Congressman gets a close look at ‘green’ entrepreneurs

Posted: 04/06/2012 6:30 AM

Congressman Bobby Schilling, R-Colona, toured the Sustainable Business Center, in Galesburg Illinois, Thursday and voiced his support for the concept of “green companies” operated by entrepreneurs.

“Green to me is red, white and blue,” the congressman said. “It is not a Republican or a Democrat issue, it’s an American issue.”

While not an official celebration of the anniversary, the SBC is just more than a year old. Schilling not only was impressed by the facility and the entrepreneurs whose companies are beginning to fill it, he had kind words for the Galesburg area and its workforce.

“With all the hardships that happened here in Galesburg over a period of years, Galesburg has prepared to bounce back quite readily,” he said.

Lamboo founder and CEO Luke Schuette added. “We’re going to be doubling our capacity here”

The founder of the Springfield-based company specializing in the manufacture of engineered bamboo for structural, architectural and industrial applications said four more people will be hired here for distribution and fabrication work. Schuette said Lamboo also is launching its bamboo Surface™ table tops and countertops in conjunction with Redbud Ridge Custom Shop in Bartonville.

“Redbud is going to be hiring two people,” he said.

In addition, Schuette said bamboo has been added as a certified product to the International Building Code, something the company has been working on since 2007 and seen as a key to further expansion. He said Lamboo is completing distributorship agreements in Australia, Switzerland and Germany, as well continuing development of the Lamboo series of Fender guitars. Other expansions into Vietnam and possibly Panama in the future to acquire bamboo are part of the growing company’s many projects.

“Galesburg is a very important piece of the puzzle,” Schuette said.

(Excerpt of article by John Pulliam of House of Register-Mail. NOT AFFILIATED WITH LAMBOO INC.)

For questions regarding Lamboo or our products please visit our

website at www.lamboo.us or contact us at info@lamboo.us

"MAKING INNOVATIVE THINKING A STANDARD" - Lamboo Incorporated

Blog by: Dustin Dennison

Booming bamboo: The next super-material?

Bamboo is being hailed as a new super material, with uses ranging from textiles to construction. It also has the potential to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, the biggest greenhouse gas, and provide some of the world's poorest people with cash. 

Bamboo's image is undergoing a transformation. Some now call it "the timber of the 21st Century". Today you can buy a pair of bamboo socks or use it as a fully load-bearing structural beam in your house - and it is said that there are some 1,500 uses for it in between.

There is a rapidly growing recognition of the ways in which bamboo can serve us as consumers and also help to save the planet from the effects of climate change because of its unrivaled capacity to capture carbon. "From the field and the forest to the factory and the merchant, from the design studio to the laboratory, from the universities to those in political power, people are more and more aware of this potentially renewable resource," says Michael Abadie, who took up the presidency of the World Bamboo Organization last year.

"In the last decade, bamboo has become a major economic crop," Abadie continues.

New technologies and ways of industrially processing bamboo have made a big difference, enabling it to begin to compete effectively with wood products for Western markets.

It is estimated that the world bamboo market stands at around $10bn (£6.24bn) today, and the World Bamboo Organization says it could double in five years.

The developing world is now embracing this potential growth.

In eastern Nicaragua, bamboo was until recently regarded by most of the local population as valueless - more as a nuisance to be cleared than a boon to them and their region. But on land that was once under dense forest cover, then turned over to slash-and-burn agriculture and ranching, new bamboo plantations are rising.

This is the world's fastest growing plant, ready to be harvested annually and sustainably after four to five years in contrast to the typical tropical hardwood that takes many years longer to mature and can be harvested only once.

The investment in bamboo is having a positive effect on local plantation workers, providing paid employment for people, including women, many of whom were previously jobless, or for men who once had to travel to Costa Rica to find work.

There is long way to go before the grasses now being nurtured in Nicaragua - for technically bamboo is a member of the grass family - can safely be described as the timber of the 21st Century - and the key plant in a more sustainable future for forestry and therefore for the world.

But, for now at least, bamboo is definitely booming.

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(Excerpt of article by Mike Wooldridge of BBC News. NOT AFFILIATED WITH LAMBOO INC.)

 

For questions regarding Lamboo or our products please visit our

website at www.lamboo.us or contact us at info@lamboo.us

"MAKING INNOVATIVE THINKING A STANDARD" - Lamboo Incorporated

Blog by: Dustin Dennison

Energy Efficiency Bill Would Encourage Vendors to Bid on Projects

Lawmakers are trying to craft fixes to a program to help local and state governments save taxpayer money by reducing how much energy they use. But whether the changes go far enough is a matter of dispute -- even among the proposal's proponents.

The bill (S-1753) aims to overhaul the Energy Savings Improvement Program, which advocates say could save hundreds of millions of dollars for governments if impediments discouraging energy companies from participating in the effort were removed.

Without giving these companies more flexibility in deciding who actually performs the energy efficiency work, they will never invest in long-term contracts that guarantee energy savings, according to some who have followed the bill through the legislature.

The original law, approved more than three years ago, was designed to allow government entities to enter into performance-based contracts with energy service companies, enabling them to cut energy use without any capital expenditures. The agencies pay off the projects over a 15- to 20-year period through the energy savings they capture, which can run as much as 25 percent.

Among other things, the bill moving through the legislature, would eliminate a requirement that state contracts be awarded to the lowest bidder. Instead, it would allow contracts to be awarded on a basis of best value, a standard that would allow New Jersey to award deals based on which bids provide the greatest energy savings.

“There are literally hundreds of millions of dollars of projects that can be done,’’ said Steve Goldenberg, an energy lawyer who has been pushing for changes in the law.

According to studies the typical U.S. family spends about $1,900 a year on utility bills, a large portion of which is waste. Homeowners lose an estimated $40 of every $100 spent on heating and cooling to leakage alone.

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(Excerpt of article posted by Tom Johnson, March 27, 2012 in  the Energy & Environment news section of NJ Spotlight. NOT AFFILIATED WITH LAMBOO INC.)

Economic and environmental concerns are forcing dramatic changes in regulation in governments all across the world in how resources are used and managed. Weaknesses in the current system are being exposed leading to debate on how to build a sustainable future for our society. Rising energy costs combined with decreasing resources and devastating climate changes are creating a need for more efficient processes. Through the rapidly renewable resource of bamboo, Lamboo is creating energy efficient systems and products to meet future demand. Every aspect of bamboo makes it ideal for a future where sustainability and performance must both be maintained.

For questions regarding Lamboo or our products please visit our

website at www.lamboo.us or contact us at info@lamboo.us

"MAKING INNOVATIVE THINKING A STANDARD" - Lamboo Incorporated

Blog by: Dustin Dennison