Allison Walker, Your Home

A new foam insulation kind of looks like cauliflower, but it is actually a made of American-grown soy beans.

"It's a renewable resource. All the other foams use petroleum," said Andrew Tanner, president of Ecotechnologies, the developer of the spray foam.

Tanner said using the foam in your attic will slash your power bill.

"That will lower your air conditioning consumption by about 50 percent," Tanner said.

At the recent Southeast Building Conference in Orlando, Tanner compared the product to the pink fiberglass insulation many homeowners have grown up knowing.

At the conference, Tanner showed that the insulating powers of newspaper were not so good, and lots of air was getting through.

Tanner claimed since spray foam expands to 100 times its size, it can fit into the tiniest crevice, and works better.

So if he is right, why isn't it that popular yet?

"Spray foam, in general, is costly, so it's really a question of educating people for them to understand they have an up front cost investment, which will then lower the operating costs," Tanner explained.

Federal and state governments offer various rebates and tax credits to encourage the use of renewable energy.

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