From Problems to Possibilities: Overcoming Commercialization Challenges to Scale Timber Bamboo in Buildings

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

China's bamboo industry is the world's leading, it is suggested that the author increase the bamboo research reports from China.

The title should be revised according to the text.

More papers published in high-level journals should be cited.

Bamboo scrimber composite is an important bamboo-based product, which can be used in the construction field. It is recommended to increase the review of the processing and utilization of bamboo scrimber composite.

Author Response

Comment 1. China's bamboo industry is the world's leading, it is suggested that the author increase the bamboo research reports from China.

Authors’ Response: We appreciate the reviewer’s observation regarding the importance of China's bamboo industry. In the paper, we did not focus on specific countries but rather aimed to provide a global perspective on bamboo research and its application in sustainable construction. However, we recognize China's significant contribution to bamboo research and have already cited several studies from Chinese researchers or institutions (References 11, 12, 28 and 62). These examples illustrate that we have incorporated Chinese research reports and studies into our analysis. Additionally, our bibliometric review (Section 2) captures publications from major databases such as Scopus, which include extensive research from China.

 

Comment 2. The title should be revised according to the text.

Authors’ Response: We have updated the title.

 

Comment 3. More papers published in high-level journals should be cited.

Authors’ Response: We appreciate the reviewer’s suggestion and acknowledge the importance of citing high-impact journal articles to strengthen our analysis. Our paper already includes citations from reputable journals such as Construction and Building Materials, Sustainability, and Journal of Materials Science. We welcome the reviewer’s input regarding which high-level journals we should be additionally looking at for citations.

 

Comment 4. Bamboo scrimber composite is an important bamboo-based product, which can be used in the construction field. It is recommended to increase the review of the processing and utilization of bamboo scrimber composite.

Authors’ Response: Thank you for your comment regarding the importance of bamboo scrimber composite in construction. We appreciate the opportunity to clarify our coverage of this topic. In our paper, we have already highlighted bamboo scrimber as one of the suggested products in Table 3, where the optimal processing strategies for different sections of bamboo culms are outlined. Additionally, this table and the accompanying discussion emphasize the suitability of scrimber for structural applications, further supporting its relevance in the construction field. The focus of our paper is a review and analysis of the literature, which encompasses various bamboo-based products, including scrimber, and their applications in construction.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This manuscript gives a good review on timber bamboo as a sustainable building fiber. The contents are plenty and important in the corresponding field. However, MINOR revisions are requested before acceptance. My comments are below:

1. The display of numbers of publications per yest in Figure 5 (actually Figure 3) is not suitable, the data points are suggested to be displayed intend of solid lines. And as mentioned, the number of figures should be corrected carefully.

2. More details should be provided for the three-story building in Figure 5, for example, the building unit and processing procedures.

3. More descriptions should be added on the information in Figure 6.

4. The quicker increasing rate for the carbon stock of bamboo products than US softwood products with the increasing time, should be explored in-depth.

5. Harvesting technology is very important as the authors stated, however, the displayed derives are for wood not bamboo. Actually, these derives are proved to be nut suitable for bamboo.

6. The MOE displayed in Figure 13 should be distinguished between straight and horizontal stripes.

7. Evaluation models for carbon stock should be reviewed. Some references are suggested such as Ind Crops Prod,2023,202,117046; Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 2023, 42(10): 1036-1048; et al.

Author Response

Comment 1. The display of numbers of publications per yest in Figure 5 (actually Figure 3) is not suitable, the data points are suggested to be displayed intend of solid lines. And as mentioned, the number of figures should be corrected carefully.

Authors’ Response: The graph has been updated.

 

Comment 2. More details should be provided for the three-story building in Figure 5, for example, the building unit and processing procedures.

Authors’ Response: More detail has been added to the caption of Figure 5.

 

Comment 3. More descriptions should be added on the information in Figure 6.

Authors’ Response: The information in Figure 6 has been expanded upon in Section 2.3: Bibliometric Network Analysis Using VOSviewer, which explains how we generated the graph using the VOSviewer tool. Additional details were included, as highlighted in purple in the paper.

 

Comment 4. The quicker increasing rate for the carbon stock of bamboo products than US softwood products with the increasing time, should be explored in-depth.

Authors’ Response: While we recognize the importance of the reviewer’s comment, discussion of the time value of carbon as it pertains to varying growth rates is outside the scope of this paper. In a separate paper submitted to the journal special issue, “Evaluating Fast-Growing Fibers for Building Decarbonization with Dynamic LCA,” we explore this in-depth. We have added this as a citation at the end of section 3.1.

 

 Comment 5. Harvesting technology is very important as the authors stated, however, the displayed derives are for wood not bamboo. Actually, these derives are proved to be nut suitable for bamboo.

