The Benefits and Barriers for Promoting Bamboo as a Green Building Material in China—An Integrative Analysis

Abstract

Bamboo is commonly considered as a green, environmentally friendly material. However, it appears that bamboo finds limited application in the form of green building materials in the Chinese construction sector. In order to explain this phenomenon and promote the material’s application, this study summarizes the benefits of applying bamboo materials and presents an analysis on barriers affecting the effective application of bamboo materials in this specific building sector. Research data are collected from both literature surveys and semi-structured interviews with a group of carefully selected experts from the Chinese building sector. Fifteen characteristic barriers are identified, such as ineffective action by government departments. An integrative analysis is conducted, including investigation on the hierarchy structure among characteristic barriers using the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) method and the classification of barriers from a driving-driven perspective using the Cross-impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) technique. This classification provides a different profile for the characteristic barriers from that of traditional barrier analysis methods. The findings provide valuable references for helping policy makers and practitioners adopt effective policies and measures to promote the application of bamboo for green materials in building sector.

Novel Advanced Composite Bamboo Structural Members with Bio-Based and Synthetic Matrices for Sustainable Construction

“…The most significant studies on the use of bamboo in construction can be mentioned as follows. Harries et al [25] proposed standard test methods to classify the full-culm bamboo longitudinal splitting strengths. Sharma et al [17] compared the mechanical properties of commercially available bamboo scrimber and laminated bamboo with those of timber and engineered timber products.…”

“…The structural application of bamboo leads to the preservation of the world's scarce resources, conservation of energy and reduction of environmental pollution [23]. However, more extensive developments, hindered by its natural shape, can be achieved by systematic research on the standardized use of engineered bamboo that is currently lacking [25]. In this regard, this pilot study investigates, for the first time, the compressive mechanical behaviour of novel engineered bamboo composites that are manufactured to be used as load-bearing primary structural members in contemporary construction.…”

“…So far, there have been few attempts to build bamboo-based engineered buildings and footbridges e.g., [22][23][24]. However, bamboo has not become a mainstream construction material and the use of bamboo in the building industry is presently restricted to traditional and vernacular applications [25].…”

A Combination of DEMATEL and BWM-Based ANP Methods for Exploring the Green Building Rating System in Taiwan

“…With increasing environmental awareness, the general population is beginning to understand the importance of sustainable development although increased urbanization has also increased the demand for building construction as well as safe and healthy indoor environments. These sometimes-conflicting needs obviously affect the design, conception, and methods of construction of green buildings [1][2][3][4][5]. In response to this trend, BREEAM, was launched by the British Building Research Establishment in 1990, opening a new chapter and approach as a sustainable green building assessment tool.…”

Integrated Evaluation of the Impediments to the Adoption of Coconut Palm Wood as a Sustainable Material for Building Construction

“…To start with, an integrative analysis was adopted by [26] to provide insight on the impediments to the promotion of bamboo as a green building material in China. The authors contributed to the development of literature in the area of bamboo adoption as a green building material.…”