If you peel back the walls of a typical American home, you’ll find several inches of insulation. Whether it’s blown into drafty attic floors or tacked to wall studs, most insulation is made out of fiberglass or cellulose. Although cellulose is made out of recycled newspaper, it’s treated with sodium borate or boric acid to make it flame retardant - not what you’d call “green.”
A pair of entrepreneurs from Troy, New York have come up with a new solution: mushrooms. Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre came up with a rigid insulation material made from billions of interlocking mushroom roots. It can also be used as a packing material that’s grown, not manufactured. For our next green thing series, we’re talking with Eben Bayer, co-founder and CEO of Ecovative Design.
Popular Science: Invention Awards: Eco-Friendly Insulation Made From Mushrooms
Scientific American: Staying Cool: Green Insulation Gets Warm Reception
(Photo courtesy Ecovative Design)
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