2021 Year To Date!
The okom wrks labs RD&E Newsletter!
We launched a seed round fundraise effort this week. In support of that effort, we wanted to create a space where we can keep people informed about the RD&E that will allow us to commercialize a novel composite material that we have developed, we call it zerø-frm. This first newsletter is long, but it also gives the foundation for our business case.
zerø-frm sample
Brief Overview
2021 has been a very productive year here at okom wrks labs. We are an emerging leader in the world of mycocomposites; or rather, composite materials made with a mycelium based matrix phase. As our company emerges onto the scene, we are keenly aware of the potential of mycocomposites due to the nascency of the science and applications. Our excitement has been buoyed by a wide acknowledgement among experts in the fields of materials science and engineering that we are nearing the day when we can envision the commercial applications of mycocomposites serving in load-bearing roles in architecture, auto, aerospace, marine, and industrial design.
Because of the promise we see in our initial and ongoing RD&E, we have begun exploring impactful ways that we can utilize this novel approach to growing rigid, durable mycocomposites within structural applications. We call this breakthrough material, zerø-frm, a zero carbon, zero waste material that can be formed into anything!
zerø-frm & Modular Construction Techniques
Building materials are difficult to bring to market due to several factors. Firstly, ensuring that the structural mechanics of any novel material has an appropriate safety profile takes focused, multi-disciplinary research efforts that necessarily span years of effort. Next, when structural mechanics are known, the attention switches to hygric and thermal properties (among others) that are germane to a material’s suitability in various applications. Further, determining the ways that a new material with new properties can interface with existing building techniques has a profound impact on the commercial viability; this is due, in large part to the necessity to validate and write building codes that are accepted in the international building communities.
Our co-founder, Chris Magwood, is an internationally acclaimed expert in natural building systems (e.g.-hempcrete, straw-bale, adobe, etc.). He is also a leading voice in the effort to ensure that the next generation of engineers, architects, and designers of structures and buildings have a full array of regenerative techniques at their disposal. Chris has been instrumental in the development of using natural building techniques like straw-bale in modular building components such as S.I.P. (structural insulated panels) walls.
S.I.P. wall construction saves time and money on a construction site. They also provide a tighter building envelope which contributes to the overall reduction of carbon requirements over the lifetime of a building. The modularity of the S.I.P. wall, and it’s prefabricated construction contribute to upwards of 50% reductions in time to completion and more importantly a 50% reduction in construction material waste. However, there is a lot of discussion surrounding the make-up of a typical S.I.P. wall and the trade-offs between building envelope and material choices. A typical S.I.P. wall is composed of a large slab of EPS foam sandwiched between two sheets of OSB using adhesives. In other words, every component of a standard S.I.P. wall is awash in degenerative chemicals and a very troubling end of life problem.
40% of raw materials extracted in 2021 will go into the built environment.1
65% of every tree harvested for use in lumber products is lost to waste!2
In light of these facts, we have partnered with some really great entities from a broad range of technical fields to explore ways to dramatically improve the embodied carbon of the S.I.P. wall. Indeed, half of a building’s embodied carbon will be spent during the extraction and manufacture of the building’s materials and components.3 4
Lumber products account for a large majority of C&D waste. Despite wood’s ability to provide very favorable strength to weight profiles, we can’t forget to account for the ill effects that the extraction of timber has on our earth’s forests and the biomes that they support. With lumber products accounting for 10% of the biggest drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, it makes sense to focus efforts on removing lumber from S.I.P. wall construction.5
Our RD&E partners are well on the way to commercialization of a new generation of S.I.P. walls that eliminate the EPS foam component by using straw-bales or rock-wool as the insulation. By replacing the lumber framing in these so-called S-S.I.P.s (straw-bale S.I.P.s) we believe that we can achieve a significant reduction in the embodied carbon of a S.I.P.
The Economic Sense of Pre-fab
The building materials industry is a vast marketplace that will record north of $1T of revenue (CAGR-5.5%) by 2024.6 The economics and practical benefits of pre-fab and modular building systems in North America alone has a very promising outlook, with revenues forecast in the range of $3.3B by 2024 (CAGR-7.7%).7 It is our calculation that the ability for pre-fab construction techniques to truly meet the expectations of the marketplace (regenerative systems with circular economic benefit) will be greatly enhanced by materials like zerø-frm. The reductions in embodied carbon by using zerø-frm are multiplied by the number of trees left unharvested, leaving forest ecosystems intact. Everything is connected, and our impact on the biosphere is directly related to our patterns of consumption. What good will a thriving economy do in a world that is alien to human biology?
Current State of the Art and Partnerships
Rollin James-Jones, a grad student at CU Boulder, prepares a specimen for crush testing
Our current partners include:
New Frameworks
Tooketree Passive Homes
Material ConneXion
Living Materials Laboratory
Verdant Structural Engineers
Hemp Harvest Innovations
and our newest partner Tetrahemp
We believe very strongly that we are only going to be as successful as the collaborations and partnerships that we engage in. The effort to change our future will not be furthered in silos. Partnerships with mutual benefit are the only way forward. Here are a couple key happenings with our partners.
