Nearly seven years ago, Bruce Dietzen had an idea: attempting to make a lighter, stronger car using hemp.
The idea came after reading "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by Jack Herer, which includes information about the hemp plant and its various uses. Mentioned in the book is Henry Ford's 1941 car, which Dietzen cites as an inspiration. The car contained cellulose fibers derived from hemp, wheat straw, and sisal.
"When I read that [book], I thought, 'If Henry Ford did it in this old-fashioned way, which [used] a thermal compression type of technology, and newer technology uses woven fiberglass and carbon fiber, using woven hemp instead might work better.' And lo and behold, it did," Dietzen says.
Thus, the "Renew Sports Car" was born, and the first of two prototypes launched in 2015. But a lot has changed for the creator of the Renew Sports Car since then, with his sole focus shifting away from just hemp cars to how this versatile plant can help "save an inhabitable planet,” Dietzen says.
The Cannabis Car
Dietzen started with a deconstructed first-generation Mazda Miata and made the car's body panels and upholstery with 65% woven hemp and 35% bio epoxy. "It still had a gasoline engine, and I burned a biofuel in it," he says.
He adds that the car’s hemp fiber body was lighter compared to those built with aluminum, which is commonly used as an auto body material. He also says that hemp is more bend resistant than steel—one of the most common metals auto manufacturers use.
Dietzen adds that while production of traditional automotive materials, like steel and carbon fiber, tend to contribute CO2 to the atmosphere, hemp cultivation has been shown to sequester carbon, making it a more sustainable alternative.
Dietzen's original goal was to create a "carbon-negative" car by 2025, but he says he wasn't on track to do so. One of the main hiccups was the low demand, plus the time and cost to make the cars.
"To make these one at a time is very expensive, and they were handmade [by me]," he says. "To make one, it's about $80,000 to convert it. I did get [a second] order from a customer and completed it in time for the NoCo [Hemp Expo in 2021]. So, I brought it to NoCo and showed it off [there]," he says, adding that the car was delivered to a private collector following the event.
.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=max&q=70&w=700)
What's next for the creator of the cannabis car?
Dietzen notes that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pointed out that if measures are not taken to address the climate crisis by 2030, then "we could hit an irreversible tipping point," he said in an email.
Dietzen believes industrial hemp poses a promising solution.
“I shifted my focus away from the car to DrawdownHemp a year ago in order to make a much bigger contribution to the planet by identifying the highest impact measures hemp could make to address the climate crisis,” he said in an email.
According to a presentation Dietzen gave at the eighth annual NoCo Hemp Expo March 28, some of the organization's findings on ways hemp and its byproducts can be used to sequester or avoid CO2 in the atmosphere include:
using hemp as biofuel;
using hempcrete to fill abandoned oil wells leaking methane;
making most buildings out of hempcrete and hemp blocks;
adding hemp biochar to all abandoned and active croplands;
using hemp to replace products typically made out of carbon intensive fiberglass, carbon fiber, rolled steel, and aluminum (i.e. sporting goods, vehicle bodies, autonomous delivery vehicles, structural building materials, etc.);
using phytoremediation techniques on superfund sites (polluted locations in the U.S.);
replacing beef with hemp grain;
using hemp plastics, and more.
"Our initial findings suggest that 2-4 gigatons of CO2 could be sequestered or avoided per year if industrial hemp were strategically grown and utilized on a massive scale worldwide," he said in an email.
"[We must] convince the [Biden administration] that hemp is one of the most critical and important technologies to engage with on many different levels,” he says. "Hemp is a versatile commodity that we can use to help save an adaptable planet."
Editors Note: This story was originally posted at 4:00 PM March 31 and has been updated 9:40 AM April 1 to include photos of the Renew Sports Car and DrawdownHemp group.
