“A living environment that breathes, with people at its centre” is not a slogan: it is a measurable physical property of hemp-lime, documented by numerous peer-reviewed studies.
The biocomposite is highly breathable — its water-vapour diffusion resistance (μ) sits at around 3.6 to 10 — and it has an excellent capacity for humidity regulation: the measured Moisture Buffer Value is 2.1–2.78 g/m²·%RH, a figure that classifies it as a material with “excellent” moisture-buffering capacity. In practice the wall absorbs excess humidity when the air is saturated and releases it when the air dries out, keeping interiors at around 50–55% relative humidity: the condition that holds back mould and condensation.
Then there is summer comfort. The specific heat of hemp-lime, between roughly 1,180 and 1,557 J/(kg·K), gives it good thermal inertia: the external heat wave is dampened and delayed, so in summer interiors stay cooler for longer without reaching straight away for air conditioning.
Breathability, humidity regulation and inertia: three properties that together build a perceived comfort — the real kind, the kind you feel as you walk into a home — that is hard to achieve with conventional materials.
Sources: Hygrothermal and mechanical characterization of novel hemp-lime composites (Construction and Building Materials, 2024); Mechanical, Thermal, and Moisture Buffering Properties of Novel Insulating Hemp-Lime Composites (Materials, 2020).
Article produced with artificial intelligence on the basis of peer-reviewed scientific studies and reviewed by the H.0.ME. editorial team. The figures reported are literature ranges, not promotional claims.