which to develop the master’s thesis a
Irish friend suggests to me to look
on the web the words lime and am initially
I think it’s a cocktail
because I’ve always found online in the
mojito but then slowly I realize
what lime is derived from lime stone rock
limestone and which translates with ample lime
instead hemp
I have always known from the outset
adolescence like cannabis or marijuana
Well we understood we immediately find the theme
very interesting and for this reason
decides to dedicate the master thesis a
this research
slowly I discover that wondering
industrial hemp differs from
marijuana for its low content of
thc the active substance contained in
flower is a plant that has always had
a very important role for thousands of
years especially for its fiber came
described as the queen of plants from
fiber the standard with which to compare
all other fibers applications
all parts of the plant come
valued from the seed to the flower to the stem
a myriad of products are obtained
food products
pharmaceutical cosmetic bedding for
animals alcohol combustible materials
insulators and construction and it is right
with the latter
application that words line end
they have to do
as it deepens the research
I find out that the building sector is one
among the major impact on the environment
think that 40 percent of the
raw materials is consumed in this
50 percent of the emissions sector
of greenhouse gas derives from the building industry
I am also amazed at the fact that
70 percent of energy expenditure
domestic is totally destined the
heating not only the casing of the
buildings in which we live and work e
often made by coupling materials
different often of mineral origin like
brick or rock wool
synthetics such as polyurethane or
polystyrene not only are materials with
a high environmental impact by the way
of their production cycle and for their own
not recyclable but they are materials
the steam is practically impermeable
water produced inside the
buildings can not cross them
then it condenses and turns into mold
and this is going to reduce in an important way
the quality of the indoor air and the
performance of the building
This is confirmed by the world organization
of health which already in 1986 has
coined the term building syndrome
unhealthy to identify all that
series of disorders such as mal
head
burning in the eyes irritation of the
airway irritation of the skin
derive from a variety of factors between
whose temperature humidity changes of air
and emission of toxic substances that
derive from building materials or
from the furniture with an envelope in
hemp and lime the dynamic changes
totally
the entire thickness of the masonry e
made with a single material there
are steam or other breaks
materials
in this way a monolithic masonry is obtained
within which
water hours can move freely
moreover hemp is very porous if yes
magnify under the microscope you can see one
series of finer parallel channels of
a hair communicating with each other
through even smaller holes
this particular shape makes yes
that the water vapor meets
continuous micro evaporation and micro
condensations able to block the
energy dispersion in only 6 cm
thanks to these two characteristics the
temperature and humidity inside
building
they always remain constant and this is
translates into high living comfort a
important energy savings but
especially in a very healthy environment
more composites of hemp and lime
among other things, they are very durable
they contain toxic substances
biodegradable are recyclable are
reusable and have an impact
positive on the environment thanks to
speed with which the hemp plant
subtracts co2 from the atmosphere during the
its growth is used in form
of prefabricated blocks like this
or with particular machines
that allow to spray hemp and
lime and produce my composite
directly on the construction site
if I had known before it would have been
the ideal solution to solve i
problems of my cold room e
wet
for this reason he decides to exploit the
master’s thesis to better understand which ones
are the limits to broad development
scale of this wonderful technology in
Italy is practically unknown in
ireland is starting to talk in the
united kingdom only some projects
experimental
in France, on the other hand, it is the only country where
there are already some examples of the story
narrates that in 1986 a master mason
bricklayer named charlie st
he was the first to use a
biocomposite of hemp and lime for the
restoration of a historic building of 1600
from that moment the technique begins to
collect interest and is developed
and tested in all another series of
applications also the academic world
contributes with scientific research
to explain in detail the
behavior of this material
I devour any material
on the subject and slowly I make myself
account and conclude the thesis by identifying i
limits to the development of this
technology in the lack of
information for operators of
sector and in the lack of
certifications are so convinced of
have such information available
who in 2011 decided to return to Italy
and thanks to the precious support of a
business angel of a technical partner with
construction site experience and two others
budget investor members in the attempt
to innovate a sector at the height of the
its economic crisis to date over 500
families live in houses made with
an enclosure made of hemp and lime
we have received several awards
in 2015
we have also filed a patent that
covers a wide range of applications
what you see is the complex
residential houses of light with bisceglie in
Puglia is the largest building at the
world with a wrapper in hemp and lime
in which energy efficiency e
salubrity of the air reach the
higher standards and the whole
energy needs is covered by
There are no renewable energy sources
more limits and barriers to the development of
in fact, this technology we believe that
in 2020 it will become one of the standards
constructive and isolation in Italy and
in the world
fortunately shortly they will also start
work to improve quality
housing of my building
parents of our house is mine
bedroom will become the look
more comfortable than the whole lake
como
at the beginning I told you about a society
evolved and I imagined a society
able to enhance a plant
placing it within a process
productive with the aim of regenerating
people nature and environment
after all it does not seem so far
thank you
”
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