Renew Sports Car on Display at NoCo Hemp Expo Exhibit Hall, March 26 and 27, 2021
By Heather Collins
When hemp advocate Bruce Dietzen is cruising down the street in his hemp-based sports car, people think it’s just another vehicle trying to make a statement. And what a statement it is, especially when Bruce shares his story and reasons for wanting a more sustainably made and carbon neutral automobile on the road today.
“We can reduce the amount of carbon in the air with hemp. But what I am doing is more than just reducing carbon,” explains Dietzen, Founder of Renew Sports Cars and Carbon Negative Fiber. “Hemp has the potential to help everyone reduce their carbon footprint and live a life more carbon avoidant.”
People from all walks of life are fascinated with flashy sports cars and their ability to accelerate to thrill-seeking speeds quickly. “Most sports cars on the road today however are not environmentally friendly, which is why I designed and ‘rebodied’ a Mazda Miata made from hemp.”
Dietzen credits hemp legend Jack Herer for his inspiration for creating inventions from hemp.
“I was reading Jack Herer’s book The Emperor Wears No Clothes, which documented how Henry Ford invented a prototype car back in the 40’s which featured body panels made from hemp and a combination of other natural materials,” recalls Dietzen. “It turns out Ford’s “Hemp Car” was actually ‘greener’ than electric vehicles on the road today – not only because he used plants like hemp to make up 50% of the car, but also used alternative fuel sources, made from agricultural scraps.”
Dietzen admits once he read Herer’s chapter on Ford, there was no need to look in the rearview mirror. “Herer’s book changed my life. I realized my mission was to convey a message: “Make everything possible from hemp.”
Ford’s Legacy Renewed
Made from 65% woven hemp, and 35% bio-epoxy, Dietzen’s Renew Sports Car picks up from where Ford left off. Using a Mazda Miata base, the bio-based materials used to make the body panels are carbon negative and lighter than steel, aluminum, and even fiberglass.
Dietzen and his Florida-based team at Renew are driving positive change and want to make carbon negative vehicles by 2025. “We are always striving to make more and more of the components in these cars from plant materials and find greener ways to power them.”
Dietzen also founded Carbon Negative Fiber, a company that creates carbon negative plant-based composites materials for all sorts of manufacturers to use instead of steel, aluminum, fiberglass, and carbon fiber to help them dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the products they make.
Hemp Car on Display at NoCo Hemp Expo
Interested in seeing the hemp car of the future? NoCo Hemp Expo attendees will have that opportunity to visit with Dietzen and see the hemp-bodied Renew Sports Car in-person at the NoCo7 Exhibit Hall located inside the National Western Complex, 4655 Humboldt Street, Denver, Colorado. Dietzen and his Renew team will be available to answer questions and share more about the hemp car at Exhibit Hall Booth #200A, 2nd Level, on Friday, March 26, and Saturday, March 27, from 10 am – 6 pm.
During the NoCo Hemp Expo Business Conference on Friday, March 26, 2021, Bruce is also speaking from 4:05 pm – 4:20 pm on the Let’s Talk Hemp Stadium Arena Stage. His presentation will focus on ‘Hemp’s Potential to be the #1 Carbon Avoidance and Reduction Technology.’
Lastly, attendees can catch Bruce speaking during the NoCo Hemp Expo Farm Symposium, Saturday, March 27, from 2:00 – 2:30 pm on the Dion Markgraaff Materials Stage. Dietzen’s Saturday presentation pays homage to Jack Herer: ‘Jack Herer Was Right: Hemp Can Save the Planet.’
For more information or to purchase tickets to NoCo Hemp Expo, please visit nocohempexpo.com/ticket-sales/
For more information on Renew Sports Cars, visit renewsportscars.com/renew-cars.html.
For more information on Carbon Negative Fiber, visit carbonnegativefiber.com.
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Heather Collins is an Account Manager for Compass Natural Marketing and has been working in communications and marketing in the natural products industry for the past twenty years. Compass Natural serves in PR and programming for NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo. Collins serves as a Contributing Writer of the weekly Let’s Talk Hemp Newsletter, published by We are for Better Alternatives. Contact heather@compassnaturalmarketing.com.
