91–100 of 108 posts
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Sea freight is remarkably cheap.
But not too ideal when it comes to air pollution and CO2. Would require comparisions with more local wood transported over land and/or river though to make factual statements about it I guess.
1. Supply of the good stuff is limited. There are thousands of species of bamboo, but only a handful are good for creating traditional buildings and other highly valuable commercial products. Bamboo forests make up about 3-4% of total forest cover (30-40mil ha), and the majority of it is in India and China, which means western access to the fiber is limited, and access to the really valuable fiber, is even more limited. 2. Knowledge diffusion has been limited. Because of Bamboo's geography, its mainly used in the east, and is often seen as a "poor man's" timber... an unfortuante stereotype we are trying to get around. Also, if you ask anyone what they think about bamboo in the west, they will invariably say something like "oh, we had bamboo in our backyard and we just couldn't get rid of it!!" Running bamboo, different than clumping bamboo, are more common in the temperate countries in the west and give the fiber a reputation for being rather frustrating... 3. Western timber companies create very tall barriers to entry. Companies like Weyerhaueser are massive... they, unfortunately, could rather easily shut down a budding bamboo plantation.
For all intents and purposes, bamboo is a cottage industry in most western countries. Yes, the bamboo utensils, plates, and high-end flooring are cool, but until there is a truly amazing commercial opportunity for us to showcase bamboo fiber's quite amazing properties (tensile and flexural strength in particular), timber will always be cheaper, and easier.
Now, why I think the tides may change for bamboo (particularly the Guadua, Dendrocalamus Asper, Bambusa Bambos and Textilis species).
1. Bamboo is much better than wood at sequestering carbon. over the past year, I, and a team of researchers, have undertaken a life cycle comparison of wood and bamboo's carbon sequestration effectiveness when productizing the fiber. The results were astounding and were somewhat unexpected. Bamboo's incredibly short time to maturity (6-7 years) and annual growth dynamics make it a far better sequestration engine than wood, which normally takes between 25 and 70 years. It also turns out that clear-cutting, the most popular form of harvesting wood fiber, is actually rather catastrophic for carbon flowing from growth to captured in product. In fact, on average only about 35% of the carbon that a tree stand captures makes it into a product (pulp, osb, paper, etc). Bamboo is never clear cut, because it grows rhizomally (its technically a grass). And therefore keeps a much higher amount of the carbon sequestered when being harvested and productized. The world seems to be somewhat waking up to the threat of climate change (unfortunately our president is still asleep)... we hope bamboo might be able to ride some of those tailwinds into becoming a more mainstream fiber source. There are also a few reforestation projects worldwide that contemplate bamboo projects.
2. There are smart people working on making bamboo fiber more popular. Besides BamCore, there have popped up a bunch of different bamboo-based companies in the US, and there are 100,000s of acres of bamboo being planted currently in Alabama by a company called Resource Fiber.
3. bamboo tech is improving rapidly. BamCore has developed a few different patented processes to make the bamboo stem into walls. Other companies are working on composites that would be as light as carbon fiber and completely bullet proof. The knowledge of how to use the fiber is still so young compared to wood, the only way to go is up.
4. Building and energy laws are going green fast. California and other states are adopting very green policy goals over the coming decades. BamCore's prefab wall system is already code commpliant, and the bamboo's natural thermal, air transmissivity, acoustic, tensile, compressive, flexural (etc etc) make it fit well with the goals of policy makers.
But, we shall see how it all pans out.
Resources: https://bamcore.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BamCore-and-G... https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/ne_gtr343.pdf https://bamcore.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/attachment-1....
The list of uses is missing the best one: clothing! Bamboo fabric is very soft and comfortable, if you haven't tried it yet you should! Downside: it doesn't last as long as cotton, and takes a bit longer to dry after washing.
It's also missing scaffolding. Bamboo is often used to make construction scaffolding in areas where it is abundant.
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Flooring - first it's cut into strips, then boiled in a solution to remove the starchy compounds, then dried and pressed, then planed down for a lamination process, laminated (using typically more epoxy than other lumber-based laminates), then cut into the final form for the end user. Bamboo is a grass, and it's hollow - it neither looks nor handles like real lumber. It's often touted as a "greener" alternative to lu…
I would love to see a website where I could just enter two alternatives and get the greener one. I find it hard to make any decision these days. Should I buy tomatoes in a can a paper+plastic container? Fish sauce from Thailand in a glass or plastic bottle? Should I buy a small item in a nearby shop or drive somewhere a buy bigger packs. Someone should solve it for me.
