GreenFlip

The last few years have seen big changes in how people decorate their outdoor living spaces. Furniture designs keep improving, color schemes keep becoming more varied, and tech products keep becoming more affordable. One area that’s really been growing is using bamboo in outdoor décor. A sustainable, eco-friendly product, bamboo has many applications and can help create a unique look in any outdoor space. Here are some of the latest uses for it:

Furniture

When it comes to wood outdoor furniture, so much of it looks the same with the exception of the finish. With bamboo, you get something that’s truly different. Its round shape with clean lines is perfect for getting a modern look while retaining an Eastern or even tropical feel. It’s also one of the strongest wood plants on Earth, so your furniture will last for years with proper maintenance. Tables, chairs, benches, bars – there’s truly no limit to the bamboo furniture options out there.

Fencing

Going with a bamboo fence has become a popular option for those looking to make their home as green as possible, as you eliminate all the harvesting of trees that goes along with a traditional fence. While it’s a lightweight material, the strength of it makes it supremely durable, so damage from high winds or storms is a non-issue. It’s a great way to set your home apart from all the others with those same, boring wood designs, whether you se it as a high privacy fence or just something short to line the front yard.

Shaded Area

A covered area of some sort is key to having a great outdoor living space, as it lets you still enjoy the area no matter what the weather’s doing. One trend gaining steam is using bamboo in your covered area. Some homeowners are opting to have the whole thing constructed of bamboo, giving it almost the feel of being on an island resort, while others are covering the inside of the shelter roof with bamboo, making a much more appealing look than the drab wood or metal that’s up there. Whatever your preference is, it’s definitely worth looking into for a new home or remodeling job.

Accessories

The little things are what tie any room, indoors or out, together, and that’s another area where bamboo is really shining. All sorts of outdoor accessories, from fountains to planters to wind chimes, are now coming in bamboo designs. As we’ve said before, the light weight and strong nature of bamboo makes it ideal to use, as it’ll look good for years with minimal maintenance.

With all the advantages of bamboo, from its strength to its good looks to its eco-friendly nature, it’s easy to see why it’s becoming so popular in outdoor décor today. Try adding some bamboo features to your outdoor living space – your friends and neighbors are sure to be impressed!

About The Author – Tina Foreman is a writer with Outdoor Living and a green design enthusiast, specializing in outdoor remodeling projects. For more info, you can write to her at tina.foreman999@gmail.com

Concept

A house designed as a showcase to promote bamboo as sustainable building material, must be unusual and eye-catching.
Bamboo has been used for making everything from kitchenware to buildings for thousands of years in most Asian countries. Among the many beautiful methods of treating bamboo, highly sophisticated weaving techniques have been developed. Woven house is an attempt to take this tradition and use it in modern architecture and in a much larger scale than anyone have ever seen before. Birds are using weaving for making their nest from materials in their habitats.
Using the unique flexibility and strength of bamboo for weaving a vacation house, that appears futuristic and dynamic and gives a unique architectural experience, where walls, floors and ceiling is one continuously surface, that also can be shaped into sitting areas and shelves.
The woven bamboo surface can be a closed surface or semi-open to light.

Location

Can be anywhere, but most importantly on a site where Bamboo is growing, so less transport is needed,
meaning less impact on nature, and in an area where there is a tradition of weaving bamboo.

Construction

Heat shaped construction bamboo is used for making the framework of the building.
Roof is covered with bamboo shingles. Internal walls, floor and ceiling is woven bamboo.

India has huge natural bamboo stocks that have been an integral part of Indian culture for many millennia. Bamboo in many ways is the mainstay of the rural Indian economy, sparking considerable social and ecological spin-offs. In the early part of the century, large tracts of bamboo occurred in many parts of the country but were treated by forestry sector (which was then cast in a production forestry mode) as a weed of little economic value and were used mostly by the rural communities for crafts, making implements and as housing material. It was the discovery of bamboo as a source of long-fibre by the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun that started the process of using bamboo in a variety of industrial applications, so far unexplored, with several paper mills and rayon mills being set up. But in the absence of a clear policy of husbanding of the resource there was rapid degradation and decimation of the resource in much of the country. Bamboo resources plummeted so alarmingly that at present the resource is limited to few pockets in the country. Two-thirds of the bamboo in the country is restricted to the North-Eastern Region (NER) while the remaining one-third is spread across the country.

But there is hope for the resurgence of bamboo, and this is based on evidence of significant new and contemporary economic opportunities that have emerged over the past decade. A bamboo revolution that holds the potential of reversing economic downturns and ensuring profitability, is very much possible.  Bamboo is an untapped avenue of economic growth and a burgeoning bamboo sector can rope in prosperity, profits, and sustainable livelihoods.

