How to do you improve a natural material that has a zero-carbon footprint? Simple. Plant it closer to home so it becomes a product with a so-called ‘negative carbon footprint’.
That’s the idea behind Europe’s first large-scale commercial bamboo forest in the Alcoutim region of Southern Portugal. Starting with just 150 hectares of planting, BambooLogic (the organisation behind the project) plans on expanding the new bamboo farm to an impressive 2000 hectares.
While this region in Portugal receives little rainfall, high temperatures and has some arid land, bamboo can grow virtually anywhere and so far, the plantation is thriving.
The Demand for Bamboo
European consumers, like Australians, have fallen in love with bamboo. After all, it is an incredibly sustainable building material and growing it in Europe will substantially reduce the cost and energy used to transport it.
Surprisingly, Europe is the biggest export market for Asian bamboo products in the world, so those transport costs are currently substantial. BambooLogic hopes this plantation, when mature, will help to provide a cost-effective local alternative.
Based in The Netherlands, BambooLogic plans to plant more bamboo crops in addition to this one in Spain, Italy and Greece to meet the demand.
A Sustainable Crop
As the world’s fastest growing plant, bamboo already has an extremely low carbon footprint; it stores four times more carbon than trees and produces 35% more oxygen than a timber forest.
It’s also a relatively easy crop to grow as it needs far less water than timber and it doesn’t need fertilisers or pesticides. As it’s actually a grass, it keeps growing back from its complex root system every time it is harvested. No need for soil preparation or seed sowing.
This root system helps prevent soil erosion, and because bamboo can grow in most environments, it is currently being used in reforestation programs to rehabilitate the soil.
Why Not in Australia?
The apparent success of this first plantation raises the question, why hasn’t a large-scale bamboo industry been considered for Australia?
Not only do we have space and environment for it but having a local bamboo industry would help meet the growing demand for bamboo products in Australia.
A local Australian bamboo industry would also help reduce our carbon emissions, create jobs and help us produce one of the world’s most sustainable commodities for our own use.
As the CSIRO has just confirmed, Australia is officially getting warmer with less cool-season rain, so this kind of planting would also help with reforestation and soil erosion and would reduce our use of harmful pesticides or herbicides.
So often we hear misinformation about how new bamboo products are manufactured – this is what we are driving to change and asking the building industry to listen and learn that not all products are created equal. High-quality timber alternatives are being made that aren’t full of chemicals – that meet and often exceed the sustainability merits of timber. We need to look at our practices, our projects and ask for more change and say can “I do it better?” The more the industry grows the more we can invest in Australian Bamboo. The good news is it’s growing.
Engineered Bamboo
The most exciting product to come out of the bamboo industry recently is engineered bamboo, which is very much like timber but superior in many ways. It is machined to a square edge so it can be used anywhere timber is and it’s actually more sustainable, lighter, stronger and more flexible than timber as well.
With a thriving bamboo growing industry in Australia, we could produce our own engineered bamboo here. Then perhaps more local architects would be encouraged to design with bamboo, more local builders would suggest it for their builds and more consumers would expect to see it in their renovations and new homes.
Until then, House of Bamboo continues to work with other Australian companies to encourage discussion, troubleshoot and promote the idea of large-scale plantations in some of the areas in Australia that need it the most.
Contact us if you want to learn more about new bamboo practice. We also offer CPD presentations to Architects and Designers for a more in-depth study of new developments. Visit our website to see more projects