In March of this year, under the direction of a new presidential administration, the U.S. raised tariffs on aluminum from 10% to 25%, while maintaining a 25% rate on steel—two key materials for doors and windows. Other duties have proven volatile, amid the negotiations of a trade war, but those implemented on aluminum and steel apply universally and remain intact. That leaves what Matthew Price sees as a window of opportunity for an age-old industrial material: hemp. With a bio-engineered, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) that blends hemp with traditional glass, Price is looking to replace stiffeners in vinyl windows made from aluminum, steel and regular fiberglass with a new material, dubbed HempGlās. With no psychoactive materials or compounds, the hemp used in HempGlās won’t help you to unwind. But it could help to take the edge off of tariffs, he suggests.
“Industrial hemp was used for hundreds of years to make sails and ropes and paper. The Declaration of Independence was written on paper made of hemp,” Price says. “It’s a no-brainer, due to the tensile strength of the fiber,” he says.
Price’s LinkedIn profile defines him as, among other things, a “problem solver” and a “sustainable building enclosure specialist.” So, when a close industry friend asked, “Why do we spend so much time in research and development, making high-performance glass, when all you’re going to do is stick it into a frying pan frame?” that question stuck in his head. He worked with engineers and chemists to create new resins and pultrusion formulas, founding his company (and material): HempGlās.
HempGlās achieves an E84 Class A fire rating and is as strong as a 6061-T6 aluminum alloy, yet has 100% flexural memory, he says. “Pound for pound,” it’s stronger than steel and “800 times” more thermally efficient than aluminum, he adds, allowing it to act as both a stiffener and a thermal break. The product is produced in an old PPG float glass facility in Fort City, Pennsylvania.
“In typical shapes, you’re looking at hundreds of rolls of glass fiber that get pulled into shape,” he says. “We modify the fiber content with select natural fibers that are pulled into the center core, resulting in a very similar tensile strength to glass fibers.”
Hemp has a 90-day growth cycle and the pultrusion process used to produce HempGlās is far less carbon- and energy-intensive than those used for aluminum, steel or vinyl, he says. The fibers also weigh half as much as glass, reducing the amount of fuel consumed in transportation. HempGlās production also produces no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the material can be painted and cured at 140 degrees F, while aluminum requires much higher temperatures (as much as 425 degrees).
Meanwhile, “We are conservationists to the core,” Price says. “I’m a hunter. I’m a fisherman. I’m a farmer. So, we believe 110% in using every ounce of what we produce.”
The first step includes extracting hemp oil and seeds, which are used to make vegan protein powders and feed for livestock. Leaves are ground up and used to make chicken feed. Hemp stalks are then pressed—the core of which are used to make fiber for HempGlās. The outer core is ground up and used to make things like hemp wood, which is utilized in boards and flooring. Root stock can also be burned and turned into bio char, for use as fertilizer, or combined with basalt fibers to produce a non-flammable material—one that can be pultruded in HempGlās for fire-resistance.
At the same time, Price is quick to point out that he isn’t anti-glass.
“To say that glass fiber and resin today isn’t environmentally sustainable would be a lie,” he suggests. “We’re on the precipice of having a glass recycling industry in the United States that takes architectural glass and turns it into other products … So, imagine the ability of HempGlās to be made from 100% recycled glass fiber and natural fiber content … We have an advanced resin pultrusion system. I can make it with bio-engineered product, or I can make it standard with glass fiber. I can do both.”
The supply side of the market for hemp is currently lacking, he says, so his company is working to expand its connections and develop new sources. He also owns a 20-acre farm in north Florida, where he has applied for a license to grow industrial hemp.
Regarding the material’s recreational cousin, “I’m not a cannabis guy,” Price says. “I don’t care if somebody does it, but it’s not for me.”
Though I did not understand if the plan is to use the Hemp in the frame or the glass, Hemp as a product is very friendly to the environment. Hemp grows at the rate of approximately 3 inches per day and matures in less than 4 months. Fast growth means fast turnover. If we could get the government out of the way, Hemp has endless potential to change many industries.