GreenFlip

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.

By: Dr. Zakaria Siddiqui, Research Associate, J-PAL South Asia [With Joel Ruet, 2009, in J. Lesourne and W.C.Ramsay (eds) "Energy in India's future:Insights" IFRI, Paris]

Beyond India’s vast field of macroeconomics with their already sizeable concerns, lies a sea of variegated microeconomic issues: public/private coordination issues, locales, urban and rural specificities linked to poverty alleviation, regional variations, and particular dynamism of some firms which have already gone global and are inventing new business models. This paper shows that energy is no exception; contrary this subject has economic as well as political implications par excellence, and concerns macro as well macro levels. It exemplifies the complexities, progress and contradictions of the country, and its continuing national and social construction.

 Given India’s increasing growth rates and catching-up processes, and given its demographic dynamics, India is now shaping its own models (business, urban forms, adoption/development of technology) for the next decades.

 ———-

 In Hinduism, the goddess Shakti is associated with creative energy as well as motion. This idea is in line with the recompositions and inventiveness one sees in India. This image, thought belongs to the Hindu Pantheon, has been in fact rather “secularized” and its use here should be seen in this sense. Less of a religious symbol in contemporary India, Shakti has largely become a symbol of the state: Shakti Bhawan—literally the house of energy—is the official lnme by which every Indian knows the Ministry of Power and its Bureau of Energy Efficiency in Hindi, the second official language of India with English.

Read the Full Paper HERE.

Guest Post by: Pankaj Lal, University of Florida

Bioenergy production has increased significantly in the last decade, and recent legislative efforts in U.S. such as the discussion draft for the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 are expected to encourage even more growth. In the quest for energy sources to meet higher energy demand, the policy push for renewable energy, including woody biomass, is gaining momentum. Several other factors are also catapulting woody biomass use for energy. These include growing concerns about energy security and dependence on foreign oil, uncertainty associated with costs for fossil fuels such as petroleum, the possibility to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk, and the potential to provide socio-economic benefits in the form of additional income from forestlands and new jobs.

Historically, woody biomass used for energy was comprised of waste from the production of lumber, pulp and paper, and other wood products. However, if bioenergy markets become competitive, use of woody biomass from logging residues, stands damaged by natural disturbances such as wildfire, pest outbreaks, storms, small diameter trees from thinning, plantations and other forests, and energy crops such as eucalyptus and poplar is quite possible. Biofuels from woody biomass, commonly called cellulosic or second generation fuels are shown to have advantages over starch-based fuels (corn ethanol for example) by avoiding the food versus fuel debate, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and yielding greater energy input-output ratio. However, several complex issues are influencing the development of these markets in economically efficient and environmentally benign ways. Some of the key issues that stand out are: biomass availability or supply; technology and market competitiveness; monetizing environmental benefits; soil, water and biodiversity impacts and  the uncertainty regarding interplay of carbon markets and  forest bioenergy.

Large variance in biomass supply estimates makes informed policy making difficult.  The available wood biomass supply information is, perhaps, essential to policymakers who establish renewable energy goals and formulate subsidies, credits, trade tariffs, and other interventions to realize those goals. On the bioenergy technology front, there is no emergent favorite technology.  Several technologies exist for converting wood biomass to liquid fuels, biopower, and bioproducts. While all technologies are proven to be possible, most of them are not yet economically competitive. Even for supposedly low hanging fruit in the country such as cofiring, there are significant challenges such as ash deposition, corrosion, and feedstock selection. Pubic research dollars are exploring all these technologies further in hopes of commercial success.

Another challenge seems to be the method of green accounting or integrated accounting, wherein social and environmental benefits accruing from woody bioenergy can be incorporated for unit cost analysis. This suggestion is consistent with findings that the public is willing to pay a premium for bioenergy to realize environmental benefits. This accounting approach can help in monetizing the benefits gained through GHG reduction. However, convincing general populace about non-market benefits and accounting still requires concerted efforts.

It is also imperative required that what woody biomass based energy should be sustainable. Bioenergy sustainability concerns regarding soil and water quality, biodiversity etc. range stand true for the whole supply chain — feedstock production, harvesting, transport, conversion, distribution, consumption, waste disposal– as well as those regarding job creation and societal benefit distribution. Several organizations at state (Forestry Departments for example), national (Environmental Protection Agency), and international (Global Bio-Energy Partnership and Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels) are trying to develop guidelines and/or standards to ensure the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of bioenergy markets.

 Another factor that influences the bioenergy-GHG emission relationship is the impact of payment for carbon offsets as an incentive for GHG reduction. Carbon offsets are project-based initiatives involving specific activities to reduce, avoid or sequester GHG emissions and are tradable in carbon markets. With a carbon market proposed in future as per provisions of Waxman Markey Bill, it is hypothesized that forest owners can gain carbon credits through ‘additional’ carbon sequestered on their lands. However its viability as project offsets, whereby, needs to be assessed relative to other carbon offset options such as tillage change in agriculture, improving efficiency of power plants, clean coal technologies, timely and important.

It is fair to say that wood based energy markets, if steered appropriately, offer a promise to ensure energy security, promote environmental quality, and realize social benefits. However, several complex issues are influencing the development of these markets. Solutions to these issues would result in winners and losers. Therefore, not surprisingly, stakeholders are increasingly participating and debating these issues.  However, it is imperative that each side should respect the positions and arguments of the other and strive to move forward collectively.  A sustained dialogue through meaningful partnerships amongst biomass suppliers, biomass users, and representatives of civil society is critical to realize woody bioenergy market potentials. 

The Biomass Feedstock Development Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recently released a publication entitled Bamboo: An Overlooked Biomass Resource? Bamboo is the common term for a group of woody grasses comprised of 1250 species. It is relatively fast growing and attains maturity within five years. The shortest species stands only four inches (10 cm) at maturity while the tallest reach 130 feet (40 m) with stem (culm) diameters of 12 inches (30 cm).

Most bamboo species grow in the tropics; however, some varieties occur naturally in subtropical and temperate zones of all continents except Europe. The growing zone ranges from latitudes 46 °N to 47 °S and from sea level to over 13,000 feet (4,000 m) in elevation. Asia alone has over 1000 species, most of it in natural stands. Current major bamboo-producing-and-using countries include China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Approximately 1,500 commercial applications of bamboo have been identified. These applications may be divided into the following broad categories:

• Construction and reinforcing fibers—agricultural and fishing tools, handicrafts, musical instruments, furniture, civil engineering (bridges, scaffolding), and buildings (house frames, walls, window frames, roofs, interior dividers).

• Paper, textiles, and boards—this also includes rayon, plywood, oriented strand board, and laminated flooring.

• Food—bamboo shoots are widely used in Chinese and other Asian cuisine.

• Bioenergy feedstocks—no references were found in the literature concerning the use of bamboo as an energy feedstock.

A mature planting of bamboo forms a dense stand with little light penetration. Bamboo is semi-deciduous, with leaves shed at the end of the growing season or for species on a two-year cycle, during the following growing season. Plants that have a biennial pattern of leaf emergence typically also exhibit strong shoot production in the year when leaves are not shed.

One of the more interesting aspects about bamboo is its rapid growth. The plant will send out rhizomes (underground horizontal plant stems) tens of meters in all directions that are 12 to 20 inches (30 to 50 cm) beneath the surface. Shoot buds appear on the sides of these rhizomes, and with the onset of warm spring weather, the buds lengthen and form a compact upright shoot that penetrates the ground’s surface. The plant now concentrates on growing the culm, without branches, as fast as possible. Tall species of bamboo have been observed to grow as much as 20 inches (0.5 m) per week. After the shoot reaches the same height as other culms, leafy branches appear near the top of the culm. Growth over the following years consists of thickening the walls of the culm and increasing the wood density.

Another interesting phenomenon about bamboo is its flowering patterns. A few species are known to flower frequently, even annually, and a few species flower a few culms at a time.

However, for the majority of bamboo species, the entire clump at a location will produce flowers and then die back over the next two to three years. For most of the latter species, flowering happens every 30 to 40 years although for some species the period is over 60 years. This infrequency of flowering makes bamboo hard to study and partially accounts for the lack of knowledge about bamboo.

Since bamboo is propagated vegetatively by planting rhizomes, it may not be known where the plant is in its flowering cycle. This uncertainty of when flowering and die-back may occur has long been a concern with bamboo growers. However, the ORNL report states that “…the threat of catastrophic flowering need not pose an economic problem for bamboo growers, as long as uneven-aged propagation material is maintained, and entire stands are replaced before they approach flowering age.”

For fuel analysis, nine bamboo samples representing three different species at three different ages were collected. The publication lists the proximate, ultimate, and elemental analyses for these nine samples. The typical moisture content for freshly field-harvested bamboo is approximately 15 percent. The ash content of all samples was one percent or less, with no correlation between ash content and bamboo sample or age of sample apparent. This ash content is similar to other woody biomass materials.

Volatiles in the samples ranged from 63 to 75 percent with the balance fixed carbon and, again, no correlation between volatiles and bamboo sample or sample age was determined. Heating values were comparable to wood at 16 million to 16.5 million Btu/ton (19.09 to 19.57 GJ/t) on a dry basis.

Three bamboo characteristics—low nitrogen content, low chlorine content, and low alkali indices—are particularly significant for combustion of bamboo. Alkali indices (defined as pounds of alkali oxide per million Btu of energy content) range from 0.23 to 0.7 (0.1 to 0.3 kg/GJ), generally below the limit of 0.4 to 0.8 lb/MMBtu (0.17 to 0.34 kg/GJ) known to cause adverse fouling and slagging in combustion systems. The presence of chlorine has been shown to increase the volatility of alkali metals during combustion. However, the low chlorine values present in bamboo samples suggest that the potassium that is present is unlikely to be volatile and therefore not a problem.

Bamboo must be grown vegetatively and 1-2 year old rhizome cuttings of 12 to 20 inches (30 to 50 cm) in length with nodes and buds present are sometimes used. Younger rhizomes provide the best results. Propagation with rhizome cuttings with at least a foot of culm attached also gave better results. Typically up to eight years are required to achieve a good stand and the final stand height may not be reached until 15-20 years have elapsed.

Harvesting of traditionally grown bamboo is un-mechanized and labor intensive, especially if only selected culms are to be harvested. Research in India suggests that clear-cutting does not significantly damage bamboo stands, so it may be possible to use machinery such as modified sugar-cane harvesters. The Western and Southeastern Regional Biomass Energy Programs sponsored bamboo harvesting tests in Alabama in the late 1990’s using a flail-cutter-head harvester developed at Texas A&M Kingsville and obtained acceptable harvesting results for bamboo approximately 30 feet tall.

Bamboo has frequently been characterized as having a high productivity; however, the ORNL study did not substantiate this characterization. Values for productivity in the literature range from 1 ton/acre/year (2.2 t/ha/year) in Northern India to 7 tons/acre/year (15.5 t/ha/year) in Central Japan. Data from the United States is very limited. Data from stands in South Alabama that were aged 14 to 20 years averaged 2.7 to 3.9 tons/acre/year (6.1 to 8.6 t/ha/year). These figures exclude branches and leaves, which accounted for 14 percent of the above-ground biomass. The ORNL report speculates that based on figures available from overseas, as well as the limited trials conducted in the US, intensively managed bamboo stands with fertilization may be capable of producing over 4.5 tons/acre/year (10 t/ha/year) under Southeast US conditions.

For additional information, contact the American Bamboo Society, c/o Michael Bartholomew, 750 Krumkill Road, Albany, NY 12203-5976, http://www.bamboo.org/abs/index.shtml.

Laminated bamboo furniture is a modern invention but has already become popular in many countries. It is produced from molded bamboo components and to the uninitiated eye the furniture is unrecognizable as having been produced from bamboo. A huge range of furniture can be produced, such as table and chairs, bookshelves, beds, cabinets and recliners. The furniture is durable, practical and has a modern appearance and in recent years elegant designs have been produced in China and Japan.

The laminated bamboo furniture unit is a relatively large-scale venture requiring start-up capital and a number of experienced personnel. By innovating new designs and seeking out new markets the unit will be able to develop rapidly and there are significant opportunities to open up exporting markets for laminated bamboo furniture in more affluent countries. The unit can easily be established at the community level, ideally as a cooperative venture. In view of the scale of investment required it might be preferable to establish the unit with the assistance of state agencies or NGOs to ensure the venture is successful and the community is the true beneficiaries.

Drawing the profile
In Furniture construction, full-scale drawings are utilized to enable one to pick measurements off the drawings while actual construction is on. For this purpose, the design is drawn full scale.

Bending with Heat
Following the practice of the cane furniture manufacturers of the North East, blow lamps were used to apply focused heat on to the poles and force bend it on a Wooden Horse (Mould). Basically the mould or horse is made out of solid wood. While one beam is perpendicular to the ground, there are two support beams parallel to the ground. The artisan makes a notch in the perpendicular and after hitching the bamboo in the notch, applies direct heat through the blowlamp. The notch is basically locking the bamboo in place and manual pressure is applied towards gravity to bend the heated pole. From time to time, a wet cloth is run onto the heated area of the pole so that the bend cools and solidifies. The pole is taken off the horse regularly, and measured on a drawing /profile to check for accuracy.
Though tedious and labor intensive, the method is able to achieve almost 100% accuracy. There is loss of the surface thickness as the excessive heat scorches the bamboo and the scraping the black skin reduces the thickness of the pole. However if totally solid bamboo is used, the loss of surface has a negligible effect on the strength of the bamboo.

Preparing the raw material
The outermost skin is scraped off to bring out the smooth luster and even colour of the bamboo. In the process, the knots on the internodes are also flattened /evened out.

For straight sections, the scraping is done before sizing. For sections that are to be bent into profiles, the bending is carried out before.

After the correct profile is achieved, the bamboo is then scraped to remove the outermost skin and the burnt marks.

Knot removing and planning surface
Various methods can be applied for surface finishing of bamboo. For knot removal, planer can be used to scrape the knots. The Team also explored using rudimentary sanding machine, and found it to be extremely useful in scraping the outer surface of the bamboo. This method reduces the drudgery of manual hand shaving.

Joinery and Assembly techniques
Most of the joinery used in Bamboo furniture is same as those used for wooden furniture. Simple joints like tendon -mortise joints work in totally solid bamboo. Plugs are inserted at hollow ends.

The furniture is an assembled frame-by-frame using carpenter vice. Bamboo dowels are used diagonally to seal joints. Before inserting the joints, industrial adhesive is used to add strength to the joinery.

Laminated blank making
Prepared sections of bamboo wood are coated with glue and then placed together in jigs to form the sub-sections of the furniture. Straight sub-sections can be pressed together in a standard hot-pressing machine, but curved sections require specially shaped jigs and are pressed by tightening bolts holdings the jig-forming elements together. They are then placed in a heated chamber for curing.

Finishing the product
At final assembly, the product is sanded before applying the termite resistant coating and melamine. Finishing involves the following stages, all designed to produce a high quality, uniform surface finish: Bleaching, prestaining, staining and coloring, wash coating, filling sealing or wash coating, glazing, top coating, rubbing, polishing and cleaning. Addition of upholstery and other fitting completes the furniture.

Market-Size: The consumption of wood other than plywood for making furniture is estimated at 3.36 million cubic meters in 2005 and set to rise to 4.62 million cubic meters by 2010. Bamboo as a substitute for wood to make furniture is expected to grow up to US$224 million by 2010. A range of furniture for school, office, showroom and home is made from bamboo. Bent-laminate furniture from bamboo is currently under prototyping. Consistent supply of processed bamboo is the key to the growth and development of this industry .

Source: Mayank, M (2008) Techno Economic Feasibility Study for Setting up of Bamboo SMEs, NMBA, India