ECOVATIVE’S 40-foot tower of mushroom brick products that is part of New York’s Museum of Modern Art PS1 Young Architect Program.
Ecovative
I HAVE STARTED TO REREAD THE BOOKS BY MY HERO RICHARD BUCKMINSTER FULLER. I have a pretty comprehensive collection of his writings and designs, as it was his geodesic dome constructed of wood that both shattered and expanded my paradigm of what structures could be. I saw that dome in the courtyard of the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture long ago as I ran to a humanities class. That structure made me want to learn more about who built it and the thinking behind it.
Buckminster Fuller and his concept of “comprehensive anticipatory design science” remain classically current. He based his thinking on what the Universe was doing. He looked deeply into all the scientific disciplines — e.g., physics, chemistry, mathematics — to insure the principles he employed in solving problems were comprehensive and that the engineering solutions were anticipatory, so they not only addressed immediate issues but anticipated future issues and needs.
Bucky once wrote, “The function of what I call design science is to solve problems by introducing into the environment new artifacts, the availability of which will induce their spontaneous employment by humans and thus, coincidentally, cause humans to abandon their previous problem-producing behaviors and devices.
“For example, when humans have a vital need to cross the roaring rapids of a river, as a design scientist I would design them a bridge, causing them, I am sure, to abandon spontaneously and forever the risking of their lives by trying to swim to the other shore.”
What’s new?
With the above in mind, I decided to catch up with what’s new at the Buckminster Fuller Institute. The first Web pages I visited were an update from the 2013 winner of the Fuller Challenge, Ecovative Design. Last year I wrote about them and their home-compostable mushroom packaging. Now they’ve expanded to new products: “myco foam” and “myco board,” all made from mushrooms. They are now combining mushroom mycelium with agricultural waste to create new natural, renewable insulation products. If you happen to be in New York this summer, you will see their mushroom brick products in a 40-foot tower that is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 Young Architect Program.
In visiting Ecovative’s website, I found the following products “in development”:
• acoustic panels and ceiling tiles
• structural insulating panels
• exterior insulated finishing systems
• loose-fill mushroom insulation
• grow-in-place mushroom insulation
They are ready now to launch their mushroom insulation made from agricultural crop wastes, which has a Class A fire rating, uses ultra-low VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and, according to Ecovative, is safe and easy to install. And the product is Gold certified by the Cradle to Cradle Program.
This creative use of mushrooms made me think back to my high school French classes with Sister Judith. She had studied French at the Sorbonne and taught us the nuances of pronunciation with a story about walking to the university one day and coming upon some school boys playing marbles. One boy stood up and proclaimed, “Je suis Champion!” Another boy quickly responded, “Non! Vous etes Champignon.”
I think Ecovative is like the first boy — a champion and a champignon! (I couldn’t resist!)
Seawater solutions
The other article of interest to me was about work being done by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuel from hydrogen and carbon dioxide extracted from seawater. The researchers, using their own proprietary electrolytic process, “extracted dissolved CO2 and H2 from carbonates” in seawater, then recombined it in a gas-to-liquid process into “long-chain hydrocarbons” that were put in standard combustion engine of a radio-controlled airplane.
Well . . . here we are in Benicia with a lot of seawater just off shore! Along with sunshine and windm it should help make us pretty energy independent one of these days.
I’ve put a link to the video from NRL’s website below.
Bicycle on down
Last call for bicyclists of all ages and bicycle types to come down to the Bicycle Clinic being held this Saturday, Aug. 2 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Community Center at 370 East L St. It will be a lot of fun and a great way to learn how to maintain your bicycle, unravel the secrets of changing a flat tire, adjust your bicycle to fit you, and know the proper gear for safe riding. You’ll also get to test your riding skills on one of two courses, easy or moderately challenging.
This is a wonderful collaboration of the Community Sustainability Commission, Benicia Bicycle Club, Benicia police, Wheels in Motion and California e-bikes. Warning, Doug Snyder will have e-bikes to test ride and it may change your view (favorably) about riding around Benicia’s hills.
We meet outside — come join us!
Learn more
• Buckminster Fuller Institute: bfi.org
• Fuel from seawater: youtu.be/Iavz7AnKI8I
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Great column as usual, Constance. It is great to realize that there are still Americans that pursue new and innovative ideas, as well as reaching back to old ideas that were mistakenly abandoned during a wrong turn somewhere along the way. These are Americans that do not rest on the laurels of some antiquated notion of exceptionalism, but rather, strive for the improvement and betterment of society, the environment, and the economy.
I find all of this very interesting. On one hand they want us to use public transportation along with stack and pack. But are agressivly asking everyone to buy 100% electric cars or hybrids. Very confusing. Now just who is going to pay for the hiway upkeep? Oh I got it up the gas tax on fossil fukle aitos and still let the electreic/hybrids ride the roads free. You would think Constance that you by now have for sure come up with an idea to let the electric/hybrid folks off the hook for paying their fair share of hiway upkeep. We already know that some the 1% proposed tax will be used for infra structure. Please Constance do not even bring up bike paths as a good use of those funds. Will there is another way to get the money. Ban autos on Benicia streets and up the fare on the buses to about $20.00 bucks. You think my thinking is goofy you have not been reading Constance very long. Try 28″ towers on your roof tops ,as windmills. She wants to take you back to the 50’s. I do believe Bucky could have done better.