Never before has bamboo been used as a structurally load-bearing material in the United States.

SCU's innovative bamboo I-joists, developed by Dr. Mark Aschheim and the SCU Solar Decathlon Civil Engineering Team, are the first of their kind in the United States. Our original "brain child" bamboo joists were fabricated out of compressed bamboo floorboards, the only readily-available domestic source of bamboo. After one year of extensive testing to determine strength and elasticity, SCU's bamboo I-joists were approved and deemed suitable structural building materials. In fact, on average bamboo I-joists can support up to 10,390 lbs before bending or breaking; making bamboo by far the strongest grass we have ever heard of.

In addition to being strong, bamboo is an exceptional sustainable building material for multiple reasons:

1) As a grass, bamboo replenishes itself in 5-7 years, compared to the 30-50 needed by hardwood
2) Some bamboo species can grow up to 2 feet each day
3) Bamboo produces 4 times as much lumber as an equivalent plot of hardwood
4) Bamboo retains its root structure when harvested, meaning new shoots regrow from the old stalk
5) This root structure controls water flow and alleviates soil erosion through bamboo forests and farmlands

We sourced our Teragren bamboo from sustainably harvested agricultural plots in the Zhejiang Province of China. It is important to note that our bamboo is indeed, "panda-friendly," as there are no indigenous panda bears in this province with whom we might compete for resources. We hope that by innovating marketable and highly "buildable" bamboo I-joists that any construction company can use with no extra training, cost, or effort, we can encourage the expansion of domestic bamboo production for use in the United States.

Look for bamboo in other areas of our house, including cabinetry, flooring, and even our utensils and wastebaskets!

I-Joist load testing	click to watch a flash animation explaining the benefits of bamboo (alternate flash-free image)	featured at the Wired NextFest