What is Bamboo?
Bamboo is a woody plant, which resides in the grass family: Poaceae.
There are more than 1200 species of Bamboo.
Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world. It can easily grow two inches per hour. Hardwoods like oak grow 12 inches per year.
These plants can vary in height depending on their species. Their stems, formally known as ‘culm’, range in height, from a few centimeters to 40 meters (centimetres and metres, respectively for our European friends).
They can grow and survive in various climates and altitudes. This excludes the extreme conditions posed in places such as, Antarctica and the Arctic.
They are very important to our environment. Like every plant, they help reduce carbon dioxide, but they produce 30% more oxygen than the equivalent amount of hardwood trees.
There is an unlimited supply of bamboo, leaving little worry for endangering its species. This is due to their rapid growth rate and their ability to withstand different climates.
Bamboo is extremely versatile, as they are used and made into anything.
- Flooring
- Paper and clothing
- Containers
- Wristwatches
- Dinnerware Sets
- Building materials
Harvesting bamboo leaves very little wastage; every part of it can be used to create different types of products, as mentioned above - from clothing to building materials.
Bamboo is widely used in Asia to construct bridges, walls and partitions. Unlike their timber counterparts, bamboo doesn’t become damp nor warp over time by atmospheric conditions. They have a stronger tensile strength than steel, very light and resilient.
Bear in mind, not all species of bamboo are the same; most are hollow and some are solid. Not all have a tensile strength stronger than steel. Therefore, it is important to choose the correct species of particular genera (genus plural) in construction.
Check out our intriguing post on The Top 7 Uses of Bamboo to gain more information on some of the cool and bizarre things bamboo is used in.
Bamboo has a potential to be a source of bioenergy, as it has some great fuel characteristics:
- Low ash content
- Low heating point, when compared to other woody energy source. However, a higher heating point than grass or straw.
The rapidly growing wooden plant species are nothing but extraordinary, eco friendly and sustainable. We hope that more research can be done to help bamboo be efficiently harnessed for bioenergy and used as building materials worldwide.
If you want want to fuel your knowledge in bamboo any further, dive into our post on Top 20 common species of bamboo
This post wouldn’t have been created without the help of great organisations, whom have the same interests and enthusiasm as us in bamboo.