This blog is written by Olena Larionova, a member of Zero Waste Alliance Ireland. Olena recently completed her dissertation at Trinity College Dublin and joined ZWAI in 2025.
This dissertation was never just an academic requirement.
Long before I knew the word sustainability, I was already drawn to its meaning. I cared about nature, responsibility, and the long-term consequences of human choices — even if I didn’t yet have the language to describe it.
When I arrived in Ireland in 2022 as a displaced person from Ukraine, I experienced a profound loss of identity. Everything familiar was gone, and I no longer knew who I was or where I belonged. Like many people forced to start again, I was searching not only for stability, but for purpose. I began asking myself difficult questions:
- How can I help my country to win this war — even from afar?
- How can I contribute to making the world a better place?
- And how can I give something meaningful back to Ireland, the country that welcomed me?
I was searching for focus, for a direction that could unite climate action, resilience, justice and gratitude. That search led me to hemp — and more broadly, to circular economy thinking and zero-waste principles. This same motivation is what brought me to Zero Waste Alliance Ireland, where I found a practical, values-aligned way to contribute beyond academia.
Hemp emerged as a single natural solution to many interconnected problems — climate change, unhealthy housing, construction waste, rural decline and energy dependence. It became the foundation of my academic work and the core of my dissertation.
Dissertation Focus
“Barriers to Sustainable Development Toward a Hemp Economy: The Case of Hempcrete in Ireland.”
Through qualitative research, including interviews with homeowners, architects, industry leaders, ecologists, policymakers, and through comparative insights from Ireland and Ukraine, I explored why hempcrete — a carbon-negative, breathable, and circular building material — remains marginal despite its proven environmental, health and performance benefits.
What I found was not a lack of evidence, but a lack of alignment:
- outdated performance metrics
- regulatory inertia
- fragmented supply chains
- and a system that continues to undervalue health, circularity and resilience
One of the key outcomes of this research was the proposal of the H-Value — a holistic alternative to the conventional U-value. The H-Value seeks to better reflect the true performance of natural materials by accounting for thermal mass, moisture regulation, carbon sequestration, and end-of-life environmental impact.
A Personal Contribution
Beyond policy analysis and data, this research is deeply personal.
It is informed by lived experiences:
- homes that remain warm with minimal energy input
- families whose asthma and respiratory conditions improved after hempcrete retrofits
- Ukrainian houses that remained habitable during prolonged blackouts
- and a belief that construction can be a form of healing rather than harm
I dedicate this work to the Defenders of Ukraine, to whom I owe every morning.
Reducing dependence on fossil fuels — particularly Russian energy — is not an abstract policy goal for me. It is deeply personal, rooted in lived reality, loss and hope. This dissertation represents my contribution to a future where buildings are healthy, materials are circular, energy use is reduced and resilience is built into the places we call home.
Read Olena’s dissertation in full below: