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 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I'm more wondering how comfortable it is; how much people want to wear it is a huge factor. And how resource intensive is the process? It could be something that is easy to grow but effortfull to process. I don't know but am curious to see what others do.

Basically it's aged in the field to loosen the fibers and then sent through rollers/hammer mills before going through a carding machine. Not really much different from linen processing.

I strongly suggest viewing The Man in the White Suit. Its about synthetics rather than naturals, but many of the themes should carry across.

Apparently you can make non petroleum based bio plastics and even biofuel with hemp, and I would like to see some real research on those fields as I think getting away from petroleum is something that we need to do.

As to claims that cannabis oil can cure cancer, I would have to see some pretty real research data on that as I am skeptical but willing to look at actual evidence if it is presented.

I doubt anything can compete with algae in terms of biofuel production. I think the focus should be more on the fibrous aspect.

What about bio plastics?

In that I have no idea.

As to claims that cannabis oil can cure cancer, I would have to see some pretty real research data on that as I am skeptical but willing to look at actual evidence if it is presented.

I've read about studies citing marijuana use as inhibiting cancer growth (which is not a cure of course), so it might be that people have taken a real claim and exaggerated it. Those studies though I think are contentious. Some researchers have managed to replicate the results, while others have not and there aren't enough studies to make a good conclusion.

I doubt anything can compete with algae in terms of biofuel production. I think the focus should be more on the fibrous aspect.

This might change with the economy of scale. If hemp is profitable for as many things as is claimed, then it might be cheaper than algae just because of how much it could be widely growth to fill numerous market needs. IDK what the relative costs of cultivating algae vs hemp are.

One of the cool things about hemp is that you can grow it pretty much anywhere. That's the golden goose trait of cash crops.

algae for biofuel has an advantage in that it directly makes the fuel, while other crops need to be grown and then fermented. Algae can also be grown anywhere.

Considering the industry for getting rid of algae is notable I'd say actually encouraging it to grow is going to be easier than most plants

 LordofHats wrote:

One of the cool things about hemp is that you can grow it pretty much anywhere. That's the golden goose trait of cash crops.

This. I've always seen hemp being classified (in plant terms) in the same family of weeds that tobacco resides in. Tobacco is a bit like Dandelion weeds in that they are extremely UNpicky about the dirt they sprout in. Fun historical lesson, of the 50 US states, at one point in time or another, 48 of them had a state tobacco industry (ie, tobacco was grown/processed in 48 of the US states)

I'd venture to say that you could likely change the growing conditions some, the way certain tobaccos are, in order to change the usefulness of the output (ie, sunshade grown tobacco produces certain results that are good in cigars compared to some that aren't covered, but there is a usefulness to each of the various growing methods)

That is a very good point. Living in California I often forget the "that doesn't grow here" factor. And I wonder how the properties would be affected by where it grows and to go further, what sort of strains we could breed/engineer/already have.