Hemp Company Wins $8.4M in Federal Funding for Sustainable Construction & Automotive Alternatives – Ganjapreneur | How to buy Skittles Moonrock online

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $8.42 million to hemp technology startup Hempitecture to support the creation of an industrial hemp processing and manufacturing facility in Tennessee. The funding was awarded under the Advanced Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program, offered through DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), which includes $428 million for 14 projects aimed at accelerating “domestic clean energy manufacturing in 15 coal communities across the United States,” according to an agency press release.

“The transition to America’s clean energy future is being shaped by communities filled with the valuable talent and experience that comes from powering our country for decades,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “By leveraging the know-how and skillset of the former coal workforce, we are strengthening our national security while helping advance forward-facing technologies and revitalize communities across the nation.”

The Hempitecture facility aims to help the country’s national decarbonization efforts by producing more sustainable building materials, packaging, and automotive parts, the company said in a blog post.

Hempitecture co-founder and COO Tommy Gibbons told Oak Ridge National Laboratory that the company’s manufacturing process can be used for building materials, furniture, and insulation, but he was most excited about the company’s expansion to servicing the automotive industry.

“There’s a huge use of recycled and bio-based textiles by European automotive manufacturers. Our plan in Tennessee is to supply American automakers with natural fiber, nonwovens as they seek to reduce their embodied carbon footprint.” — Gibbons, via Oak Ridge National Laboratory

It is not the company’s first time partnering with the DOE — in 2021, Hempitecture won $90,000 in federal funding to produce a highly thermal-resistant hemp wool insulation product boasting a low carbon footprint.

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