As editor of Ford Motor Co. has a well documented history of using bio-based polymers. But mushrooms? That's the word from Ecovative Design LLC, a Green Island, N.Y.-based company that makes polymers from agricultural waste.
The news is all over the environmental blogs this week. This one is reporting that Deborah Mielewski, head of Ford's plastic research department, is interested in using Ecovative's mushroom foam "to replace 30 pounds of each car's petroleum-based foams with more environmentally sensible alternatives."
I was surprised to see the story explode in blogland. I had to go back a few days to find the source. It was this press release announcing that Mielewski and Ford research engineer Angela Harris will give presentations at the upcoming BioPlastek 2011 Forum, set for June 27-29 in New York.
"Ms. Harris' presentation will outline Ford's R&D process for finding and developing novel bio-based material solutions that meet the rigorous requirements for automotive, highlighting key technical obstacles that must be overcome before widespread usage of these materials takes place," the release said.
Ford was the first major automaker in North America to begin using soy foam blends (in the Mustang), and the company has also used natural fiber-reinforced composites. It will be interesting to see just how committed Ford will be to using mushroom-based plastics.
For more about Ecovative Design, check out this video. Note that co-founder and CEO Eben Bayer isn't a big fan of polystyrene, and he makes a special effort to call the company's Ecocradle a "polymer," rather than a bio-based plastic.
Comments (3)
Ford's use of soy in car manufacturing goes back decades before the Mustang.
Posted by Ron Guilbault | April 8, 2011 10:45 AM
Posted on April 8, 2011 10:45
That's true, and here's a good link for more information about Ford's long history with soy:
http://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/henry_ford_and_employees.php
Posted by Don Loepp
| April 8, 2011 10:57 AM
Posted on April 8, 2011 10:57
I can rarely sit through a 9 minute TED presentation without clicking off in disgust. Many are full of half truths (or worse); all are biased in favor of the subject at hand.
As I write this, our Federal government is close to shutdown, with blockage of allowing the EPA to regulate "greenhouse gases" (CO2 to be specific) as one of the major sticking points.
If legislation passes, watch even more industry move from the USA to countries that do not have the same rules. Air has no boundaries. I'm breathing oxygen created by a tree somewhere in a tropical rain forest, while some CO2 molecules in the very same air were released in China. Or India. Or the USA.
Posted by Michael Frey | April 8, 2011 11:35 AM
Posted on April 8, 2011 11:35