Assessing the opportunity for producing hemp-based insulation in the Australian market

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56748/ejse.24590

Keywords:

Australian market, Renewable material, Industrial hemp, Fibre, Thermal insulation

Abstract

By-products (wastes or residues) of renewable materials have the potential to be manufactured into higher value fibre insulation products for the Australian market. Currently, such products have been imported for servicing the Australian market. This presents a potential opportunity to divert considerable quantities of waste from landfill and produce a high performance, locally made, low carbon, natural fibre insulation product for the Australian domestic and commercial building industry. This article assesses the hemp-based bulk insulations available in the Australian market.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Lu Aye, The University of Melbourne

Lu Aye is a Professor in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Prof. Aye has more than 40 years of engineering experience in university teaching, research, development, demonstration and commercialisation of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

He has been internationally recognised as an expert in low-carbon technologies for built environment applications. His research areas include heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, waste to resources, complex systems modelling. Prof. Aye applied phenomenological modelling and simulation approaches for optimising energy systems. He also utilised computational and participatory approaches for modelling socio-ecological systems under deep uncertainty. These system models have been applied for identifying the effects of policy interventions and robust decision making. He has been recognised as a leading expert in modelling, simulation, optimisation and forecasting of complex systems behaviours.

References

Altin, M., & Yildirim, G. Ş. (2022). Investigation of usability of boron doped sheep wool as insulation material and comparison with existing insulation materials. Construction and Building Materials, 331, 127303. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.127303

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2020, April 15). Characteristics of new residential dwellings - A 15 year summary. https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/characteristics-new-residential-dwellings-15-year-summary

Christopher, P., Nematollahi, N.& Belleville, B. (2022). #37: Australian Timber Fibre Insulation Scoping Study Final Report.

CSIRO, Australian Housing Data. (2023). Home. [online] Available at: https://ahd.csiro.au/.

Gordon, S. (2023). Australian industrial hemp best management practice gap analysis. https://agrifutures.com.au/product/australian-industrial-hemp-best-management-practice-gap-analysis/

IBISWorld. (2023, August 27). IBISWorld Insulation Services in Australia. https://www.ibisworld.com/au/market-size/insulation-services/

Jefferies, S. (2022). Australian Industrial Hemp Strategic RD&E Plan (2022-2027). AgriFutures Australia, Wagga Wagga, NSW. https://agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-030.pdf

Kymäläinen, H. R., & Sjöberg, A. M. (2008). Flax and hemp fibres as raw materials for thermal insulations. Building and Environment, 43(7), 1261–1269. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2007.03.006

Latif, E., Tucker, S., Ciupala, M. A., Wijeyesekera, D. C., & Newport, D. (2014). Hygric properties of hemp bio-insulations with differing compositions. Construction and Building Materials, 66, 702–711. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.06.021

Pasila A. (2004). The dry-line method in bast fibre production. Academic dissertation. Helsinki: University of Helsinki, Department of Agricultural Engineering and Household Technology, MMTEK Publications 15.

Pricewise Insulation. (2022). Pricewise insulation. https://pricewiseinsulation.com.au/

ThermoNatur. (2022). High Performance Insulation Materials. ThermoNatur GmbH & Co. KG. p.20.

United States Department of Agriculture. (2022). National Hemp Report https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Todays_Reports/reports/hempan22.pdf

Downloads

Published

2024-04-29

How to Cite

Christopher, P., Aye, L. ., Nematollahi, N. and Ngo, T. (2024) “Assessing the opportunity for producing hemp-based insulation in the Australian market ”, Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, 24, pp. 23–25. doi: 10.56748/ejse.24590.

Issue

Vol. 24 (2024): Special Issue: Global Hemp Manufacturing and Commercialisation Opportunities

Section

Special Issues

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Philip Christopher, Lu Aye, Neda Nematollahi, Tuan Ngo

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>