Founded by a dynamic and visionary team of women, Valentina Dipietro and Olivia Page, Mykor is setting the stage for a future of green, eco-conscious, and ground-breaking innovations in the world of construction. The Portugal-based start-up is hoping to decarbonise the construction industry by creating environmentally friendly construction materials using mycelium composites.

Construction materials emit massive amounts of carbon long before the lights of a building are switched on.

Embodied carbon is the total of greenhouse emissions (GHG) caused by the manufacturing of building materials, and these are responsible for 11% of global GHG emissions. The current state of the art for insulation materials comprises high emission, fossil fuel-based solutions such as glass, stone wool, and EPS.

Their first product, MykoFoam, is a mycelium rigid insulation. It is highly thermally and acoustically performative and made of completely renewable bio-based waste resources. They claim their manufacturing process consumes 90% less water than EPS, utilises 40% less energy and emits 60% less CO2 than EPS. It competes economically and physically with conventional insulations such as plastic foams and mineral wools at a fraction of their embodied carbon.

This can be enhanced by locally-sourced waste-material substrates as a basis for mycelial growth and operating their Portuguese production site entirely through renewable energy sources.

For those still in doubt, Mykor will take back old used panels for recycling back into new panels.

"Our overall aim is to be waste negative - consuming more waste than we produce - but we also want to have complete circularity within our own production."

Text by @mycostories