Polystyrene products have been used for years as home insulation and Styrofoam packaging, but the petroleum-based materials are infamous for the toll they take on the environment. Ecovative, a Troy, N.Y., start-up, aims to replace such products with an organic alternative derived from fungus and agricultural waste.
Rather than being manufactured from preexisting ingredients—a process that inevitably takes considerable energy—Ecovative's Greensulate is actually grown afresh. A mixture including water, recycled paper and rice hulls (a form of agricultural waste) is injected with living mushroom cells inside a mold and then placed in a dark environment. There the cells begin to grow and sprout thousands of cellular strands. In one to two weeks, the result is ready to be dried into a panel of insulation that can be used to keep a house warm in winter and cool in summer, or to protect a package during shipment.
Greensulate is fire retardant, and it's also unlikely to trigger mold and fungus allergies, by virtue of the drying process. And while its polystyrene counterparts take up landfill space indefinitely, Greensulate is highly compostable, enriching the soil surrounding it and even aiding the breakdown of other nearby waste. Current cost projections suggest Greensulate will retail at costs competitive with traditional foams, the company says.
Ecovative is still working on R&D and compliance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International standards and International Building Code. It will focus on material optimization and compliance testing throughout 2008, it says, with a commercially available insulation product targeted for mid-2009. The company is actively seeking strategic partners to aid in Greensulate's commercialization. One to get in on early?
Website: www.ecovativedesign.com
Contact: info@ecovativedesign.com
Spotted by: Michael Martin
http://www.potatoplates.com/product-range.htm
I saw the fungus based packaging story, and was reminded of a New Zealand based company that (for years) has been doing the same thing - only out of potatoes [see above address for their product range]. Their packaging is amazing, and readily available in environmentally friendly stores in New Zealand - plus (as I understand it) to takeout food bars.
One concern of mine would be - if this type of material is used in an environment of high humidity, would the fungus become activated and create or contribute to any existing mold problems?
the Material is dried and won't grow again... Just like a 2x4 doesn't start growing a tree in your house... good question though.
So presumably then, the drying process is of high enough temperature to kill the fungus and any spores, and the energy required is still comparable to, or less than, that used in comparable synthetic products. It might be good to publish the figures.