Elephant Skin Cooling Solution

Fungi Tiles Inspired by Elephant Skin

As summer approaches, do you feel like there should be a more sustainable solution than air conditioning to keeping houses cool when cooling demands are particularly high? Urban areas especially experience the temperature being a few degrees hotter than other nearby rural areas because the pavement and building materials absorb heat. This occurrence is known as the urban heat island effect, which actually happens all year round, but is strongest during the summer. Because of this effect, houses in urban areas are more inclined to use air conditioning, which increases greenhouse gas emissions. Is there a better solution to keeping houses cool?

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have created a tile made from organic waste and mycelium. Mycelium is a network of strands of fungi and also the root of fungus. These stands are grown on bamboo microfibers which allows them to be intertwined with each other. In the lab they are grown in a mold for 2-3 weeks to form the tile. The material also allows the tiles to be biodegradable and not require energy to create cool environments for homes, unlike air conditioning! In addition, these tiles are put in molds that were inspired by the bumpy texture of elephant skin. Because elephants don’t have sweat glands on their skin, their textured skin allows them to cool down. The tiles use a similar texture which increases the surface area of the tile and allows the grooves to not be directly exposed to the heat. This lets the interiors of homes stay cooler by using similar strategies to elephants. Not only are the use of mycelium and the texture of elephant skin more environmentally friendly than other cooling methods, but studies show that they do a better job at cooling and insulating homes as well. To prove how the textured tiles are cooler than flat tiles, they were placed on a 212 degrees fahrenheit hot plate for 15 minutes. In this experiment, the textured tile lost 41.02 degrees fahrenheit per minute while the flat tile lost 42.35 degrees fahrenheit per minute. Other experiments were conducted and all the results showed that the textured tile was more effective at keeping interiors cool than flat tiles. 

As we all look for more sustainable solutions, the use of elephant skin-like tiles made from fungus could be a better alternative for cooling houses. This could be used to combat the urban heat island effect. The textured side of the tile proves to be cooler and better insulated than flat tiles and using mycelium and organic waste creates a biodegradable and energy free method for cooling homes. If we can find a faster way to grow the fibers and produce the tiles in larger numbers, this could be a better and more sustainable solution. Would you like to try and have these tiles in your house instead of air conditioning?