Ludacris, Tommy Lee to build bamboo houses

LOS ANGELES, May 16 (UPI) -- U.S. rocker Tommy Lee and rapper Ludacris are to help build two environmentally friendly houses from sustainable structural bamboo on a TV special.

"Battleground Earth: Ludacris vs. Tommy Lee" is to debut Aug. 3 on Discovery Communication's new Planet Green channel.

"These structures are the first of their kind to be built on the U.S. mainland and result from decades of testing non-toxic, sustainable treatments to get structural bamboo internationally certified for permitted residential and commercial buildings," Jeffree Trudeau, president of Hawaii's Bamboo Technologies, said in a statement.

"Our buildings range in size from a 120-square-foot tropical bungalow, like those assembled on 'Battleground Earth,' to an over 3,000-square-foot, fully insulated, two-story Bamboo Mansion," Trudeau added. "The smaller kits assemble in a matter of days, and in the case of Tommy Lee and Ludacris, in a matter of hours, making them particularly attractive for disaster relief."

"Battleground Earth's" houses will be disassembled and auctioned on eBay.