McKillican | Bamboo Hardwood Lumber from Teragren

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Bamboo Hardwood Lumber from Teragren

General Description

Bamboo Hardwood Lumber from Teragren

For Teragren hardwood lumber, we use only Optimum 5.5® Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) known for its dense fibers and grown in the Zhejiang province of China. We also require that the bamboo is sustainably harvested at maturity, every 5-1/2 to 6 years. With these specifications, we avoid product performance problems like cupping and warping associated with young, soft and often inexpensive bamboo that is harvested too soon. As a result, Teragren products are exceptionally durable and our source plants remain vigorous and healthy harvest after harvest.

Environmental Description

Does FSC-certified bamboo qualify for LEED Credits, specifically MR Credit 7: Certified Wood?
Yes. FSC-certified bamboo now qualifies for U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED MR Credit 7: Certified Wood.

LEED® Credit
MR 6: Rapidly Renewing Materials—QUALIFIES
Teragren products qualify because they are made with Optimum 5.5 Moso bamboo, a rapidly renewable resource

Is Teragren bamboo FSC certified?
The certification is pending. Since bamboo is technically not a tree but a grass, it hasn't been included among FSC's standards held for tree forests. Only recently has the FSC's set of standards been expanded to include Moso bamboo forests.

Carbon sequestration: cleaner air, carbon offsets
In addition to relieving pressure on degraded forests, bamboo contributes to efforts to reduce global warming. Bamboo's leafy canopy releases 35 percent more oxygen than a comparable cluster of hardwood trees, especially when you consider that the bamboo re-grows and reproduces a canopy many times in its lifespan. In the renewing process, the plant grabs carbon from the air and holds it within its stalk and root system where, in nature, it is not released until the soil in which the plant decomposes is turned. Products made from bamboo take that carbon out of circulation. Teragren bamboo products harvested and manufactured correctly can last for many generations, keeping carbon locked up over the life of the products and helping to offset carbon usage that occurs in shipping our products to market.

Measuring our environmental footprint
A core component of the Teragren mission is to measure our company's environmental footprint and work toward mitigating—and ultimately neutralizing—its environmental impact. This arduous process has been completed at our Bainbridge Island office, which is now carbon neutral, and is underway at our factories in China.

USGBC LEED Potential Credits = 3

EQ4.1