A Filipino scientist says he has created a new composite building board made of chicken feathers that could be a breakthrough for the construction industry in Asia.
The new material would be resistant to the region’s armies of termites, and could also solve a big environmental problem in the Philippines by providing a way to dispose of millions of kilos of waste feathers each year.
The research done by University of the Philippines professor Menandro Acda, which is funded by the Ford Conservation and Environmental Grants program, is being heralded as economically and environmentally sound.
Professor Acda said the material, made from a blend of compressed cement and chicken feathers, could be widely used for housing, replacing boards now made with woodchips.
The composite boards were ”resistant to insect infestation such as termites because the feathers are inedible”, he said.
”They are also not as flammable or combustible as conventional cement and wood-fibre composite boards.”
Photo by bugdog.
CD Junior on August 5th, 2008 at 10:24 am
But there is a huge problem with using bird feathers as a construction material because they could be contaminated with Plague level viruses. Just imagine having to torch an entire city because there was a possibility that the H51 VIrus was present in the construction materials. Interesting idea but not practical.
cassy on August 6th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Interesting! But if the feathers have this Plague virus, as what CD Junior say, the inventor should research more about his product.