Is Bamboo Flooring Green?

You can’t walk into a flooring store now without seeing and hearing all about bamboo flooring. In fact, most of our customers building new homes now at least ask whether bamboo floors are any good. I’ve seen a few of these floors and they look great. But the other day I got to thinking about whether or not bamboo floors really are green.

There is no denying that bamboo is a renewable resource. In fact bamboo is not really a tree but rather a grass. Bamboo can grow to full maturity in only three years and it regenerates without having to re-plant it. Bamboo also requires very little fertilization to grow. So why on earth would I be asking whether or not bamboo flooring is green?

There are several reasons why I’m a bit skeptical about the green claims that the flooring industry is claiming.

Almost all bamboo flooring comes from the far east from Country’s like China. So my first gripe with the greeness of bamboo flooring is the energy consumed shipping bamboo flooring from places like China to the United States. This certainly goes well beyond the limits set forth in LEED certification for trying to products that are extracted and manufactured within 500 miles of the project site.
Although bamboo doesn’t need much fertilizer to grow fertilizers are being widely used to increase the yield of the crops.
The other major problem with bamboo is the recent popularity in it has caused widespread clear cutting of old growth forests to create ares to plant bamboo. So it’s very clear that bamboo is not being managed in a sustainable way. Furthermore, the large areas being clear cut to make way for bamboo are experiencing major erosion problems until the bamboo takes hold.
Large bamboo plantations over vast areas have had a negative impact on biodiversity with these single species.
Almost all bamboo flooring products have formaldehyde binders.

Theres no doubt that bamboo is a great renewable resource that makes a great wood alternative. However, the fact that it grows so quickly shouldn’t be the only measure of it’s greeness. Just some food for thought…..any comments?

6 Comments Already

Ethan@OneProjectCloser Said,

July 20th, 2008 @6:05 pm

I had similar thoughts when checking out bamboo. Didn’t realize forested areas where being clear cut to plant it though. Just shows it’s worth it to really investigate.

Gene Said,

July 23rd, 2008 @9:17 pm

I hadn’t heard that areas were being clear cut to grow bamboo. Where did you read that?

Todd Said,

July 23rd, 2008 @9:46 pm

@ Gene – If you do a google search for bamboo flooring and green construction you will find MANY references to how it is being grown and harvested in China. This is not new information, there has been quite a bit written about this topic over the last couple of years.

July 24th, 2008 @12:47 pm

I didn’t see many references to it, but enough to convince me it does happen. My longer response with links is on my blog. I’ve asked the question before, too.

Alex Said,

August 19th, 2008 @8:11 pm

Bamboo isn’t just used for flooring, it is becoming very popular as a cloth material, paper, building materials, food, and many more. Bamboo processes many more times the amount of CO2 then old forests. The rhizome structure is dense enough to prevent erosion much better then trees. I cannot argue that it can have a negative impact on ecology, but there are many more positives then negatives here. This topic is too involved for a single or even multiple comments.