S.C. energy company gives grant to students building tiny hempcrete house

A South Carolina energy company is donating money to a group of college students working on building an eco-friendly 500-square-foot house made partly of hempcrete.

The donation from Duke Energy is part of grants worth a total of $240,000 to five state organizations focused on “engineering initiatives that will help grow the energy industry’s workforce of tomorrow,” the company said in a news release.

One of the recipients is the Construction and Architectural Engineering and Technology program at Greenville Technical College. Students there are building a “smart” tiny, modular house made with hempcrete and reclaimed building materials.

Duke Energy did not say how much funding it provided for the project.

Construction of the house will start in the Greenville campus and move to the town of Summerton for final assembly on a permanent concrete foundation. The hempcrete will come from a producer licensed by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.