The Production Capacities of Cannabis sativa and Its Growth Possibilities

The authors report a detailed system analysis of the reasons why products derived from Cannabis sativa have found use as materials for green building. The causes of the greater attention to sustainability also in the building sector are discussed: (i) use of highly renewable resources, (ii) reduction of emissions, (iii) reintegration of waste into the production cycle, with a tendency toward zero waste. The evidence of these advantages is causing an effective diffusion of hemp in construction. In this regard, the authors report the data relating to the production and use of hemp in construction at a national, continental and world level. The analysis of these data demonstrates an evident increase which, however, appears to be characterized by considerable temporal fluctuations. In light of these historical data, the authors envisage on the one hand (i) the limited capacity to increase the production of C. sativa and on the other hand (ii) the increase in the requests for hemp-based products by the building sector. Also on the basis of the historical analysis of a case study (that of the Edilcanapa Company, Teramo, Italy), the authors demonstrate that the limits to the increase in the production of C. sativa can in turn represent a limit to its use in construction in the next years. The authors demonstrate an imminent imbalance between limits to production growth and an increase in the demand for hemp derivatives for construction purposes. In fact, despite the paucity of available data, our preliminary analysis highlights how the market of derivatives of C. sativa for construction purposes represents a critical production system and—at the same time—a rapidly expanding market, endowed with extraordinary incremental potential.