US DoE Awards $8.4m Towards the Development of Hem
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The Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains under the Department of Energy recently awarded $8.4 million to Hempitecture. Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of Energy, explained that the department was focused on helping advance technologies that aided America’s transition to clean energy and strengthening national security.
Hempitecture offers sustainable cannabis-based alternatives for automobile parts, packaging and building materials. The hemp company is one of fourteen firms that were granted $428 million jointly to support their efforts to promote the manufacture of clean energy, with a focus on eliminating the use of coal.
Hempitecture turns fiber short straw and hemp dust into biomass pellets that can be used for heating, a good alternative to coal. It primarily produces hemp insulation, concrete and furniture. It plans to use the funds awarded to expand its offerings and launch a new facility.
The new facility will create twenty-five new full-time jobs, with employees earning 15% higher than the prevailing hourly rate. The company’s co-founder, Tommy Gibbons, stated that there was great use of bio-based and recycled textiles by automotive makers in Europe.
Earlier in the year, Volkswagen announced that it’d be partnering with a German hemp business to produce a leather alternative based on cannabis for its vehicles.
He revealed that their plan was to supply auto manufacturers in America with natural fiber as well as nonwovens as they worked to decrease their carbon footprints. Gibbons added that the grant affirmed the work they’d done thus far, noting that it felt like people were paying attention to how the company was trying to change the building sector into a more bio-based sector via its products.
Matthew Mead, the CEO of Hempitecture, stated in a separate post that this grant presented a great opportunity for the business to offer more products to its growing consumer base and help achieve their sustainability objectives.
This isn’t the first time the department has teamed up with Hempitecture either. In 2021, the Department of Energy sponsored a project to develop insulation using hemp fiber, which was better for public health and the environment as compared to other insulation products. Hempitecture received a yearly stipend of $90,000 and almost $200,000 to support research into this product.
In July, the Environmental Protection Agency also awarded almost $2.6 million in grant money to a nonprofit that works with hempcrete. All these are part of the U.S. government’s efforts to encourage the use of building materials that are more environmentally friendly.
These steps being taken by the federal government to support innovation and growth within the hemp industry send positive signals to industry actors like Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) that would like to see a wider variety of hemp products gaining traction locally and internationally, led by American firms.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/SFWJ
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