Kevin Surace invents eco-friendly drywall

[jzwartster]

I am the grEATEST DRYWALLER THAT HAS EVER LIVED. SHOW ME HOW THIS WORKS.

[jzwartster]

how do you install and finish? I am the greatest drywaller that has ever lived and i can prove it to you, I want to know how I can use these products in my next build or renovation.

[pookiehohn]

I don't get the end music thing...

[HPaillet]

The CO2 thing is non issue to me but in terms of environmental damage this drywall is truely helpful.

[FlameBlazers]

What is that horrible piece of "music" at the end!? It's unbelievable irritating to even listen to accidentally! White noise is better than that

[sarahbarnarddesign]

I find this product very interesting but I think we need a LOT more information...manufacturing in China always seems like a bad idea to me.

[HPaillet]

yes he talks about CO2 but what about the Chinese coal plant that comes on line everyday, and CO2 to ship it across the Pacific. I want American drywall!

[metalheadproduction]

was the bill gates thing a joke?

[dmix09]

i hope your windows are better quality than Vista.. i don't want my house to crash lol

[Paulluuk]

Don't listen to naysayers? Yeah, that's very convincing.

[lilp3t3rr]

he talksa fst =P

[ArxVirtus]

Yeah..just like a snake oil salesman. He's a typical flim-flam man.

Going to China for cheap labor and little regulation, then moving the product by ship across the Pacific.

[roidroid]

This new drywall tech could go well with the new carbon-NEGATIVE Concretes like that from companies like NovaChem, Calera, and Carbon Sense Solutions.

"Normally cement adds a net 0.4 tons of CO2 per ton of cement, but this new cement would remove 0.6 tons of CO2 from the air"

Use it all together and we can build all future buildings so that they actually absorb carbon, and end up carbon negative.

[marjan15]

This was not a lecture, it was cheap ad.

[lilp3t3rr]

lols yeah =]

[littleoutrage]

Not a lecture, a cheap ad, but for a solid product.

[ArxVirtus]

How much pollution is generated shipping this stuff from China to the US?

[BayerLexan]

You're not supposed to think about that. Sshhh!

Thought this is a good point, water transport is the most efficient method for mass shipment available. The problem is our (USA) heavy reliance on trucking products instead of trying to improve railway delivery.

[afthefragile]

Thats why he's building production plants in america i guess...!

[BayerLexan]

I didn't catch that in the video.

[afthefragile]

when he spoke about creating green collar jobs...

[ArxVirtus]

They built the factory in China. He said they did that because "we don't build this production equipment any longer in the US."

I know of several Industrial OEMs that build custom equipment and even worked for one. I wonder if this is just his way of justifying cheap China labor.

[JamesTheTank]

Price comparison?

[IslandHermit]

According to their web-site it sells for the same price as gypsum drywall.

[cjcrashoveride]

This stuff is a great idea but if it costs any more than regular sheet rock or mold resistant sheet rock then I doubt it will sell at all.

What construction company is gonna more money just to be green?

[Chavalierdeon]

what the hell was that?

[sab611]

I hate that 'wailing' at the end of TED videos and that horrible nerve changling noise at the start of some of them. TED can you change these?

[EyeRwra]

yeah lets create more jobs in china to fight nature made global warming.

[GaddingImp]

yeah, let's not be idiots like you

[funnyguise]

concrete from hemp, straw bale homes... there's so many other ways. they didn't need to go through all that work.

[mireah]

maybe so, but the fact that they tried to find more answers is a good thing. and tbh, there are lots of people that wouldnt buy a home made out of straw bales.

[GaddingImp]

you don't get it. sheet rock is one of the most widely used materials for building, that's why they targeted it. you should contact them if you really think you have things figured out.

[freesk8]

I'll bet his process is cheaper than regular drywall, and this is the best reason to use it. It's cheaper because it uses less energy, and energy is expensive.

I just hope he isn't lobbying to get special subsidies from the government/taxpayers because his business fits in to Obama's green rhetoric.

His business should stand or fall based on who profitable it is and how good it's products are, not how well it appeals to politicians.

[brian12934]

Well, if it was cheaper than regular drywall, then the free market would have already found it.

You think he's out here batting homers at random? Did you see all them chemists?

What are they gonna have to do to make this shit, sounds like an awful lot of man-hours.

[andymcgaha]

The market requires R&D, that's part of development of new products.

Cars were more expensive and less efficient than horses when they were first developed as well. It takes early adopters, funding and excitement to make new innovations commercially viable.

If they are honest when they say they are "building this stuff as fast as we can" (source 2:30 ) they are probably not so cost-inefficient as you may be reckoning.

How about that closing animation on TED videos? I like it. Really symbolic.

[freesk8]

So assuming it is more expensive, do you think they are depending on subsidies (corporate welfare) from the government and taxpayers in order to make their product competitive with gypsum wall board?

It might be that this IS the free market finding a cheaper way, and that the chemistry was not yet developed, or that the green impulse was what caused the interest, but that entrepreneurs still hope to make money selling it...

Lots of up-front investment can be recouped over time if they do well.

[brian12934]

He said that there hasn't been anything that has been new about drywall for 120 years. Are you telling me that through 120 years of work, we haven't found a cheaper way of making it.

