Sustainable Building Conference 2013  Coventry University EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL STUDY OF APPLICATION OF HEMP IN BUILDING ENVELOPES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS HYGROTHERMAL PROPERTIES Eshrar Latif*, Mihaela A. Ciupala † and Devapriya C. Wijeyesekera ‡ *University of East London, The School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, 4-6 University Way, London, United Kingdom, E16 2RD e-mail: u0102696@uel.ac.uk Web page: www.uel.ac.uk/ace † University of East London, The School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, 4-6 University Way, London, United Kingdom, E16 2RD e-mail: m.a.ciupala@uel.ac.uk Web page: www.uel.ac.uk/ace ‡ Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Beg Berkunci 101 Parit Raja, Johor, West Malaysia, 86400 e-mail: devapriya@uthm.edu.my Web page: www.uthm.edu.my Abstract. This research focuses on the experimental determination of key hygrothermal properties of fibrous hemp insulation and applying the data as inputs for numerical simulation tool to determine the hygrothermal behaviour of the material in timber frame thermal envelopes. Simulations have been run for envelopes with and without vapour barrier. The findings are then compared with the findings for stone wool insulation for similar exposures. This shows how hemp performs compared to conventional mineral wool insulation during service conditions. It was found that hemp performed as well as stone wool as an insulation material. However there is more risk of interstitial condensation in stone wool integrated thermal envelope at certain periods than in a hemp integrated thermal envelope. 1 INTRODUCTION The climate change act 2008 makes it legally binding that the net UK carbon account for the year 2050 will be at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline (Great Britain, 2008). About 27% of the total CO2 emission from UK is down to the domestic buildings (Boardman, 2007) and about 17% is down to non-domestic buildings (Retrofit for non-domestic buildings, 2012). Within the domestic sector, highest amount of energy is being used in space heating. BRE (Building Research Establishment) stated that cost effective measures could save 25% of this energy and 65% of the savings could be attributed to improved insulation standards (Halliday, 2008). Consequently, to reduce 80% carbon emission, the older housing stock needs to be thermally refurbished and newer housing stock needs to be adequately insulated. For the insulation market, it implies that the demand and supply of thermal insulations will steadily increase. Currently, due to the introduction of the Code for Sustainable Homes and