Does bamboo burn?

June 5, 2007 12:17 PM

Does bamboo burn in fireplaces and wood stoves? I'm wondering if I can use it to heat a house, since it's far more renewable than trees.
posted by Galen to Home & Garden (15 answers total)

Yes, it sort of burns. But be careful - it can crackle, pop, and explode like fireworks. Break up the cylinder shape before burning.
posted by Xere at 12:23 PM on June 5, 2007

If you dry it for a few months first, as you would any firewood, it'll burn just fine.
posted by ChasFile at 12:27 PM on June 5, 2007

It might not put out much heat, though. This might have more info for you, though it doesn't have anything specific to say about bamboo. Different kinds of wood store different amounts of energy, and will release different amounts of heat. Bamboo is a grass; seasoned, it may burn hot, but not for long. I don't know how "clean" it burns - you don't want to gunk up your flue.
posted by rtha at 12:32 PM on June 5, 2007

If you scroll down on this page you'll find an abstract about using bamboo as a fuel source.

The conclusion seems to be that it may not be more productive than normal woodlots, and it may clog your stove. But that's just my quick reading of it. There are also some links.
posted by OmieWise at 12:43 PM on June 5, 2007

Best answer: Digging a bit more brings up this comparative paper, with a chart, which indicates that bamboo has a "heating value" of ~19 gigajoules/metric tonne, in comparison to 19.6 for generic softwood and 20.5 for generic hardwood.

Keep in mind that you need a whole lot more bamboo to make up a metric tonne, which is why it might not be any more sustainable than a normal woodlot.
posted by OmieWise at 1:08 PM on June 5, 2007

Oh, shoot, hit post to quickly. Here's that paper.
posted by OmieWise at 1:08 PM on June 5, 2007

Bamboo is not very dense. Per unit mass, I believe the above numbers that say it's about the same amount of energy as wood. Per unit volume, however, it's going to be a hell of a lot less.

Where are you going to buy it? If you're trying to be "green", then buying bamboo that's been hauled hundreds or thousands of miles to reach you is less "green" than burning local wood. And it's not at all clear that bamboo is more "renewable" than wood.

There's no indication in your profile of where you live. If you're in North America, then the problem is that bamboo is not grown here in large quantities. It wouldn't be very "green" to burn bamboo that had been brought here by diesel-powered ship from Asia. (And it wouldn't be very cheap, either.)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:38 PM on June 5, 2007

Yeah, i used to try to use bamboo (or something very close to it) to start fires in a little outdoor hibachi type thing I had. It burns, but not all that well. There tends to leave a lot of ash, and the shape of the bamboo sticks doesn't really lend itself to a long, controlled burn.

I found it made decent kindling, however, so if you've got a big pile of dried bamboo sitting around that you have to use, you could try that. Just don't try using it as your main fuel source, unless you want to continually re-feed your stove/fireplace every 20 minutes.
posted by i less than three nsima at 2:00 PM on June 5, 2007

Steven,

I believe he's referring to bamboo as an easily renewable wood supply because, were he to plant some, it would spread rapidly and aggressively. Bamboo can cover a lot of ground fairly quickly. I'd say not to do it because it's an invasive species, and if not managed properly, it can really overwhelm property- and not just your own.
posted by potch at 2:05 PM on June 5, 2007

More renewable doesn't mean that it's not being overharvested, either. A friend recently mentioned that as a flooring material, it's being used enough now that the bamboo forests that are being harvested are being completely depleted at a rate faster than they can be planted.

You could burn it to heat a house, but as far as burning goes, wood is going to be more economical.
posted by mikeh at 2:08 PM on June 5, 2007

Not all bamboo is invasive. There are 91 genera and about 1000 species, so it depends which one we're talking about.
posted by mds35 at 2:10 PM on June 5, 2007

"There is little evidence overall that bamboo is significantly more productive than many other candidate bioenergy crops, but it shares a number of desirable fuel characteristics with certain other bioenergy feedstocks, such as low ash content and alkali index. Its heating value is lower than many woody biomass feedstocks but higher than most agricultural residues, grasses and straws."

A healthy bamboo forest replaces 30% of it's biomass in one year, while a tree forest replaces 3-5%. It's possible that it may be more efficient to grow and burn bamboo for fuel if your climate is right for it and you have enough rainfall for the bamboo. The need for irrigation could be the deciding factor in whether or not it makes sense to burn bamboo. As far as the size goes, it works quite well for rocket stoves.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:01 PM on June 5, 2007

FWIW, the genus Chusquea is a clumping bamboo with a solid culm that grows in temperate regions, as long as it doesn't get too dry and hot. Chusquea culeou is pretty widely available and tolerates 15-90 degree F temps.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:12 PM on June 5, 2007

A healthy bamboo forest replaces 30% of it's biomass in one year, while a tree forest replaces 3-5%.

That's a deceptive statistic, because a tree forest has a much larger quantity of biomass per acre. The percentage is computed against a different base value.

That statistic doesn't necessarily mean that bamboo creates more biomass per year in absolute terms.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:49 PM on June 5, 2007

Response by poster: Potch has it right: I'm considering the usefulness of planting and harvesting my own bamboo for construction / fuel. I'm in the PNW of the US, which is an optimum climate for growing bamboo.

Thanks all for the links and info. Now I've got some reading to do!
posted by Galen at 7:13 PM on June 6, 2007