[Greenbuilding] Plybooboo

[Keith Winston]

Thanks Dan! I always listen with rapt attention when you write.

Wouldn't the cows stomp all over the bamboo as they ate it? Letting them 
defoliate it is an elegant way to preprocess it, though!

This still doesn't answer the real question, which is: is bamboo more 
productive or less impactful than hardwood production. You do point out 
that it has a quicker harvest cycle, which is advantageous in the 
make-a-quick-buck category, but that is a problematic category!

Ah, but your comparison with plywood is interesting on second thought. I 
wonder if our plywood consumption is like oil: is there any chance we 
could keep up with our appetite if we weren't devouring resources at 
nonrenewable rates? That would be interesting to look into. No time now, 
though.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Keith


YankeePerm at aol.com wrote:
> This topic seems to me to involve two aspects:
>      1.) Plyboo as a material.   I don't see anything about this that is any 
> worse than the plywood most of us used, and it is likely to be superior in 
> strength.
>      2.)   Importing ANYTHING from China.   Yes, I agree this is a bad 
> practice for both economic and so called 'green' reasons.   There is plenty of 
> bamboo growing in the USA and the plantations would expand if there were a large 
> market such as an US-based plyboo factory.   While establishing a grove isn't 
> quick, it is quicker than planting softwoods and much more sustainable.   Bamboo 
> is a natural monocrop, or, depending on species and variety, and understory 
> cover.   Figure that you start harvesting in less than 10 years after planting 
> out, especially temperate species, e.g., the Phyllostachys genus.   Large 
> plantations would enable pre-harvest of premium timber culms for use in bamboo 
> construction and crafts prior to a general cut for plywood fiber.   The real 
> limitation is labor, since each culm needs to be individually selected, leaving 
> the younger culms to mature.   (A culm should be between 3 and 6 years old for 
> maximum strength.)   Unlike tropical bamboos, temperate bamboos suit 
> agroforestry arrangements, such as feeding foliage to ruminants, as the leaves carry 
> negligible amounts of cyanide precursors.   I've seen this done as cut and carry, 
> where the whole culm is removed to an adjacent pasture where the cattle 
> devour the foliage and small twigs.   Then the culm can be dressed and shipped.   
> Less handling can be done if culms are dressed in the grove and cattle turned 
> in after harvest (in the fall to avoid damage to new growth).   This would make 
> such systems more viable, economically, and would maximize the utilization of 
> the land so that native forests can be unmolested to a greater degree.   
> Woody trimmings too coarse for browsing would remain as mulch, which bamboo dearly 
> loves.   Some fertility from the leaves would pass through the cattle into 
> the grove as manure, reducing the need for fertilization.   
>
> That would meet my definition of 'green' bamboo production and, given the 
> location of a plyboo factory in the kudzu belt, minimize shipping of raw 
> materials (which would have almost no factory waste) and provide an excellent 
> construction material.   
>
> Bamboo can also be grown as part of a sewage treatment marsh.   It seems that 
> everyone has to do his/her own research project on this, so there are endless 
> positive research papers to back this up.   One just needs to somehow short 
> circuit the industrial mindset that thinks a factory is the best way to process 
> organic materials.
>
> Dan Hemenway
>
>
>
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-- 
Keith Winston
Earth Sun Energy Systems
Hyattsville, MD 20781
301-980-6325
send me mail at 
keith at the company below
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