Innovation and Sustainability

The paper examines the perspectives of hemp use in the textile, food, construction, energy and other industries, where not only the fibrous part is used but also seeds, leaves, bark, and roots. The cultivation of hemp worldwide is analysed, and the current Ukrainian trend, particularly the dynamics of the production of technical hemp in Ukraine, is researched in terms of technical hemp plant growing, which seems less promising despite the vast and marvellous increasing demand for hemp-based products worldwide. The advantages of using hemp fibre in construction as an ecological, heat-, sound-insulating, ecological building material are given. A comparison of the technical hemp fibre-based mixtures with such traditionally used in Ukraine construction materials as brick and autoclaved aerated concrete blocks was carried out according to such indicators: environmental friendliness, compression and bending strength, biodegradation, installation period, thermal conductivity and thermal resistance of walls, average density, cost and fire resistance. The comparison of hemp fibre-based insulation materials with other insulating materials is also provided. The advantages of hemp fibre for hempcrete production are lower specific weight, high environmental friendliness, and other parameters. The economic prerequisites for using technical hemp in construction are presented, such as an increase in the diversity of new job places creation, stimulation of innovations in construction, and support and creation of local entrepreneurship. These steps would significantly increase the deductions and taxes for infilling local budgets from an economic point of view and lead to a reduction of energy consumption and sequestration in CO2 emissions in terms of sustainability. A conceptual diagram of the organisational and economic principles of the use of technical hemp in construction, which includes an analysis of the problems preventing the use of hemp fibre in construction, has been proposed

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