A Case Study on Bamboo as Green Building Material

Abstract — In this world of constantly increasing population and depleting resources there is urge to adopt cost effective and ecofriendly structures. These papers discuss the potential of bamboo and project the possibilities of usage of bamboo in the construction field. Bamboo is an ancient solution for the present day problem. Bamboo is an appropriate substitute for the present convention building material such as steel and wood. The main characteristic of the bamboo which makes it a suitable building material is it’s high tensile strength which is equivalent to mild steel at the yield point and very good weight strength ratio making it high resilient against the forces created by the earth quakes and hurricanes. Bamboo can replace 70 % of steel and wood used in the construction and reduce the cost by 40%. Bamboo can be used from scaffolding to every stage of construction like in footings, beams, columns, slabs, stair cases, doors, windows etc. Bamboo is the renewable resource with amazing growth rate, rejuvenates the soil and grows in varied climatic conditions. Bamboo absorbs carbon dioxide and releases 35 % more oxygen into the atmosphere than other hardwood trees. There are few building codes also available for the usage of bamboo in the construction such as ISO 22156: 2004 Bamboo structural design, ISO 22157: 2004 Bamboo physical and mechanical properties, IS 9096: 1979 Code of practice for preservation of bamboo for structural purposes. Thus bamboo is environmental friendly, energy efficient and cost effective material