This is not a metric. It pretty much a religious word. So it depends on what you pray to.
Do you want a world where less animals die or a world where the current (realistically for a 3000+ years, man influenced anyway) environment changes least. Are mammals more important? Extinctions matter more than size of land? Deserts matter? Man made green environments count?
Are your happy to kill poor (mostly black and yellow) people for this goal? I guess yes. They are not usually in the definition green, although they are mammals and their babies are cute.
Often with the green religion comes the other religions like is it msg free? I wouldn't want to run the web site, people would be annoying. Gluten free this blah blah
Like jopsen says just use less resources by using cheap as an adequate proxy and invest $ directly in your particular religion. It will let you be specific to your brand.
Bamboo isn't going to replace lumber for most permanent uses, but it sure is handy when you need to put something together in a pinch. I was once trekking in northern Thailand with some Akha hill tribe guides. When it was time for dinner, they cut down a large bamboo and within minutes fashioned essentially a complete dinner service out of it: * A framework for their overnight hut/lean-to * A pot for boiling rice * A…
- banana leaves as table cloths and food wraps - bamboo for temporary structures, tools, and toys - palm fronds (or something similar) as rope/packaging
It's also really fast to regrow, so it's super renewable.
Here in the US, it's mostly used as a wood alternative (desks, flooring, etc), but it's so much more versatile than that.
I feel that a lot of concern about replacing wood is misplaced or fails to properly differentiate between different species of wood harvested in different locations. America has a mix of forests for nature preservation, recreation, and lumber production. The latter are very well managed, with loggers very careful to replace all the trees they remove with saplings so their sons and daughters have something to harvest…
What part of the states do you live in? Lumber in the three states in my area is harvested in a completely unsustainable manner. Loggers will purchase the rights to log from farmers, and clear-cut every single piece of whatever is popular at the moment (black walnut right now, Ash and Maple in the 90's). No plan to replant, other than if nature itself makes a recovery.
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I'd buy them, but it would have to be a set for £25, and on sale during one of the 100 sales they have each year. Side Note: I don't know why they haven't made their way stateside, they are one of my favorite department stores. Always clean, friendly staff, toilets are impeccable (though that might just be a British thing).
John Lewis? It's insanely expensive and the variety of products is risible. I remember looking at the pans and the fans this summer. There were more options above £100 than below. There was hardly anything basic and certainly not at a basic price. When my vacuum cleaner died last year, I went to look for another one and they didn't have any except Dyson and its luxury competitors.
I don't think 'JL has more pans above £100 than below' is any more valid a complaint than 'Target has more pans below $100 than above'.
(I've been to a Target once, sorry if that's not accurate, but I'm sure you see what I mean and can substitute something that is!)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
John Lewis? It's insanely expensive and the variety of products is risible. I remember looking at the pans and the fans this summer. There were more options above £100 than below. There was hardly anything basic and certainly not at a basic price. When my vacuum cleaner died last year, I went to look for another one and they didn't have any except Dyson and its luxury competitors.
It's often cheaper than Amazon for the market segment it serves. I don't think 'JL has more pans above £100 than below' is any more valid a complaint than 'Target has more pans below $100 than above'. (I've been to a Target once, sorry if that's not accurate, but I'm sure you see what I mean and can substitute something that is!)
Going there a few times only to find nothing and have to buy on Amazon. Ain't going again.
IMO they're ignoring a big market segment and they are missing out on customers. Maybe it works out in the city and canary wharf but I doubt it would fare well in the less affluent countryside.
Bamboo isn't going to replace lumber for most permanent uses, but it sure is handy when you need to put something together in a pinch. I was once trekking in northern Thailand with some Akha hill tribe guides. When it was time for dinner, they cut down a large bamboo and within minutes fashioned essentially a complete dinner service out of it: * A framework for their overnight hut/lean-to * A pot for boiling rice * A…
The list of uses is missing the best one: clothing! Bamboo fabric is very soft and comfortable, if you haven't tried it yet you should! Downside: it doesn't last as long as cotton, and takes a bit longer to dry after washing.
There is also the closed-loop process that reuses most of the chemicals and that material is called lyocell (branded TENCEL®), but I don't think most people who purchase clothing with bamboo cloth know the difference and I believe it has to be expressly labeled as such.