Mushrooms - More Than Just a Pizza Topping

Frankly, I’ve generally thought of mushrooms as something I like on my pizza, but there’s a lot more to mushrooms than that, of course. And now, through the hard work and inspiration of two enterprising young entrepreneurs, you just might find mushrooms insulating the walls of your eco-friendly house. “Greensulate” is an organic, fire-retardant board made of water, flour, oyster mushroom spores and perlite, a mineral found in potting soil.

Eben Bayer grew up in Vermont on a farm where he learned the art of mushroom harvesting from his father. As a graduate from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute he has parlayed that experience into an organic insulation material. Combined with Gavin McIntyre’s interest in sustainable technology, their Greensulate shows a lot of promise.

The enterprise is still a fledgling operation, more work and research is needed to bring the product to market, but so far the material tests very well. According to the Oak Ridge Nation Laboratory in Tennessee, a standard 1-inch-thick sample of the organic material has an “R” value of 2.9. “R” value is the measure of a substance’s ability to resist heat flow – in other words, to insulate. The nasty fiberglass insulation in general commercial use has a typical R value of between 2.7 and 3.7 per inch of thickness.

It’s this kind of innovative, visionary thinking that will create the solutions we need for sustainable development and an eco-friendly human environment.

Think about that the next time you’re eating a slice of pizza!

Sources and Further Reading
TreeHugger.com
Physorg.com

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Mushrooms - More Than Just a Pizza Topping

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