Why Bamboo?

What exactly is bamboo?

Bamboo is a subfamily of the grass family and is the fastest growing plant on the planet. It can be harvested in only 3-5 years versus 10-20 years of most soft wood trees. It can out yield pine 6 to 1 in biomass production. And it is also one of the strongest building materials with a tensile strength of 28,000 psi. To help give you an idea how much this is, mild steel measures 23,000 psi.

Bamboo can be eaten (new shoots), made into fiber for clothing, it can be used in concrete reinforcement, in can provide great livestock feed with the foliage being up to 22% protein, it can be machined into numerous forms of lumber, etc. There are thousands of ways bamboo is used, falling under categories such as housing, food, medicine, landscaping, and furniture.

Bamboo can also help with erosion and can tolerate extreme conditions most plants can’t. There are thousands of acres of bamboo just in China alone and dates back over 3000 years. It is one of the most important plants in history.

Why choose Bamboo?

Bamboo is an excellent alternative to standard trees and is one of the best ways to help our environment. A grove of bamboo produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent amount of trees, which helps fight global warming and reduce our carbon footprint. It plays an important role in protecting our planet from pollution and improving the soil. Bamboo helps avoid fossil fuel use, and reduce deforestation, by offering an alternative, highly renewable source of biomass energy.

With its short growth cycle and high carbon dioxide exchange rate it makes and excellent replacement for trees. A grove of bamboo sends up new shoots every year and new shoots reach their full size within only a couple months. Bamboo is the better choice than other wood planks for many reasons.

 Whether it is strength, eco-friendliness, water resistibility, price, soil protection, or its role in affecting air quality, bamboo is superior to wood.