The environmental performance of a living bamboo fence: a study on biomass carbon storage and life cycle assessment

Abstract

The start-up company Breathing Bricks (Gent, Belgium) aims to reduce the environmental impacts of construction sites through one of its products, the Breathing Fence — an alternative fencing solution consisting of living Fargesia nitida bamboo plants in steel plant potters. This study seeks to evaluate the environmental performance of this product by estimating the carbon storage potential of the bamboo biomass and integrating it into a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that evaluates its impacts through the comparison of eight scenarios. Carbon storage in the bamboo biomass was estimated by measurements and sampling on the current fence, while the LCA, with a focus on climate change, assessed environmental impacts across the different scenarios. Additionally, uncertainty for each scenario was quantified through a Monte Carlo simulation. This study’s results estimates that the current product emits 187.58 kg CO2-eq per running meter of a plant potter, while the bamboo biomass stores only 5.21 kg CO2-eq. Scenarios with wooden plant potters demonstrated significantly better environmental performances, with the softwood scenario potentially offering a net carbon storage of 2.18 kg CO2-eq per running meter, as 158% of emissions are offset by the bamboo biomass. Based on its findings, the study recommends avoiding steel for the Breathing Fence and turning to wood products for the plant potters. Given the positive but modest potential for carbon storage if the change in materials is made, it is also suggested to highlight the product’s aesthetic value and its potential for carbon neutrality rather than emphasizing it as a significant carbon sequestration solution.