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As New York green contractors, we’re always interested in emerging innovations, but take special interest in locally-developed technologies because we believe that green solutions should have a local focus.  An effective way to build green is to ensure that each building make the best use of the environment in which it’s located.

In New York state, for example, we have hot summers and cool to cold winters.  Insulation is important for keeping homes at a comfortable temperature while minimizing energy costs.  We also have farmland and woodland…which means mushrooms.

Ecovative Design started out as two RPI students’ mutual fascination with mushrooms. A class project resulted in growing a mushroom-based composite that could replace synthetic materials like Styrofoam.  Rather than lessening the impact of traditional synthetics, Ecovative is introducing radical materials in un-heard of ways.  The innovative start-up is currently growing into one of the most promising manufacturers of green building and packing materials.

We’re mostly interested in their mushroom insulation.

It’s not quite the same as the mushrooms we buy at the supermarket: Ecovative makes their materials out of a mycelium composite.  Mycelium is the thready part underground; fruiting bodies are the parts we see and eat.

Filling your walls with fungus might not sound like such a great idea, but let me tell you why it’s amazing.

Mushroom materials are as safe and sturdy as traditional insulation.  They won’t melt in the rain.  They achieve a class 1 fire rating without needing toxic fire retardants and have very few volatile organic compounds or none at all.  There is no need for toxic adhesives like formaldehyde.  They can be touched and handled with no special protective gear.   There are no spore or allergen concerns, since materials are heat-treated after growing.

That’s right, growing.  Ecovative grows their materials out of farm junk and mushrooms, an upcycling process that reduces waste.  They start with agricultural byproducts, which are then inoculated with mycelium and grown to the exact shape needed by the client.  They’re basically made from an unappreciated waste product (seed hulls, husks, etc) and a renewable resource (live mushrooms).  When you’re done, they can be composted like any other organic material, leaving behind neither chemicals nor waste.

The humble mushroom is a powerhouse.  In Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Save the World, Paul Stamets describes the potential for “mushroom ecoremediation,” in which we take advantage of mushrooms’ natural digestive abilities to clean up organic pollution.  Mushrooms can eat through all kinds of trees and houses like nobody’s business, but they can also digest complex organic particles found in petroleum and other messy contaminants.  Stamets describes an experiment where he watched oyster mushroom mycelia absorb brown gunk, slowly return to its original white, and send up robust fruiting bodies.  In other words, the mycelium ate our garbage, and made extra big mushrooms–more food for us!

But back to mushroom as a building material.  Mushroom materials can benefit builders, clients, and the environment.  They’re efficient by building and safety standards.  They become increasingly cost-effective as petroleum and plastic prices rise with oil prices.  Their production, use, and recycling leave no mark on the environment.

The major downside to mushroom insulation is that you can’t have it yet.  Ecovative’s building materials are currently under development and are not yet for sale.  As green builders, we eagerly anticipate the debut of a locally-developed material that offers homeowners an affordable, safe, and eco-friendly alternative to current methods.

The one thing it has against it is that it is petroleum based. There is a company that sells itself as a green alternative because it uses soy based oils instead. Biobased is one such [...]]]>

Spray foam insulation is good because it creates very good seals. You don’t have to worry about air leaks.

The one thing it has against it is that it is petroleum based. There is a company that sells itself as a green alternative because it uses soy based oils instead. Biobased is one such company.

I think that is great and even if it only used a small part soy and the rest petroleum it is better than nothing.

I did have a problem the other day with them. I was discussing with them the possibility of me being a distributor and installer for them. I was excited until I asked what % soy they used. For me this is a key point. THE key point. It is what sets them apart from the rest. It is what makes them greener than the rest.

But they refused to tell me and told me that it was “proprietary information”. ????? Your main selling point is proprietary information? And in the same sentence I was told that I shouldn’t worry about that since using their product can get you LEED points.

Then alarm bells went off for me. Their implication was that getting recognized as green via the LEED points were what mattered. The actual ecological benefit, if any, of the product was not important and a secret.

I protested and the sales rep said he’d get back to me. That was a long time ago. He’s not getting back to me.

Like I said, even if it was 1% soy based and 99% petroleum I would choose it over a 100% petrolieum based foam. 1% is better than nothing.

My problem here is the greenwashing they are doing. Green, if anything, is first and foremost about honesty. And maybe they will get back to me and all will be good. But so far my phone is not ringing.

Another thing is the product itself. I bought some cans of the stuff from home depot. I also bought some “Great Stuff” spray foam. I tested them side by side and the Biobased foam failed. It might have been the cold but it dried dry and crumbly. In comparison the Great Stuff dried like hard chewing gum.

This is very important because the foam is used to fill cracks. Cracks often expand and contract. The Great Stuff has an elasticity to it that the Biobased does not. Also, I forsee the Biobased foam deteriorating and becoming dust over time.

I emailed the same rep asking if the cans they sold at Home Depot contained the same ingredients that pros install but got no answer. We had a polite professional relationship so I’m baffled why he didn’t respond.

Here are the pics:

Great Stuff foam is like hard chewing gum when touched:

Biobased foam crumbled when touched. This could be because it was cold when we installed it. But Great Stuff was installed exactly at the same time in the same environment. Biobased foam:

We have a floor with a high ceiling which means we can lay the pex tubing on top of the subfloor instead of hanging the tubing beneath. The pex tubing takes up valuable space and you can only lay it on top of the subfloor if you have the ceiling height.

Having the [...]]]>

We have a floor with a high ceiling which means we can lay the pex tubing on top of the subfloor instead of hanging the tubing beneath. The pex tubing takes up valuable space and you can only lay it on top of the subfloor if you have the ceiling height.

Having the tubing on top is better because the heat does not have to pass through the sub floor.

We laid stringers of wood 16 inches on center over the sub floor. They were about one inch high.

We put a look of pex tubing between the stringers.

Then we covered the tubing with a mix of sand and structolite. This dense mass was added around the tubes for two reasons.

One it creates a good sound barrier between the two floors. And two it pulls the heat out of the tubes and into the room.

Structolite is a mix of plaster and perlite. Perlite makes it very light which is important since it is a wood joist floor. Perlite is also a good heat insulator, which is bad since we want the mass to pull as much heat out as possible. So we mixed it with sand which is a good conductor but heavier. It was basically a balance we had to find between weight and conductivity.

We dry packed the mixture, meaning we used barely any water at all and packed it in manually instead of pouring it. Wood flooring is going over it so we didn’t want a wet mix that would take a long time to dry.

The end result is a nice warm floor that stops sound between the two apartments. Price was also a consideration. Sand and structolite are very cheap yet very effective in their uses here. The labour was a consideration since it took time to pack the mix in. But it still was much cheaper than any other combination that I can think of.

One important point is that we did not put any tubes or mass near the walls. Instead we put insulation. This is to keep the heat inside the house and create a dense insulation barrier between the heat and the cold. This keeps the house warmer and with a lower heating cost since less heat is lost to the outside.