Bamboo Charcoal Introduction

Bamboos are giant, woody grasses which put out several full length, full diameter, naturally pre-finished, ready-to-use culms ("stems") each year. A single bamboo clump can produce up to 15 kilometres of usable pole (up to 30 cm in diameter) in its lifetime. Bamboo is the most diverse group of plants in the grass family, and the most primitive sub-family. It is distinguished by a woody culm, complex branching, a generally robust rhizome system and infrequent flowering.

It has a tropical and subtropical (cosmopolitan) distribution, ranging from 46 N to 47S latitude, reaching elevations as high as 4,000 m in the Himalayas and parts of China. Bamboo is very adaptable, with some species being deciduous and others evergreen. The taxonomy of the bamboo remains poorly understood, though the general consensus seems to be that bamboo numbers between 60 and 90 genera with 1,100 to 1,500 species.

Described as the "wood of the poor" (India), "friend of the people" (China) and "brother" (Vietnam), bamboo is a wonder plant that grows over wide areas of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. Millions of people depend on this plant for their livelihood. It has become so much a part of the culture and memory of societies that the existence of a Bamboo Age has not been ruled out. Its use in food and cooking goes far back in history.

Exports of bamboo shoots from Taiwan alone amount to $50 million (US). Apart from traditional uses, bamboo has many new applications as a substitute for fast depleting wood and as an alternative to more expensive materials. Modern paper industry has expanded to such an extent that 2.2 million tonnes of bamboo are used in India for this purpose. Bamboo furniture is an expanding business. In the Philippines, between 1985-1994, exports rose from $625,000 to $1.2 million.

Bamboo's potential for checking soil erosion and for road embankment stabilization are now becoming known. It is equally important for providing fast vegetative cover to deforested areas. Bamboo's role in the construction field is equally substantial. Hundreds of millions of people live in houses made from bamboo. In Bangladesh, 73% of the population live in bamboo houses. It provides pillars, walls, window frames, rafters, room separators, ceilings and roofs.

In Borneo and in the Naga Hills of India, large communal houses of 100 feet in length have been built of bamboo. Throughout rural Asia it is used for building bridges, from the sophisticated technology of suspension bridges to the simpler pontoon bridges. Bamboo scaffoldings are found throughout Asia, and they are employed on the high rise structures of Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Bamboo is also used for musical instruments of all three types: percussion or hammer instruments, wind instruments, and stringed instruments. In Java, 20 different musical instruments have been fashioned of bamboo. The flute may have been invented by cave people toying with a hollow bamboo stem.

Sustainable Bamboo Resource Systems

Community partnerships + Bamboo resources + Industrial ecology designs = Sustainable economic development opportunities.

PBRG seeks so-called "industrial ecology" design opportunities that usefully link sectors and services across sustainable bamboo resource systems. Doing so creates ways and means for innovative sustainable community and economic development.

How?

By modifying import/export priorities, and connecting people, communities and industries, opportunities emerge for enlisting local knowledge, skills and capacities for robust economic self-reliance and sustainability performance.

Such priorities can spell community resilience as new jobs, revenues and locally-produced goods and services gain value -- an increasingly important dividend as communities seek economic stability by encouraging local "closed-loop" currency circulation in face of adverse globalization impacts and anticipated "peak petroleum" scenarios.

Outlined below is an interdisciplinary "guild" of associated industry sectors and services of international bamboo resource systems. By mimicing natural systems, zero-emission performance expectations can be met.

Sustainable bamboo agroforestry

integrated crop guilds

high protein animal fodder

organic certification

harvesting and processing

seasonal fresh markets

Residential & Commercial building and construction industries

design and construction

interior / exterior materials

wallboard, roofing, sheathing materials

beams and decking

Residential and Commerical Interior Design

Furniture

Art and framing

Electronic hardware casing

Food and Hospitality industries

fresh bamboo shoots

durable and disposable utensils and dinnerware

Tools & Machinery industries

cultivation and harvesting

product manufacturing

design services

Fuels and Carbon-offsets

distillates

charcoal

carbon sequestration

Composites and Textiles

transportation and aviation structural applications

soft and abrasive fabrics

paper and softboard

Food and Hospitality industries

fresh bamboo shoots

recyclable kitchen and dining ware

Organic recycling and bioremediation

composting

vermiculture

land and soil revitalization

erosion control (living and stone cages)

Integrated water management

conservation and restoration

rainwater harvesting

land-form and catchment systems

filtration and purification