This article first appeared in the January 2017
issue of Pro Remodeler.
A team of students and professors at a Mexican university has created a new roofing material from an unlikely source: the coconut.
Researchers mixed fiber from the fruit’s husk with a polyester resin to create “uniquely-shaped sheets of roofing,” according to a story in Mexico News Daily.
“Our product will provide a shelter from the elements from the get-go, but we plan in future design stages to add a thermal resistance element,” said Dr. José Ricardo Moreno Peña, the professor at the Institute of Technology of Colima who is in charge of the project.
The coconut fiber is readily available in the region and usually thrown away.