Living Materials Laboratory
Initial testing at the Living Materials Laboratory (LML) at CU Boulder showed that our early formulation was 455% stronger (4.6 times) than previous techniques.
— Wil V. Srubar III, Ph.D., Associate Professor | University of Colorado Boulder
We are currently conducting research in collaboration with LML that seeks to quantify the ideal particle size mix, as well as the thermal and hygric properties of zerø-frm. Our initial compressive strength values were in the range of 1MPa and we anticipate that we can achieve 3MPa by end of Q2, 2022.
Hemp Harvest Innovations
A partnership with Hemp Harvest Innovations (HHI) provides us with a manufacturing partner steeped in the design and manufacture of tools and machines useful to the hemp and cannabis industry. Since the structural phase of zerø-frm is derived from hemp hurd, we gain a wealth of knowledge from a company that has been an innovator in the space. Currently, we are engaged with HHI to design and manufacture scaled production capabilities that will enhance our ability to create consistent specimens for testing.
Tetrahemp
Our systems-based approach to RD&E begins with the source of our technology’s raw material inputs. You can only create circularity if you know how the entire circle works. It was vital to our decision to continue developing zerø-frm that a thorough vetting of the regenerative capacity of our raw materials was paramount. In that vein, we have been very actively engaged with various entities in the agricultural community, especially farmers incorporating hemp into their crop rotation.
We are dedicated to developing the supply-chains early in our RD&E. It makes no sense to waste time, money, and resources on a technology that will never see the light of day due to inefficient, fragmented supply chains. The hemp industry in North America has had some fits and starts since it re-emergence in 2016. Farmers and the systems that support their efforts are starting to receive the attention they deserve. Companies are beginning to work with farmers to ensure that they are growing bioregionally appropriate strains of hemp in order to ensure that derivatives of the yield are feasible for the intended end use.
Tetrahemp is emerging as a vital entity in these efforts to improve the hemp growing and processing industry. Our engagement with Tetrahemp is promising to bolster RD&E by ensuring that we have anticipated and solved supply chain issues well before our first M.V.P. system is launched. The ability to provide robust and consistent markets for farmers to supply their hemp to will help ensure we have the necessary acreage planted for meeting future demand.
Current Needs
We are actively seeking funding to support the current phase of RD&E.
Our total fundraise is targeted at $250k. We are seeking partners interested in investing a minimum of $50k in this round. This funding will ensure that we can begin to onboard our wonderful hires who are waiting in the wings as well as ensuring that we can attain the materials and services we need to develop the templates and tools for our M.V.P. efforts.
We also are quite scrappy…so in-kind support is just as useful as cash.
We are actively looking for support in the form of shop/lab space (750-1,000 sq.ft.) in the Boulder, CO & San Diego, CA areas. A facility located near our university partner at CU Boulder will help to maximize our efforts.
Simultaneous to our fundraise, we are participating in several grant programs and competitions to augment the capital we raise. If you or an entity that you know of might be interested in partnering with us to apply for these grants, we’d love to hear from you. Send those inquiries to joshua@okomwrks.co. Or you can share this post with them by clicking the share buttons at the top of this post..
If you, or someone you know, might be interested in investing in okom wrks labs…please pass this along. Or, just reach out to us today!
Next edition:
The cadence of the newsletter will be bi-weekly with the occasional ad-hoc update. In our next edition we will update you on:
The results of our current lab efforts
New faces at okom wrks labs
Update on our partnerships currently underway and those we are targeting
Update on our M.V.P. Efforts
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
FOOTNOTES
1 Science and Innovation - Wood Processing - Eliminating the Waste. WORLD BOREAL SCIENCE & INNOVATION. Accessed May 6, 2021. http://www.borealforest.org/world/innova/processing.htm
2 Leblanc R. The Importance of Wood Recycling in C&D Management - Wood Recycling in the Construction Waste Stream. Small Business. Published November 26, 2018. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/wood-recycling-construction-2877760
3 https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/state-of-the-planet/overuse-of-resources-on-earth/story
4 https://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/MATERIAL%20RESOURCES,%20PRODUCTIVITY%20AND%20THE%20ENVIRONMENT_key%20findings.pdf
5 What’s Driving Deforestation? | Union of Concerned Scientists. Union of Concerned Scientists. Published February 8, 2016. Accessed April 2, 2021. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/whats-driving-deforestation
6 https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/10/21/2111627/0/en/Global-Construction-Materials-Market-to-Reach-1-5-Trillion-by-2027.html#:~:text=Amid%20the%20COVID%2D19%20crisis,the%20analysis%20period%202020%2D2027
7 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americas-4-27-billion-structural-insulated-panel-market-to-2028--301268925.html#:~:text=The%20Americas%20structural%20insulated%20panel,factors%20driving%20the%20market%20growth