There is an increasing demand for bamboo products because of its renewability/sustainability. Botanically categorized as grass, bamboo maybe the world’s most sustainable resource.

Being the fastest growing grass which can shoot up a yard or more a day, bamboo reaches maturity quickly and is ready for harvesting in about 4 years. Bamboo does not require replanting after harvesting because its vast root network continually sprouts new shoots which almost zoom up while you watch them, pulling in sunlight and greenhouse gases and converting them to new green growth. And all this happens naturally, without the need for petroleum-guzzling tractors and poisonous pesticides and fertilizers.

But the environmental advantage gained by the fact that bamboo is a rapidly renewable resource is outweighed by the environmental cost of transporting the bamboo to long from where it is grown.

Modern Uses of Bamboo

Dell CEO Michael Dell unveiled a “never before seen” eco-inspired computer with a bamboo casing’s speech at the Fortune Green conference in April 2008. The computer is 81 percent smaller than a standard desktop, uses 70 percent less power and is filled with recycled materials like old bottles, milk jugs and detergent cases. While Dell wouldn’t give the name of the bamboo box, he said the product would come out later this year and would likely range in price between $500 and $700. It is rightly believed by many that no other plant has had the impact that bamboo has had on so many cultures over such an extended period of time. But now, with the help of technology, scores of new uses have been found for the age old bamboo. Here are some –

• Bamboo furniture
• Bamboo flooring
• Bamboo blinds
• Bamboo is a very comfortable eco-fibre which is naturally anti-microbial. Due to the presence of micro pores, the fabric absorbs three times more moisture than cotton, making it very comfortable to wear in the hot summer.

Source: http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Bamboo