Sustainable Green Alternatives

Products, Time to Market and Impact...

Fresh Water for Everyone

Cleaner Air

Stronger Materials

More Paper for Less

Lighter/stronger Cars Save Fuel

Cheap Super Food

Textiles Too

Bamboo Charcoal

Bamboo has so many commercial uses that we can choose which ones are most promising for a given time frame. We believe that Bamboo Charcoal is the easiest product to make in the near term. Bamchar has applications for Air, Water, and Soil Pollution Remediation; Long Term Carbon Sequestration; Textiles and Nano Technology, among others.  We are working with partners in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to produce it in commercial quantities; while we do the research for new applications in China and the United States. We should have systems available within 2 years that produce pure water at low cost. We will be manufacturing and selling these systems under licensing agreements through regional joint partners.

We have access to many charcoal products that are being sold in China, but which need better design to be successful in the rest of the world. We have several new products in the design stage, and will be seeking joint venture agreements to produce them for regional sales organizations.

Our "Carbon Credit" business will be selling low cost verifiable CDM  (Clean Development Mechanism) Credits on the Open Market, and generating revenue through joint ventures aimed at the establishment of large scale bamboo plantations adjacent to large sources of waste water (i.e. municipal waste water treatment plants, refineries, chemical plants etc.).  There are no Bamboo based CDM Carbon Credits to date, because of the concern that there are no long term storage guarantees.  We can provide that assurance if we convert raw bamboo into either a stable form, like charcoal, or into a fuel that is non polluting, like Hydrogen.  We will do both, starting with Charcoal.

Ideally, solar kilns will provide the heat that will produce pure C, in the form of charcoal. Bio char can be considered inert; and can be tilled into soil for thousands of years of carbon storage, after being used as a highly efficient water filter. Value can be added if it is inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi, and beneficial Bacteria. It can then be sold as a plant growth amendment that saves water and fertilizer.

Bacteria and enzymes can convert biomass directly into Hydrogen, which can be used in pollution free combustion, or as feed stock for fuel cells. The by product of that is Lignin, which can be used as an organic soil amendment. The goal will be to supply sufficient fuel to enable every person to operate a multi use fuel cell, with sufficient output to charge vehicles and run a modern home, at a cost below that of centralized power. We will provide low cost Hydrogen to generate energy for our partners, and perhaps sell some of the by product (Lignin) as soil amendment material.

We need more research to develop the most efficient methods for these potential CDM processes; and to make it a world wide project.

Bamboo Building Materials

We will manufacture and sell Bamboo materials with joint venture partners. "Bamply," "Bamlams" and "bampaper" are being made now, in many places. We want to sell these products and to eventually have companies under license to produce our own lines based on sustainable materials at low cost, delivering high performance. Bambooisgrass.com can deliver these attributes in a whole range of products. That is the path to financial success. Bambooisgrass.com has a unique approach to business that seeks to promote the entire spectrum of applications of the "Bamboo Revolution." We will unify disparate disjunctive efforts into an effective network of efficient production, sales, and policy making organizations, under one entity. We can sell value added products and services to regional customers based upon the requirements of their unique markets.

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CHARCOAL WATER FILTERS

Bamboo Charcoal is a natural "Nano Tube" with more than 400 square meters of surface area in each gram.  This compares favorably with "biochar" from most other readily available sources.

The market for clean water technology will continue to grow at an ever increasing rate, as population growth and climate change converge.  The economic "meltdown" has been an opportunity for big industry to consolidate the world's resources into fewer hands.  "Privatization" of water is an example of this development.  We foresee the need for small water purification plants that will be able to sustain small populations with water from various sources.  Bamboo Charcoal is being studied for fresh and waste water treatment. We are certain that it will be possible to produce small amounts of clean water from rain runoff, streams, and puddles, with passive Charcoal filters that are low cost and locally produced.  We intend to start production of these small systems and use the knowledge gained to perfect larger systems.  We expect to use a combination of passive and pressurized filters to clean up small water companies, and Rural Water Coops. Thousands of these small purveyors are being forced out of business and into the hands of large operators because the cost of upgrades is prohibitive.  We see this as an opportunity to develop low cost systems that can be customized to address local conditions.  Successive filters can be designed to remove contaminants and maintain adequate rates of flow.  This market is large and the competition for it is fragmented.  We will capture market share on the basis of high performance at low cost. 

HIGH PERFORMANCE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

The building materials market is very large, and cost conscious.  We can demonstrate the advantages of higher strength, and lower cost "Bamply", for all sorts of uses.   Bamboo flooring has been successfully marketed at several price points, and similar results shall pertain to many other products now in development.   We are proposing several building panels that can be factory built and prefinished.  We will start in foreign markets where local building authorities are not restrained by over regulation, and build a record of performance that can be used for testing and eventual ICBO certification.  To date, there is one certified Bamboo Building Component, and it is of limited impact.  The company that produces it has built about 200 structures for the Tourist industry, where it has survived extreme wind loads with out failure.  The company was recently approached by a larger builder with a buy out offer of $20,000,000, which was refused. 

