In recent years, sustainable construction practices have gained traction in the home construction market. Among the approaches, hempcrete, or hemp-lime, has emerged as a promising alternative building material due to its eco-friendly composition, which is a bio-composite material comprising the inner woody core of the plant and water. Using this material in home construction can increase overall insulation values and provide thermal mass properties.

         This paper summarizes a field demonstration that compared two identical tiny homes, one constructed with a hempcrete wall assembly and one with conventional materials, to determine how the building materials impacted overall energy use, wall cavity moisture, indoor air quality, and construction costs. Data monitoring equipment was installed to capture detailed information on heating and cooling equipment energy use, wall cavity humidity, and ambient and outside air condition across an entire heating and cooling season. 

         Energy use data was normalized and compared between the two homes, and the resulting analysis showed that the hempcrete home used 48 kWh or 0.7% less energy than the home built with conventional materials, despite the ability for the hempcrete home to utilize its thermal mass capabilities. In addition, both homes passed VOC and mold tests, remaining well within the thresholds for potential harm to occupants. While both homes passed VOC and mold tests, remaining well within the threshold for potential harm to occupants, the hempcrete unit showed 163% less VOCs than the conventional unit. The hempcrete unit also maintained significantly more stable moisture levels throughout the duration of testing, leading to a decreased likelihood of mold development.