Are bamboo floors really green?

Let's look at what makes bamboo floors green.

First, there's bamboo's rapid growth and regeneration. Bamboo is technically a grass, not a tree, that starts with rhizomes, stems that grow underground and send shoots and leaves above ground. Once the young bamboo is planted, it takes anywhere from four to 10 years for the usable "wood" to mature. After that, the plant can grow new shoots each year. And the shoots grow quickly: as much as a foot per day [source: Bowyer].

As a result, bamboo plants can be harvested on a regular basis without killing the plant, unlike trees used in hardwood floors, which die when harvested and can take decades or longer to mature.

Because of its faster growth rate, bamboo beats most trees when it comes to carbon sequestration, how quickly it can absorb carbon. Slow absorption of carbon has been linked to contributing to the greenhouse effect and the depletion of the ozone layer. Because bamboo grows so quickly, it absorbs more carbon -- and produces more oxygen. About two-and-a-half acres of bamboo sequesters 62 tons of CO2 per year, compared with the same area of a young forest, which holds on to 15 tons of CO2 [source: Environmental Bamboo Foundation]. Additionally, bamboo generates around 35 percent more oxygen than the equivalent number of trees [source: International Network for Bamboo and Rattan].

And beyond that, high-quality bamboo is stronger than regular hardwood floors, partly due to the fact that it's a grass that bends in the wind. Because of its flexibility, high-quality bamboo is as durable as most types of hardwood.

So you're thinking: This is great, when do I start laying the bamboo? Before you buy, read on to find out why bamboo might not be as green as you think.

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Before you hop in your hybrid to head to the nearest bamboo-flooring store, you should know that not everything about bamboo is eco-friendly.

First, there's getting the bamboo to you. The type of bamboo used in wood flooring is grown mostly in Asia, so to get the bamboo to the consumer, it must be shipped, which is costly and guzzles up energy [source: Treehugger]. Some U.S. bamboo sellers include carbon offsets in the price of the flooring; however, this only raises the price and doesn't stop the depletion of limited natural resources like oil. It also doesn't solve the questionable labor practices found in countries like China, the main supplier of bamboo.

Second, there's the urea, a type of formaldehyde used to finish many types of bamboo. Formaldehyde is a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC), which reduces indoor air quality. There are other options for getting the bamboo the color you desire, including heating it, but heating bamboo wood decreases its strength, oftentimes making it less durable than regular wood. For more on bamboo flooring construction, see How Bamboo Flooring Works.

Finally, bamboo has become so profitable that the lower income, rural residents who originally benefited from farming it are succumbing to market pressures. To keep up with demand, farmers are increasingly using fertilizers and pesticides, which leach into the ground and contaminate groundwater [source: Bowyer].

Forests also are being cleared to make room for the more profitable bamboo. While bamboo is good at preventing soil erosion, the initial deforestation and time it takes for the bamboo to establish itself leaves the land vulnerable. Additionally, while bamboo makes a good habitat for a large number of insects, birds and animals, there are other species that only call tree forests home; replacing much of the tree forests with bamboo decreases biodiversity in the region [source: Bamboo Flooring Report].

Now that you've learned the less-than-green side of bamboo flooring, you may be wondering, "What other eco-friendly options do I have?" Read on to find out about alternatives to hardwood and bamboo floors.

If you're having second thoughts about bamboo flooring but still want an environmentally friendly way to walk through your home, there are alternatives.

One option growing in popularity is cork. It's considered a renewable source because stripping the bark of the cork tree does not kill it. Cork floors also are made of the waste material of the cork. The original material is used for the corks found in bottles; the discarded material is then ground up to be used as flooring material. To learn more about cork production, see Where does cork come from?

However, cork has its flaws too. For example, it doesn't mimic the look of hardwood floors the way that bamboo does, so there's an aesthetic issue. And cork is grown in Mediterranean climates, so there's still the issue of transportation [source: Novitski].

Other alternatives to bamboo and hardwood floors include:

­­Each of these has their own benefits -- tile is strong, earthen floors use the materials already on site. But each has their own downsides, too -- wool is often imported from New Zealand and cement is very unforgiving for household living. And many of these methods are still relatively new in U.S. homes, so finding the materials and labor may be as costly -- economically and environmentally -- as traditional floors.

As a consumer, probably your best chance for a green floor is to research what's available in your area and balance that with the cost and aesthetic values. To learn about more green flooring options, take a walk through the links on the next page.