Bamboo

Bamboo can help reduce carbon emissions 0 Comments | DNA : Daily News & Analysis; Mumbai, Nov 07, 2009 | by Thakur, Nachiket Bamboo plantations will possibly become the greatest natural carbon sinks and will aid the global efforts to reduce planetary carbon emissions below the 1990 levels. This assertion was made at the 8th World Bamboo Congress (WBC) held in Bangkok, Thailand, recently. Over 500 delegates from 34 countries, including those from India, were informed that bamboo has the potential to reduce carbon content in the climate that has been causing concern across the world. The WBC deliberated on various aspects of bamboo, the environment and climate change during the three-day meet that concluded on September 18. Most Popular Articles • 7 tips for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice - Back To Basics - effective listening is a crucial skill for internal auditors • Top of the line: some of the world's most well-respected doctors practice in South Florida. A guide to choosing the best physician specialists - Top Doctors in South Florida • India's Top 50 Companies By Market Capitalisation - Brief Article • MAN WITH DISABILITY SUES GREENACRES OVER '05 ARREST • The Force is With the LEGO� Brand Until 2011; Leading Construction Toy Maker Extends License, Will Continue to Develop Building Sets for Its Best-Selling Star Wars™ Line Through 2011 Most Recent Articles • The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award shortlist is announced • UPS Sponsors Global Trade Seminar for Local Providence Businesses • Cogentrix Energy Enters Contract with PSCo for Solar Power Project • AAI Gets Boeing Award for Hill Air Force Base Training and MRO • Stratford Hall Chooses 3M Prestige Series Window Film for Retrofit The forceful argument was made by David E Sands, who has served on the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) committee to develop the International Standards Organisation (ISO) standard for structural bamboo. Sands maintained that bamboo offers perhaps the quickest way to remove vast amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Currently, the 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent produced each year by human activity are wreaking havoc on the global environment. Efforts to curb the CO2 emission are essential but much more needs to be done. "When you build buildings/houses with bamboo, you have sequestered the carbon for a hundred years. Bamboo buildings are thus a carbon capture and storage system," he said. Each bamboo sequesters up to 40 tonnes of CO2 with the ideal species. The bamboo plant eats CO2. It takes CO2 from the atmosphere and through the process of photosynthesis turns it into sugars. The bamboo plant transforms these sugars into the compounds that make up bamboo fibre. The carbon from the atmosphere is thus locked up in the bamboo fibre itself. When the bamboo fibre is used to construct building, the carbon in it is sequestered for the lifetime of the building.