 Despite the severe degradation of the resource in the past, India still has a considerable growing stock of bamboo, and comparative annual harvest figures[1] still place India at the top of the global league. It is important to realize the considerable latent potential that bamboo has to contribute to economic growth, poverty alleviation, generating employment, rehabilitating vast tracts of degraded land generated due to past agricultural and industrial practices and policies, and revitalizing the social, economic and ecological well-being of rural economies.

 In line with this, goals should be aimed to focus on recovering the resource lost to the rural poor, as it has been a natural capital that has helped them to keep their economies afloat even in times of significant cash crunches. Attempts should be made to replenish bamboo stocks, make it economically beneficial to rural communities in a way that it provides them opportunities to earn a sustainable income and improve their standard of living. Efforts should also be made to increase the economic opportunity from the use of bamboo as an industrial raw material, to raise employment opportunities (especially for the educated and unemployed rural youth), and to rehabilitate the degraded lands across the country (making available and productive a natural resource which is increasingly becoming scarce and expensive).

  DEMAND DRIVEN SCENARIOS

 As per the statistics available from the FAO, approximately 678,000 cubic meters of round wood logs were imported into India in 1997. The import quantity has gone up since then. According to the latest estimates available, the volume of logs imported was about 1.4 million cubic meters in 1998-1999. It is estimated that this figure would be around 2.0 million cubic meters for 1999-2000.

 The sawn wood and panels import, which was about 57,000 cubic meters, also would have gone up considerably, though no reliable figures are available. Although timber is normally obtained from government forests, community lands and private lands, the national timber production statistics report only timber extracted from government forests. These statistics indicate an increase in demand for wood even as there has been a decrease in the production of timber from government forests. The recorded production of timber accounts for less than half of the industrial wood demand in India.

 Each of the value-added industries that have been identified in the table above would pursue a growth rate based on the demand for the products. The demand, in turn, would be based on the increased acceptability of the products in the international and domestic markets. The demand will be a function of:

• 1. Increase in the cost of substitute materials such as wood, steel and other building materials
• 2. Recognition of the high durability of bamboo-based materials
• 3. Community appreciation of bamboo as a sustainable livelihood crop and their increased acceptance of the same

4. Mass usage of bamboo in government projects like housing and roads

5. Acceptance of bamboo as a material for flooring and furniture making as well as a food item among the higher income groups

From the year 2010 to 2015, the growth in the bamboo industry should be starting to acquire a definite contour. While the focus in the foundation years was on the industries that were already using bamboo as a raw material – the paper industry and handicrafts – and setting up the infrastructure and investment in new industries, the emphasis in this stage will be on the shift from lower value-added applications to higher value-added ones – bamboo board, flooring and bamboo shoot for example. This stage will mark the transformation of bamboo from a mere forest produce to a commercial commodity.

Bamboo charcoal and active carbon are new products developed in recent years. Bamboo being of special microstructure possesses extreme absorbing and other special capacities after carbonization. Their uses in the areas of new technology are of importance. 

 Variety of Bamboo Charcoal: There are many kinds of bamboo charcoal. In line with their origin, bamboo charcoal can be divided into two parts: raw bamboo charcoal and charcoal stick of chips. Raw bamboo charcoal is made of small sized bamboo, old bamboo, and bamboo tops, roots, which are not fit for making other bamboo products. Charcoal stick of chips is made of residue from bamboo processing industries. In the process of making different kinds of industrialized products, there will be residue, which should be broken in chips, dried, and pressed into sticks before carbonization.

 Charcoals are of different shapes: cylinders, pieces, chips and powder. In line with the temperature of carbonization charcoals can be divided into three groups: charcoal of low, medium and high temperature. Physical and mechanical properties of charcoal differ due to different temperature of carbonization. Charcoal for regulating humidity is made at temperature of 600 degrees Celsius, that for absorbing is at 700 – 800 degrees Celsius, and for higher electric conductivity is higher than 1000 degrees Celsius. According to their uses charcoal is defined as fuel, water purifier, for cooking, for improving soil, for regulating room humidity, for preservation of vegetables, fruits and flowers, for deodorizing, for conducting electricity etc.

Process of making bamboo charcoal

Bamboo is an organic matter with high polymer content, composed of cells of different shapes and properties. The process of making bamboo charcoal is the process of heating and resolution, which can be divided into four stages according to the change in temperature, show in the adjoining table.

Methods of Charcoal making: There are two different methods of charcoal making: dry distillation (pyrogenic decomposition), and direct kiln burning.

