Australian researchers have created a new method of making bricks, which helps to reduce the energy required to create them and eliminate large volumes of carbon pollution.
According to Ars Technica, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology scientists have created "energy-smart bricks" after four years of experimenting by mixing clay with coal ash and glass waste. The process by which these bricks are created significantly reduces the energy required to produce the essential construction material and uses elements that would otherwise go to waste.
Brick kilns are responsible for 675 million tonnes (around 744 million tons) of carbon dioxide emissions per year, the RMIT researchers reported. That's about the amount of carbon pollution produced by 161 million gas-powered passenger vehicles in the United States in a year.
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Where traditional bricks require temperatures of 1,922 degrees Fahrenheit to reach the required hardness to be used in construction, per Ars Technica, energy-smart bricks only need to reach 1,742 degrees. That leads to a 20% reduction in the energy required to create them, which reduces the amount of fuel required in their creation significantly.
"Each firing cycle led to a potential value of up to $158,460 through a reduction of 417 tonnes [around 460 tons] of CO2, resulting from a 9.5% reduction in firing temperature," the RMIT researchers said in their report, per Ars Technica.
That's a massive amount of money saved for the manufacturers, which could be passed on to consumers, all while eliminating pollution associated with more intense extreme weather, food insecurity, the spread of disease, and other troubling consequences.
On top of that, the bricks are poor conductors of heat, meaning they keep structures cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, which would ultimately save businesses or homeowners major money when keeping their spaces comfortable.
Recent months have seen a number of technical advances in building technology. From bricks made of mushroom byproducts, or sugar cane waste, to Lego-like glass bricks designed to make construction easier, building materials are becoming more and more planet-friendly, and some can even absorb carbon to further reduce our impact on the planet.
Now, the RMIT team is focused on scaling up its smart brick production processes in partnership with Melbourne area manufacturers in order to make the eco-friendly bricks widely available to the market.
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