Eco-Insulation: Filling Your Walls With Fungi

By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, October 7, 2009.

Ecoinsulation

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.

Scientific American: Staying Cool: Green Insulation Gets Warm Reception

(Photo courtesy Ecovative Design)

Add new comment

Idea Smackdown: Round III

About us

Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.