Well, it seems to me that Mr. Surace hasn't found a cheaper supply either.

The law of obviousness tells you that.

[freesk8]

I'd say that anything that has been done the same way for 120 years is likely to get some innovation soon anyway. It is sort of "due."

And what is this "law of obviousness?"

Can you state it explicitly?

"If it looks like it is true, then it must be true?"

You have no real evidence that it is more or less costly a process than the traditional one.

[brian12934]

Their entire image is ENVIRONMENTAL. They flash it everywhere, ECOROCK!!!!

This is not cheap. It's not called Wallcheap, it's called Eco-rock.

The reason why the drywall process has stayed the same for 120 years is because the materials are abundant and it can be put together in a fair amount of time.

I don't know if it's true that it must be true but if it looks like it's false I'd watch myself.

[david0aloha]

The free market doesn't find things; people find things, and people are affected by norms, lack of information, mass psychology, etc.

[brian12934]

And those norms come purely from government. Where there is no government interference and a free market, innovation is more likely to occur.

You're right but you act like you're arguing with me. We mean the same thing!

[david0aloha]

No, I disagree that all norms come from government. Behavioural norms and influences are pervasive through out our culture, stemming not just from government, but from media, advertising, community, culture/tradition, environment, etc.

The thing about most free market economic theories is that they are based upon perfect rationality. People are not perfectly rational by any means, and TED has a great video by Dan Ariely where he explains why he thinks people are mostly irrational.

[david0aloha]

For the most part I think you're right on the innovation bit, but sometimes people need a little nudging or extra support to make it happen. For example, one of the consequences of our system is that research into areas such as nutrition from natural sources has been grossly underfunded compared to pharmaceutical development (with evidence pointing to the fact that many of our current common "diseases" that pharmaceuticals are made to treat being nutrition/lifestyle based).

[7DavidKim]

Why China again?

[javierenchina]

green collar jobs? nice phrase

[malcolmbryant]

Fantastic product but...

...at 118 "We don't build this production equipment any longer in the US unfortunately"

And how much CO2 will we expend SHIPPING the product to the US and Europe? We've got to look harder at local manufacturing to keep down transportation costs and knock-on effects. Long-term thinking needed as well as research inf=genuity.

[Saktoth]

Shipping this stuff in containers is more effecient than driving around the world 6 times. ;)

[cosy18]

damn short

[supajive]

i hope this stuff is cheaper than regular drywall.

[phnixlady]

Aw, I thought this was another video about the McDonald's hamburger buns!

[dj99surf]

it went too fast. not enough info on the process of the drywall.

[zappyhod]

Or you could consider the Jefferey Dahmer dry-wall material...."DEAD PEOPLE".

[QueenBALL3R]

NO, SHOW ME THE WINDOWS NOW!!!

[JustinHSabaj]

yeah!

[747dog]

...China huh... You think we do not know about all the Poisonious Drywall china shipped worldwide?..

[brian12934]

That's bullshit manipulation. Green collar jobs can not cure the economy. For each green collar job created, that represents 2 or 3 (probably much higher) jobs lost in the private sector.

Stupid lies people tell...

[naliuj]

want to back up that statement or is it just more Stupid lies?

[sergiolopezOU]

You got me curious, can you cite your sources or explain your rationale?

[brian12934]

Obviously green collar jobs do not come out of the private sector naturally, only by interference from the government. If this eco-Drywall was cheaper than the drywall we use today, the free market would already use it.

What happens is, the productivity stays the same in the country (or even declines), meanwhile more and more people who would be otherwise unemployed or productively employed just eat up more of the pie, driving prices up.

500 electronics but now 800 people want it. Uh oh!

[sergiolopezOU]

Look, just because you say that something is obvious doesn't make it so, you need to tell where you get your info (wikipedia?). Also. I concede that your argument makes sense in a world where all resources are limitless. We are consuming our natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, at a faster rate that the Earth is able to restore them (evidence: deforestation, oil shortages, famine and malnutrition). this will eventually lead to green-collar jobs by necessity.

Sources and evidence.

[peterbundy84]

lol, what kind of statistic is that?

[sergiolopezOU]

Well see, here is the problem: You are making a claim that I find hard to believe. Our population has increased exponentially, we cover a lot more ground than in the 1930's, and our demand for natural resources has definitely not decreased. Cite the article, peer reviewed journal, newspaper clip or whatever source you heard this from and I will believe it. Also, it is rather hard to regard someone's opinion as accurate when they don't know the difference between "your" and "you're".

[humanist7117]

moot?

[int3rl0per]

How is he "evidence" of deforestation? And who is this "is mute"?

Perhaps you meant to say "your "evidence" of deforestation is moot". It's pretty damn sad that foreigners have to tell you yanks how to write your own language.

[tenisplayer]

what? were do you get that data

[Andrewticus04]

The commercial at the end always blows my mind.

[edwar666]

cool

[MiranUT]

One word: hemp.

The USA is the only country without a commerical hemp industry. Hmmmm.

[dakotamorgany106]

quite

[EchoInfinity]

And with this, we can rule ze world!!