The Idea List

In the United States, nearly one fifth of the energy we use goes to our households.  And of this, between 50 and 70 percent is expended on heating and cooling.  If we could find a way to insulate our homes more efficiently and with less waste, the reduction in energy costs could be astounding.  It is with this goal in mind that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s recent graduates Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer created their grow-able insulation: Greensulate

Greensulate is made from mushrooms.  The process is fairly simple and relatively cheap.  The process starts with perlite, a highly absorptive volcanic material that is easy to produce, which makes up the base of the insulating tiles.  Combined in a square mold, the perlite is mixed with water and a starch for mushroom food.  This is where it gets interesting.  The two researchers then add the spores of oyster mushrooms, which thrive in the damp environment and feed off the starch.  As the spores grow, their tendril-like mycelium grow through and around the crushed perlite, forming a very tough and durable panel.  Once dried and cured, these panels are not only good insulators with R-values (measure of heat transfer) which are very competitive in the current market, but have the additional benefit of being fire retardant, making them excellent for use for fire walls.

The implications of this new process are astounding.  In true green engineering style, the two inventors have created a renewable, eco-friendly way to deal with a problem that is an issue across the country and around the world.  Their future plans for Greensulate include expanding their usefulness in the housing industry by adding more reinforcement to the panels, making them useful not only for insulating materials but also for structural building components.  The process is refined and perfected, it can be completed in nearly any situation, so shipping the spores and perlite around the world to developing countries could provide a cheap alternative to more costly building materials.  This creates sustainable, reusable, and environmentally efficient housing at low cost for people around the world.

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