News Release page 5 •
Bamboo Technologies • Bamboo Living Homes
1156 Makawao Ave, Makawao HI 96768 • (808) 572-1007 • Contact: Robert Henrikson
www.bambooliving.com • www.bambootechnologies.com • email: bamboo@bambootechnologies.com
About Bamboo, the Giant Grass
Bamboo ecosystem. A dense, evergreen bamboo forest is a peaceful and magical place. As the wind bends the flexible bamboo, the poles clack and the leaves whisper. Bamboo has inspired human beings for millenia.
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Bamboo is not a tree, it is a giant grass. Some species grow four feet in one day! Bamboo reaches full height in one growth spurt of about two months. When bamboo is harvested, the root system is unharmed and healthy, ready to produce more shoots, just like a grass lawn.
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1500 varieties. Bamboo grows naturally in the tropical world extending to temperate climates. Running bamboo spreads underground and pops up like a weed. Clumping bamboo is preferred because it remains in the area it is planted. 5000 uses. For thousands of years, bamboo has benefited people in Asia, Africa, South America: building materials with the strength of steel, furniture, weapons (first rocket was a bamboo tube stuffed with gunpowder), writing and musical instruments, fuel, food, medical products.
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| Bamboo for building. Some grows so large it is called timber bamboo- 120 feet high and 13" diameter. Thick bamboo poles are 2-3 times stronger than comparable size of wood timber. It's a renewable resource for housing, flooring, paneling, fencing and more. In the tropics, it's possible to grow your own home. In Costa Rica, 1000 bamboo houses have been built annually from a 60 hectare (150 acre) plantation. |
Bamboo's Role in Environmental Restoration
Our biosphere is suffering from resource depletion, habitat loss, species extinction and ecosystem pollution, suggesting sustainability is not enough. Architects and developers can now choose materials and systems that have a restorative effect on the environment. Bamboo can play a key role.
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Bamboo is the fastest growing plant.
It produces greater biomass and 30% more oxygen than a hardwood forest on the same area, while improving watersheds, preventing erosion, restoring soil, providing sweet edible shoots and removing toxins from contaminated soil. Bamboo produces structural beams, flooring, wall paneling, fencing and many more sustainable by-products of environmental restoration.
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Bamboo timber can be harvested every year after 7 years, compared to 30-50 years for trees. With 10-30% annual increase in biomass versus 2-5% for trees, bamboo can yield 20 times more timber than trees on the same area. Bamboo can be selectively harvested annually and regenerates without replanting.
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Bamboo generates 30% more oxygen than trees. It helps reduce carbon dioxide gases blamed for global warming. Some bamboo sequesters up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare per year.
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Bamboo is a natural water control barrier. Because of its large root system and canopy, bamboo greatly reduces rain run off, prevents massive soil erosion and keeps twice as much water in the watershed.
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Bamboo can restore degraded lands. It is a pioneering plant and can be grown in soil damaged by overgrazing and poor agriculture. Proper harvesting does not kill the bamboo plant, so topsoil is held in place. Because of its dense litter on the forest floor it feeds topsoil, restoring healthy agricultural lands.
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