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Steve Thomas is the host of Planet Green's Renovation Nation, a program that focuses on making green renovations to homes across the country. In his regular column on PlanetGreen.com, Steve goes behind the scenes of the show and offers additional tips and insight on green renovation.
I cannot stress enough how much of a game changer bamboo is. There are 15,000 species of bamboo. It grows all over the world, except in the Arctic and the Antarctic.
The particular species of bamboo that was used in the Rock, Paper, Scissors, Concrete episode has high-structural properties and a higher tensile strength than steel. Bamboo grows rapidly, so it's extremely renewable. Bamboo absorbs carbon dioxide and locks up all kinds of other greenhouse gases in its roots in little nodules. From a standpoint of global building, it's a very interesting material.
Bamboo Technologies is doing a joint venture with a Vietnamese group that has sustainably harvestable stands of bamboo in Vietnam. They pay everybody a living wage, and they are trying to do it right. They've gotten code approval to use these structural trusses in building all over the United States, and they are beginning to import bamboo from Vietnam and use it as a structural building material.
The build itself was cool and the kids are hands-on kids. They grew up fishing and hunting in the mountains, so they are happy when they are doing something with their hands. That part of it was great.
For me, in terms of green building, this experience really opened my eyes to what is possible in terms of bamboo. Hopefully, the kids learned a little something as well.
Don't miss the Portland, OR: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Concrete Episode Steve writes about.
More on Bamboo:
What Can You Build with that Backyard Bamboo?
Investigate Your Bamboo Supplier Before You Buy
Building with Bamboo is Changing Everything (In a Good Way) (Video)
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
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