Renovate With Bamboo Flooring And Do Your Bit For The Environment

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Despite the height to which it grows, Bamboo is not a tree but is in fact the largest member of the grass family. Bamboo has a well documented economic significance being a supple building material best known in the developed world as the raw material for bamboo flooring. However, due to the rate at which it grows (the fastest up to 4 feet per day and reaching maturity at 4-6yrs) it is also an extremely valuable carbon sink.

Like other plants, bamboo breathes in CO2 and exhales O2, consuming the C-carbon atom and converting it into plant matter through photosynthesis, thus storing the carbon in the plant. If the plant is left to die and decay, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere as CO2. However, should one harvest the bamboo and use it for construction purposes, then the carbon remains stored in the bamboo flooring, plywood, and poles. In this way, bamboo construction materials become a carbon capture and storage system. The same is true of any goods made from plant matter such as cotton clothing, timber furniture and paper. However, bamboo is by far the most efficient plant matter for carbon storage construction since it grows up to seven times the speed of ordinary trees. Furthermore, once it reaches a mature 4-6 years of growth bamboo can be harvested annually. In the same way as mowing a lawn will not kill it, but encourages it to grow - bamboo as a member of the grass family does not die when cut - unlike trees. In fact, a 2007 study documented that selective harvesting will actually increase the biomass yield by 20 times versus bamboo left to live and die within its natural lifecycle. Instead, it can be harvested up to 20% per year for construction materials without damaging the environment (clear-cutting, soil erosion, ecosystem disruption,) needing replanting or in any way reducing stock productivity or the carbon sequestration rate of the plantation. Bamboo products have a very long life span and may retain carbon for several decades.

The biomass properties of bamboo suggest its cultivation may also be able to play a significant role in linking climate change mitigation to sustainable economic development in the developing world, creating bamboo plantations for processing, jobs and wealth generation. Furthermore, unlike tree crop plantations which face intense criticism since half of the global deforestation and illegal logging is due to the harvesting of fuel wood, bamboo production for energy use may well make a significant contribution to energy requirements within the developing world. Utilization of renewable fuel from fast growing bamboo for example, has the potential to protect natural forest resources and conserve non-renewable fossil fuel such as coal, oil and gas. This would permit retention of carbon already contained within forests and fossil fuels.

So bamboo proves itself a worthy thought for the day. Anyone about to embark upon home renovations or a new build would be well advised to consider bamboo as a construction material thereby doing their bit for both the environment and the creation of wealth in developing countries. Bamboo flooring for example has a number of further advantages over other 'timber' flooring: It is flexible, meaning it does not warp or dent as easily; light in colour, it can be stained to suit any surrounding decor; bamboo is environmentally friendly!

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