Authors’ Response: We agree that simply applying wood-derived technologies without proper adaptations will not work for bamboo. However, the section does not suggest a direct adoption but rather outlines how these technologies can be re-tooled and adapted specifically for bamboo.

 

Comment 6. The MOE displayed in Figure 13 should be distinguished between straight and horizontal stripes.

Authors’ Response: Agreed and corrected throughout the text. The MOE values presented in Figure 13 are derived from bamboo samples with fibers aligned longitudinally (straight stripes). We have revised the manuscript to clearly state this in both the figure caption and the text.

 

Comment 7. Evaluation models for carbon stock should be reviewed. Some references are suggested such as Ind Crops Prod,2023,202,117046; Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 2023, 42(10): 1036-1048; et al.

Authors’ Response: Evaluation models for carbon stock is outside the scope of this review. While we briefly touch on the comparative carbon footprint of timber bamboo in section 3.1, this is not meant to be an in-depth review of the carbon potential but rather the commercialization challenges timber bamboo faces. We do not dispute the carbon potential of bamboo, but it is not the main focus of the paper. If there are specific points in the paper that the reviewer feels citations would help strengthen, we welcome the suggestions.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper is well written and covers significant aspects related to the use of bamboo as a sustainable building product

Few comments to further improve the quality of the paper are listed below:

Abstract

The abstract does not include description for the research method (the literature review process), please revise

CO₂ not CO2, please use consistently

Please explain the review method e.g. databases, year limit, keywords used, selection and any filtration processes performed…etc.

Authors can also add to the review that currently it is encouraged by several green building rating system to use bamboo and other short yield agricultural products in building industry because they are considered rapidly growing building materials (e.g. search LEED version 3.0 and LEED version 4.1 to what regards Materials use) or other green building rating system.

It is also interesting to note the green product certification related to bamboo

The effect of using bamboo for building products on the building performance in terms of energy consumption and thermal comfort should also be noted. Further the effect on life cycle assessment is another main point to be point out (please add it to page 10 lines 290-299 combined with the discourse related to its carbon footprint). It was already mentioned as a keypoint in page 8 (life cycle and life cycle assessment but further explanation is required)

currently the conclusion section is fine but could be improved by pinpointing the contribution of this review paper in providing a comprehensive understanding of the topic and its controversial aspects 

 

 

Author Response

Comment 1. The abstract does not include description for the research method (the literature review process), please revise.

Authors’ Response: We have revised the abstract to include a detailed description of the research methodology.

 

Comment 2. CO2 not CO2, please use consistently.

Authors’ Response: We have revised the manuscript to ensure uniform use of the subscripted format "CO₂" throughout the text.

 

Comment 3. Please explain the review method e.g. databases, year limit, keywords used, selection and any filtration processes performed…etc.

 

Authors’ Response: Thank you for your feedback. The methodology has already been outlined in the abstract and Section 2 (Review: Trends in Timber Bamboo Research). However, to provide further clarity, we have added more details in the revised introduction and Section 2.

 

Comment 4. Authors can also add to the review that currently it is encouraged by several green building rating system to use bamboo and other short yield agricultural products in building industry because they are considered rapidly growing building materials (e.g. search LEED version 3.0 and LEED version 4.1 to what regards Materials use) or other green building rating system.

Authors’ Response: The intent of the review was to outline the commercialization challenges that bamboo faces that prevent it from achieving broad adoption. The reviewer’s suggestion to include building ratings systems is not in-line with that purpose as those systems are meant to incentivize bamboo’s adoption. Our focus is squarely on the problems preventing it from scaling and not on the mechanisms by which we can encourage adoption.

 

 Comment 5. It is also interesting to note the green product certification related to bamboo.

Authors’ Response: See response to comment 4 – we view green product certifications as another example of incentives that are meant to encourage adoption. While we recognize the benefits of such programs, it is not the focus of this manuscript.

 

Comment 6. The effect of using bamboo for building products on the building performance in terms of energy consumption and thermal comfort should also be noted. Further the effect on life cycle assessment is another main point to be point out (please add it to page 10 lines 290-299 combined with the discourse related to its carbon footprint). It was already mentioned as a key point in page 8 (life cycle and life cycle assessment but further explanation is required).

Authors’ Response: While we recognize the importance of the reviewer’s comment, discussion of LCA is outside the scope of this paper. In a separate paper submitted to the journal special issue, “Evaluating Fast-Growing Fibers for Building Decarbonization with Dynamic LCA,” we explore this in-depth. We have added this as a citation at the end of section 3.1.

 

Comment 7. Currently the conclusion section is fine but could be improved by pinpointing the contribution of this review paper in providing a comprehensive understanding of the topic and its controversial aspects.

Authors’ Response: A sentence has been added to the end of the conclusion to further pinpoint the paper’s contribution.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx