The sustainability of bamboo products for local and Western European applications. LCAs and land-use

Abstract

Bamboo has some positive aspects compared to wood: - it can grow on slopes and other areas where foresting of wood is not possible, and it grows fast. - it can replace tropical hardwood, so it can mitigate the decrease of tropical forest area. - it can support the local economies in the third world. This article is based on a bamboo species from China ( Phyllostachys Pubescens, also called Moso), and its industrially processed products: Plybamboo and Strand Woven Bamboo. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used in this paper to compare the environmental impact of bamboo materials, shipped to Western Europe, with commonly used materials such as timber. The calculations are based on the LCI databases of Ecoinvent v2 (2008) and Idemat 2008, applied to the eco-costs 2007 method for LCIA. The annual yield of harvesting is calculated as well, and compared with other wood products. General conclusions are: - bamboo products have less eco-costs than tropical hardwood (FSC certified) - bamboo products imported in Europe have more eco-costs than local European softwood. - the yield of bamboo is high compared to most other wood species: the yield of bamboo for production of biofuel is extremely high.