Bamboo: Green Construction Material

Introduction:

Bamboo belongs to grass family and has been associated with various names such as “poor man’s timber”, “Green Gold”, “Cradle to Coffin” because of its various documented applications. Bamboo is widely recognized as highly renewable, fast growing, economic raw material. Products from bamboo are grouped into industrial use, food products, construction and structural application, wood substitutes and composites, and cottage and handicraft industry.

Bamboo is most abundant in India. India has the huge potential for bamboo with 14 million hectares of bamboo forest area. India is the second largest country in terms of bamboo resources. The yield per hectare of bamboo in India is very low compared to China, Taiwan and Japan which contribute about 80% to the world’s bamboo market.

In coming years India is expected to face timber shortage in order to meet the housing needs of the increasing population. Moreover, the increased dependency on conventional materials is held responsible for degradation of environment. Both the reasons have led to give a thought on the use of bamboo as a substitute for wood and steel as it is considered as highly renewable and environment friendly material.

Bamboo products (bamboo boards, bamboo veneers, bamboo mat corrugated roofing sheets, etc) due to their physical and mechanical performance in terms of hardness, stability and strength are gaining attention with large opportunities in emerging market. Moreover, bamboo has the capability of mitigating climate change as it restores degraded land, act as carbon sequesters and protects from soil erosion.

Bamboo and its Uses:

Bamboo has more than 1,500 documented uses, ranging from fuelwood to light bulbs, medicine, poison and toys to aircraft manufacturing. The products made from bamboo can be broadly classified into:

 Industrial Use and Products, (paper and pulp, bamboo charcoal for fuel, bamboo based gasifier for electricity).

 Food Products (consumption of bamboo shoots)

 Construction and Structural Applications (Bamboo housing).

 Wood Substitutes and Composites (Bamboo based panels, Veneers, Bamboo Flooring, mat boards, fiberboards, particle boards, medium density boards, combinations of these, and combinations of these with wood and other ligno-cellulose materials and inorganic substances).

 Cottage and Handicraft Industry.

This case study will focus on the bamboo uses as wood substitute and composites as well as on its construction and structural applications.

Use of Bamboo in Construction:

In construction sector, bamboo is used to make all the components of building both structural and non structural. Traditionally bamboo culms were used for constructing housing in rural community, scaffolding and for constructing foot bridges. It was used in different ways for roof structure, for doors and windows, walling, ceiling, man-hole covers etc.

Modern Bamboo Based Material as wood substitute:

Bamboo can be manufactured into various kinds of top-grade housing materials to meet different performances by introducing the advanced combination, restructuring technologies. Bamboo can be transformed to make products like Bamboo Veneers, Bamboo Panels, Corrugated Bamboo Roofing Sheets, Bamboo Particle Board, etc which can be used as a construction material in various applications. Lots of organizations like Indian Plywood Industry Research and Training Institute, Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, Building Material and Technology Promotion Council etc are coming up with latest, innovative, cost effective and eco friendly bamboo based products that can be used in construction application.

Conclusion:

India having the largest reserves of bamboo in the world is dealing with the shortage of bamboo as a raw material in its industries. Presently it is underutilized and found in abundance. If bamboo sector has to be grown beyond the certain level the regulatory restrictions on trade and transits need to be taken care off. India can have 4-5 times better productivity then now and is expected to have an increase in the market size by 2015 if proper management, cultivation and plantation practices are followed with proper market linkages. Thus, bamboo can play an important role in meeting the future human needs of timber used as input for housing and construction. In the light of increasing demand of raw materials for housing and construction, including timber and decreasing forest area, bamboo based materials can serve as an alternative in bridging the gap of demand and supply.

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