Hemp on the hub

Plant-based brakes to reduce pollution

Britain’s motorists get through a not-so-cool 80 million sets of brake pads every year, leaving a dusting of heavy metals which end up in water run-off from roads, and in our lungs when we take the tube.

Hemp is the answer, say researchers at the University of Exeter, who’ve been working with industry partners on the Ecopad project for two years. They’ve tried out a variety of plant-based materials including sisal, cotton and flax – but say hemp is best. It means that biodegradable brake pads could be ‘grown’ in Britain.

And there’s no compromise on cost –quite the opposite, in fact. The hemp should work out as 20 to 30 times cheaper than the manmade aramid fibres currently used to hold the pads together. All this with no loss of frictional performance, according to tests carried out by the researchers.

The first hemp disc pads for cars went on display at the Eden Project’s Sexy Green Car Show earlier this year. – Hannah Bullock

19 September 2007

Hannah Bullock