In the US, the market for “Green” products is the fastest growing segment of the building industry, and bamboo has been publicized as “sustainable”.  This has caused Chinese manufacturers to create more bamboo products, which has begun to have an adverse effect on the supply of natural bamboo.  Even though China has more bamboo than any other country, there are few managed plantations.  Recent over cutting has lead to numerous land slides, and flooding.  China can not afford to use its precious farm land for Bamboo plantations, and will sometime in the future, rely upon imported sources.

The US has abundant land that is presently used for Cotton; and which will soon be available for other uses.  We hope to partner with large landholders and begin small test plots of diverse bamboo types.  This would serve as the basis for basic research and drive development of larger plantation scale operations as cotton is phased out.   It is in the national interest to develop alternative materials that are less reliant upon chemicals and annual planting.  Bamboo is a natural substitute that can rebuild soils damaged by cotton. It is much more valuable as a multi use material, and it effectively stops erosion….The famous USDA Bamboo researcher, F.A. McClure first studied bamboo for erosion control.  He foretold the serious erosion that farming the Great Plains would engender, and was basically ignored.  Since that time, annual planting has caused about 10’ of lost topsoil in Kansas, to be flushed into the rivers, and along with pesticide runoff, has contributed to the deterioration of fish population and “dead zones” in the ocean.  Bamboo can help alleviate this problem, and we can lead the way, with site specific planting programs.  Bamboo building materials will be successful if the cost is low and performance is high.  Research at Zhejiang Forestry College proves that many products  can exceed the performance of wood and steel, and have confidence that they can achieve cost savings over those materials.

BAMBOO FOOD

The Common Moso Bamboo Shoot contains 15 Amino Acids, and is the most valuable segment of the Chinese export trade in Bamboo products.

The market for food is always expanding, and the profit margin is relatively low.  During economic contractions, inexpensive food is the strongest segment.  Bamboo derived foods can be formulated with high amino acid content, and low production cost.  We are working to create new Bamboo foods and extracts that can be added to rice bran (a byproduct of rice production that contains 7 amino acids) to fortify the basic dietary needs of half the world population.  This is a very promising potential market that could be developed quickly.

Bamboo flavanoids are being researched and have limited market share in China, and that is where we expect to have our earliest food related success.

Recent scandals over toxic additives in food originating in China will require us to produce our products locally.  We will start producing value added food products from domestic crops within the next ten years.  We will be producing food in other countries before we have sufficient biomass in the US, and that will give us time to develop a line of food products that will provide low cost, high quality, healthy alternatives.  We are  confident that bamboo can become as popular in the western diet as it is in the Orient.

BAMBOO COMPOSITES AND ENGINEERED STRUCTURES

Composite technology is a new area that is being developed by the demand for lighter and stronger vehicles.  Fuel efficiency is most easily achieved through weight savings.  Light weight Bamboo reinforced structures have advantages over metal and silicon (fiber glass) through out the manufacturing process.  The demand for low cost high performance components will allow us to design vehicles that have bamboo composite bodies, coated with bamboo nano films, and possibly running on bamboo fuel.  That is a market goal that we expect to meet within 20 years, and the market for such vehicles could be huge and world wide.

Bamply wind turbine blades and woven shapes are already being tested. The Indian Army is testing charcoal derived fabric for use as body armor.  Confidence is high that there will be an endless demand for more high strength light weight applications.

Market Impact

1. Water purification and treatment.  Market Impact:  Substantial

Water treatment technology is an area where the search is on for low cost alternatives that are practical and sustainable.  Research has begun to point to bamboo charcoal as a low cost filter medium that could furnish clean water to millions of people who do not have it now, because of the cost of infrastructure.  On site water purification for individuals can be done with passive Bamboo Charcoal filters.  This represents a huge opportunity that we intend to develop.  We will begin by replicating research that has been done at Zhejiang  Forestry College, to verify the claims that are being made that Bamboo charcoal is superior to other forms for water purification.

2. Timber (1) vs. Bamboo (5)

Bamboo has been proven (by USDA funded research) to be 5 times more productive than Southern White Pine for Paper. 

Chinese manufacturers are producing everything from low cost packaging to high quality Velum, from bamboo. The market impact depends upon the cost and availability of sufficient raw material...Bamboo is the low cost leader in much of the world already, and Chinese overtures to Africa and South America come with aid in the form of Bamboo silviculture and technology grants.  Bambooisgrass.com is seeking to build the next generation of plantation scale agriculture, with the aim to supplant timber in most common uses.  This will save much timber...or at least allow more timber exports to offset the US trade imbalance. This might have some effect upon timber companies which rely upon federal allotments; and perhaps make lumber prices rise as uses become more production oriented....both of these effects are considered to be of economic benefit, and may offset the diminished demand for expensive wood; as bamboo production rises toward low cost dominance.

