A house made of soy? A building on exhibit at this year’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto comes pretty close. Everything from kitchen cabinets, household insulation, and mattress foam to carpet backing, shingles, and paints and varnishes in the 1,200-square foot home are made of soy.
“The soya board is amazing. We ended up doing the entire kitchen out of the soya board and it looks like it’s a beautiful hardwood,” says veteran designer Janette Ewan, who was hired to style the house.
“It’s also really long-lasting. It’s super durable—almost more durable than wood—and it reacts really well to humidity changes. Perfect for a kitchen or bathroom.”
The house is the result of a partnership between the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), Quality Engineered Homes Ltd., and Habitat for Humanity Halton.
Dale Petrie, GFO’s Director of Strategic Development and Innovation, says that while soy has been used traditionally as a food for both humans and animals, the versatile beans are a renewable alternative to petrochemicals and can be used in the manufacture of a wide array of eco-friendly products.
Soybeans can be separated into two equally useful parts, soy meal and oil. It is the latter that can be used as a replacement to petroleum oil in a myriad of ways.
“When you crush a soya bean you get about 20 percent oil and about 80 percent meal, so that 20 percent is the part that goes into a lot of these materials, particularly the building materials like the foam insulation or the paints, etc,” Petrie says.
He says interest in soy biomaterials is high, one of the main reasons being that they don’t outgas harmful chemicals—something petroleum-based products are known to do. And there is little waste; virtually 100 percent of the soybean is used.
Soybeans are Ontario’s largest crop, and this year`s record yield is worth an estimated $800 million ‘at the farm gate,’ adds Petrie.
“The soya board is amazing. We ended up doing the entire kitchen out of the soya board and it looks like it’s a beautiful hardwood,” says veteran designer Janette Ewan, who was hired to style the house.
“It’s also really long-lasting. It’s super durable—almost more durable than wood—and it reacts really well to humidity changes. Perfect for a kitchen or bathroom.”
The house is the result of a partnership between the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), Quality Engineered Homes Ltd., and Habitat for Humanity Halton.
Dale Petrie, GFO’s Director of Strategic Development and Innovation, says that while soy has been used traditionally as a food for both humans and animals, the versatile beans are a renewable alternative to petrochemicals and can be used in the manufacture of a wide array of eco-friendly products.
Soybeans can be separated into two equally useful parts, soy meal and oil. It is the latter that can be used as a replacement to petroleum oil in a myriad of ways.
“When you crush a soya bean you get about 20 percent oil and about 80 percent meal, so that 20 percent is the part that goes into a lot of these materials, particularly the building materials like the foam insulation or the paints, etc,” Petrie says.
He says interest in soy biomaterials is high, one of the main reasons being that they don’t outgas harmful chemicals—something petroleum-based products are known to do. And there is little waste; virtually 100 percent of the soybean is used.
Soybeans are Ontario’s largest crop, and this year`s record yield is worth an estimated $800 million ‘at the farm gate,’ adds Petrie.