 The main equipment for pyrogenic decomposition is a cauldron for distillation. Bamboo material should be pre-dried to decrease the water content to +/- 20% before loading into the cauldron for pyrogenic decomposition. The mixed steam gas is to be processed in jar-separator and in condenser for retrieving bamboo vinegar liquid and bamboo tar. In this process, the oxidation of bamboo material is lower, and the rate of production is higher.

In the process of direct kiln burning, the heat resulting from fuel burning curls up to the top of the kiln and spreads in the kiln. Most of the heat moves about in the upper part of the kiln, the rest of it radiates on all sides, step by step goes down to dry and pre-carbonize the bamboo material. In the process of carbonization, a small part of bamboo material is being oxidized and burnt, raising the temperature in the kiln and removing volatile matter. The smoke and steam moves in circles, and regulating the temperature in the kiln. Thus the canonization and refining process is complete producing bamboo charcoal fine and close in texture. In this process the bamboo material undergoes stages of pre-drying, drying, pre-carbonizing, carbonizing, refining and natural cooling. The temperature differs in different stages. The temperature of refining stage influences the density and electric conductivity of charcoal greatly. The rate of production through this method is low and the quality of charcoal is not stable.

Utility

1. Bamboo Charcoal: Bamboo charcoal is used as water purifier (drinking water, sewage and industrial water treatment), air purifier, medical applications, deodorizing agent, soil improvement, etc

Bamboo Active Carbon: Bamboo active carbon can be used for water and gas treatment, refining coarse sugar, refining wines and edible oils, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic applications, filters in atomic reactors, improving soil through nitrogen fixation, as electrodes in microelectronic technology, etc.

Charcoal is next only to firewood in terms of meeting the energy needs of rural communities. The decreasing availability of wood and the greater need for its sustainable use necessitate the use of alternative sources of energy. Bamboo charcoal is one such source. It has a high calorific value and can be produced using simple equipment that can be made locally. Honeycomb briquettes extruded using powdered bamboo charcoal (calorific value of 26-29 MJ/kg) and the producer gas generated during char production (average calorific value 4,520 kJ/nm3) is both good sources of energy. In one hour, a thermal gassifier can produce 100 kg of charcoal from 400 kg or bamboo. Therefore, in 24 hours, 2.5 tons of charcoal can be produced from about 10 tons of bamboo. This translates into an annual production of 625 tons of charcoal using 2,500 tons of bamboo, assuming 250 days of operation. A supply chain set up to service this scale of production would financially benefit a large number of producers, while reducing deforestation and increasing energy security.

The main raw material for the production of bamboo ply/mat board is bamboo, which is the fastest growing plant and occurs naturally in the forests and is also suitable for plantation even over degraded lands. For manufacturing boards, bamboo is to be converted into mats. The sheets have been found to be resistant to water, fire, decay, termites, insects, etc.[1]

The manufacturing process consists of the following:

1. Procurement of bamboo slivers in mat form from the farmers. Mats are woven from bamboo slivers.  Mostly women in rural or tribal areas do the weaving manually, as part time vocation to supplement family income.  From split bamboo epidermal layer is removed and slivers of thickness ranging from 0.6mm to 1.8 mm are made and dried in air to moisture content of around 15%.  Three types of mats are required for the ply board (normally a couple of cms longer and wider than the size of the finished ply board)

2. The mats are dried to a moisture level not exceeding 15%

3. Bamboo mats are dipped in modified phenol formaldehyde resin mixed with a preservative to increase resistance to termite and decay.  Resin coated mats are dried to a moisture content of around 10% in steam heated drying tunnels.

4. Dried resin coated mats are assembled in 10 to 15 plies and hot pressed to produce bamboo mat ply board of desired thickness. The mats are assembled in a manner that cross layers are on top and bottom while the longitudinal and transverse mats alternate till the desired thickness.

5. This combination is now pasted on either side with resin coated impregnated paper or wood veneer as desired.

6.  The composite is now pressed in hot press for half an hour to the required thickness.

7.  The ply board is now ready to be trimmed from the edges to the required dimension using rotary cutters.

8. After trimming the edges the ply board is inspected for dimensions, thickness, surface finish and sent for packing.

Market Size: Factory-produced, these bamboo boards represent a significant new market for rural bamboo producers. Wafer board and OSB are widely used in the US and Canada, with 95% houses being made of these. Bamboo is an ideal raw material for the production of wafer board and OSB due to its strength and dimensional stability. The price of wafer board/OSB made of bamboo is approximately US$8/ft3, which is equivalent to US$0.40/ft2 approx. of 15 mm thick boards – approximately half the cost of treated wood boards of same dimensions. Technology has been developed to produce roofing sheets from wafer board that also insulate thermally, which makes it a very competitive product as against those from bamboo mat board, which has failed to impact the market owing to high prices.