Houses from hemp? A bold strategy this entrepreneur says could pack a dent in global warming

Durham startup Plantd has a bold vision – to meet the materials demand of the growing homebuilder market, all without chopping down a single tree. And along the way, Plantd wants to help solve the world’s climate change challenges by capturing carbon.

Entrepreneur Josh Dorfman knows it’s a lofty plan, to make a dent in climate change using, of all things, hemp. But he insists it’s not just idealism – but solid business strategy. And builders are already buying in, he said – even though a building constructed from his materials has yet to get off the ground.

Dorfman said the idea started at Simbly, a furniture manufacturing startup he cofounded in Asheville in 2019. Simbly aimed to use sustainable materials and processes, and Dorfman became increasingly frustrated with the world of premium plywood. The cost was going up. The supply was going down. And the industry was still chopping down trees, a fact that tugged at the back of his mind when he thought about sustainability.

“I kept thinking, could there be an alternative material?” he said.

A few hours away, Huade Tan, co-founder and chief technology officer of Plantd Climbing, was also experimenting with materials. His startup, which was developing sustainable climbing hardware, was also thinking about its carbon footprint. Plantd Climbing had started getting attention, even winning a $10,000 grant from NC IDEA in 2020. But Tan’s vision went past just climbing gyms.

The pair initially met to talk about sustainable materials. And the connection was instantaneous, Dorfman said.

“[Tan] had been thinking a lot about carbon capture and, how do you solve the imbalance around climate change?” Dofman said. “We thought, if we could come up with an alternative biomass that we could scale … we could do something really wonderful from a climate change perspective, and we think we could be a really interesting business.”

The result? Plantd Inc, meshing minds from both companies into something new. And as they started researching, they discovered one type of biomass that could grow really fast – hemp.

Its fast growing time – shooting up to 20 feet tall in one summer – allows it to capture carbon faster than trees, Dorfman said. It can be harvested using standard equipment. And, as a building material, it was actually stronger than wood.

So the pair went all in, opening a prototype lab in Durham in April, “and as we’ve progressed on our prototyping, we’ve started to achieve results.”

The vision for the first product is what’s called OSB – oriented strand board, typically used for subfloors, walls and roofs in new homes. Dorfman believes the materials Plantd is putting out makes its OSB three to four times stronger than what’s typically on the market. And he said the products will match the current prices for premium OSB. The plan is to target builders, and already 10 have signed letters of intent in North Carolina, he said.

The current plan is to come to market in 2023. The firm is already prototyping, designing its manufacturing production process and experimenting with different types of hemp.

But there are major challenges outside of designing the actual product.

First, Plantd is introducing something entirely new to an industry that’s used wood for generations. Plantd will have to sell builders – both on the materials and their carbon neutral value proposition.

Dorfman said early interest has him optimistic they’ll buy in.

There’s also the intellectual property. Dorfman said Plantd is alone in sourcing hemp for structural building materials, but there are companies using hemp materials in furniture construction. But Dorfman said his team is exploring a patent portfolio strategy, including looking to patent the manufacturing process and the product features of its panels.

Plantd will also have to source a massive amount of hemp to pull off its business plan.

One standard four-by-eight oriented strand board weighs 50 pounds. And it requires about 48 pounds of hemp. That means an entire ton of hemp yields about 40 boards. As an average house requires about 300 boards, a massive harvest will be required to create an adequate supply for builders.

Dorfman said hemp farming is in its early stages. But he said that based on agreements he has with two farm groups covering 50,000 acres, he’s confident he’ll be able to source the materials.

“Fortunately in North Carolina, the farmer interest is extremely high,” he said.

The biggest challenge – as with many startups – may be funding. Dorfman said the company is fundraising, but declined to release details about the raise.

Dorfman does have some big advantages, and the biggest may be in the team he and Tan have assembled. Prior to Plantd, Tan worked on life support systems at SpaceX, and he brought engineering talent with him.