The market impact depends upon the cost and availability of sufficient raw material...Bamboo is "the next big thing" in many lines of development, and could dominate paper and cellulistic chemical markets within 10 years. Whether US based businesses are going to be part of that is the question.

3.  Textiles and Fabrics. Impact: Major

Bamboo fabrics have been around since the invention of Rayon, and are now being developed as “organic” and “natural” substitutes for cotton and polyester.  We are working with several manufacturers to produce sample lines of products using these fibers, and may have patentable processes as a result of that effort.  New types of Bamboo fiber may be a lower cost, eco friendly, sustainable, alternative to cotton, and could dominate the market for textiles when cotton is no longer subsidized.

4.  Nano Tech applications.  Impact: Unknown.

Bamboo is a natural long fiber composite, composed of a lignin matrix supporting pure carbon fibers.  The carbon is concentrated at the rate of about 3.67 tons of atmospheric CO2 to each 1 ton of bamboo carbon fiber.  The carbon component has the capacity to conduct electrical currant, and served as the first commercial light bulb filament.  The electricity was conducted through the soft carbon, which was structurally supported by the tough lignin.  Thomas Edison discovered this after trying over 1500 possible bio conductors.   Researchers have built upon his work and now have discovered that bamboo charcoal is a natural “nano tube” that can conduct electricity as a very thin film disbursed on the surface of a glass or silicon substrate.  At the nano level, this material acts as an “insulating conductor”, which is necessary for the next generation of miniaturization of the electronics industry.  We have seen bamboo nano films that can react to voltage variations by changing color and hue.  That could be the next version of the X/O differentiation that makes electronic computing possible.   We are trying to continue this line of research, in the pursuit of new applications.  We are looking for new coatings and materials that can change with voltage variations, and maintain the change without requiring electron flow.  This would have wide applications for innovations such as thin emulsion solar energy collection, variable density glass, and extremely tough surface films.  We want to develop the ability to make the first “disappearing” building materials, and it seems possible based upon the research so far.

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"Time is money" when planning for Plantation scale Bamboo. There are several paths to large scale production, and it depends upon funding to dictate the pace of development. Time tested methods of propagation using plant division takes the longest time to build large scale plantations. In vitro multiplication is faster, and more expensive. Tissue culture can be used on some types of bamboos that produce pseudospikets, and may be the fastest way to get large plantation scale crops. We will use a combination of these techniques to insure success. Mature Bamboo replicates exponentially. Under ideal conditions, it can attain full size within 3 years. Our timeline estimates are conservative. Funding, and rapid land acquisition, are key requirements that are presently not available to our project, but if they were, the following estimates are achievable.

1. Carbon Credits and Offsets: 5-10 years.

The production of carbon credits requires sufficient amounts of material to provide real reductions in emissions. We can use the time between planting and commercial scaled harvesting to develop the bacterial process of conversion to H; and to develop the market for bamboo based credits. That will take about 5 years, before"Beta" introduction, and will reach full scale production within ten years of inception.

2. Water Treatment Systems: 3-5 years.

Based upon the research to date, we estimate that small scale freshwater treatment can be tested within 1-2 years, and larger systems in about 3-4 years. Waste water treatment may take a little longer. Salt water (desalinization) with high pressure bamboo membranes is being used now on a limited commercial scale. We will have a full line of low cost water treatment products, and will market them to water purveyors, NGOs, and rural Coops. This work will be done in places where Charcoal is available; probably in China, but soon thereafter, in India, Mexico, and where ever mature Bamboo is available.

3. Building Materials: 1 year.

Bamboo materials are being used now, in limited amounts, and we will have several available for sale, initially, in foreign markets through joint ventures with established manufacturers; and later in Company operated Facilities in many countries.

4.Bamboo Textiles 1-5 years. 

Recent revelations about Viscose derived from Bamboo have made the claims of "Organic, and natural bamboo fabric" suspect.  It remains to be proven, but one manufacturer has been working with  the company and has agreed to prove the process.

5. Bamboo Food: 1 year.

Bamboo food is available now. We want to work with American producers to create acceptable products for domestic consumption. We are in the initial stages of developing break through products with our research associates, and expect to have a protocol for licensing our discoveries in place soon.

5. Composites: 2-10 years.

We are working on prototype samples for demonstration purposes now, and will have new designs soon. This will allow mechanical testing on a small scale. Our research and development efforts will accelerate, as funding is received. We will develop composites that have the advantage of weight savings and resilience over steel and aluminum.  These will be applicable to the auto and aerospace industry, and we want to work with them to hasten the development, but extensive testing will take time.  In the interim, we can develop  specialized prototype designs for bamboo reinforced sports equipment, furniture, boats, and many other common products.

6. Plantation planning, infrastructure, and installation: Available now.

We have a skilled team of Bamboo Plantation experts available for consulting and technical support. We can plan and execute plantation startups and provide management and vocational training as soon as we have a demonstration site.