Conventions

Today is April 20, 2012 a date universally known at 420 day. We will skip the reasoning behind that but thought it would be fun to show on “Fabricate Friday” the 1st house made from a material called “hempcrete” made primarily from hemp with lime & water. It is a sustainable material that has been used as a building material for 1000′s of years. This is not the 1st house made from hempcrete as many communities in Europe, Asia and South America have been using it for years. Due to the regulations on the hemp industry by the US Governement, it is however the 1st one to gain approval in the U.S.

The biggest advantage of using hemp as a building material is that it is eco friendly and abundant if allowed to grow on its own. Beside providing carbon offsets while growing, the house itself continues to draw down carbon from the atmosphere. Mixing in the lime, allows the building to calcify over time, making the walls harder and more durable than the traditional wood or concrete used in building materials. Industrial hemp is not the same as the “how high” hemp. It is similar to bamboo in the fact that it regenerates itself very quickly and doesn’t require 40-100 years of new growth like tress do.

While it is an interesting concept, America still has a misconception of industrial hemp for use in building materials. The Hemp Growers of America have a very small lobby and very little money to convince Congress that using industrial hemp won’t turn entire generations into lazy, couch potatoes.

If you want more information regarding this project, here is the link to GizMag (many more pictures) and Push Design who gathered together the team that brought this project to Ashville.

Happy Earth Day on 4/21/2012.

Mar. 13-15, 2012. The NFMT is the acronym for National Facilities Management and Technology.  It’s supposed to be the biggest gathering of building owners, facility managers, maintenance engineers, sustainability directors, heads of facility operations and management, not forgetting other facilities management professionals, in the USA.  NFMT is an interactive educational and networking approach that aims to deliver ideas and career-boosting inspiration, tabling new solutions to facilities management, and giving the platform to industry visionaries with new tools to make the job more productive.  In particular, the FMXcellence Recognition Program was an initiative from Building Operating Management magazine that aims to praise FM departments that spearhead and execute stand-out projects and programs. They seem to have a “facility”: for these things…

“The NFMT 2011 Conference program featured 120 educational sessions that were free to the facilities management professionals attending the show. From assets to heating/cooling zones and everything in between, NFMT sessions covered all the main topics of interest to the facilities management business. Keynote and other address topics included “”Energy Audits vs. Retrocommissioning”", “”Getting the Most Bang for your Buck: What Makes Enterprise FM Technologies Successful?”", “”From Communication to Transformation: Leveraging Technology to Manage Your Facilities”" and “”The True Cost of Aggressive Preventative Maintenance on Exterior Services”". No-one seemed to have any specific thoughts on managing facilities consisting of new but empty buildings, devoid of owners or tenants because of the recent downturn. A pity, as this is already an all-too-common occurrence in places like South Florida and Nevada…

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