In 2007, Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre came together to form Ecovative Design, in an effort to revolutionize eco-building. Fascinated by the bonding qualities of fungul mycelium (basically mushrooms roots), they soon realized that they could harness this power of nature by growing their own building materials, mainly in the form of insulation, or Greensulate™.

The mycelium acts as like a resin material which bonds agricultural byproducts together to make a sturdy insulation type material. The mycelium never grows into full sized mushrooms, so there is no reason to be concerned about allergens and other spores.

The insulating materials help the environment because they are not derived from fossil fuels, they are biodegradable, and take little energy to produce. Oh, and this insulation won't catch on fire.

Ecovative Design is also the founder of Acorn™, the eco-friendly (biodegradable) packaging material. The company claims to envision a world where their organic material would eventually replace all types of artificial products. Living in a world where renewable energy is priority one, Ecovative Design wants to push the idea of renewable materials right up there alongside. Greensulate™ will be available in 2010.