Hemp concrete

The means for keeping the indoor relative humidity (RH) and pollutant concentration below a threshold level of interests are necessary and essential to improving building performance in terms of indoor air quality (IAQ), energy performance and durability of building materials. In this paper, the similarity between the moisture and VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) transport models is applied to study the effect of toluene (a typical VOC) and moisture buffering capacities of a hemp concrete wall on indoor toluene concentration and RH.

Climate change is driving the construction sector to use of more environmentally friendly and sustainable materials. Hemp concrete has been recently adopted as an innovative solution by the building industry to reduce emissions, as this material stores more CO2 than the emitted during its production. Part of this storage occurs during its service life leading to a reduction of indoor CO2 levels. CO2 has been widely used as a proxy for evaluating indoor air quality (IAQ).