Sustainable construction is more important now than ever, not only to look after our environment but also to conserve resources and promote long term profits by reducing waste. It is in everyone's interest to promote sustainable building practice. By using energy-efficient materials and processes, sustainable construction helps to lower the carbon footprint of buildings, contributing to the fight against climate change. But to understand how embodied carbon bricks can help us in this fight, we must first ask, what actually is embodied carbon?
In short, and simple terms, embodied carbon is basically a measure of the total greenhouse gas emissions produced in the extraction, production and disposal of a material. So essentially, how environmentally friendly a man made material is. Reclaimed Bricks that have already used used once before but are still durable and fit for purpose are therefore, an excellent environmentally friendly alternative to newly quarried stone bricks, and kiln fired bricks.
As the construction sector is responsible for 11% of global co2 emissions from embodied carbon alone, choosing building materials produced with a low amount of carbon emissions can significantly reduce a buildings environmental impact. These materials, such as reclaimed bricks, are called low embodied carbon materials, and they significantly reduce a building's environmental impact. This is important in our industry as embodied carbon from the construction and refurbishment of buildings currently makes up 20% of UK built environment emissions.
The carbon footprint of clay bricks is significantly high, this is due to the process of extracting them from quarries, processing the clay to bricks and then transporting them. Large scale stone extraction requires heavy machinery like excavators, drills and explosives which needs lots of diesel fuel to run which as you can imagine produces tons of Co2 emissions, which is bad for global warming. This process is also bad for land degradation as it disrupts the habitats and landscapes in local areas where the quarries are.
Once these clays are extracted they need to be washed, processed and fired to high temperatures on an industry scale. This is undergone by using industrial scale machinery and furnaces that use lots of energy powered by fossil fuels which are not sustainable. The process also wastes water in efforts to suppress dust. Finally once the clay bricks are extracted and processed into shiny new bricks they are transported. The issue with this is that bricks are heavy and transporting over long distances bumps up the carbon footprint further. Compared to reclaimed bricks that are often local to construction projects or even on the exact same site, clay bricks need to be transport from factories across England and Europe which burns more dirty fuels adding to the carbon footprint of a new clay brick.
Here are some facts about the other main ways bricks are manufactured:
● Newly manufactured clay bricks also require kilns to produce which fire at high temperatures which is an energy intensive process.
● Concrete bricks are made from cement, which as a material is responsible for about 8% of global C02 emissions. As you can see this all has a rather negatively combined effect on the environment, as newly manufactured bricks have high embodied carbon.
So how can builders make positive changes to the co2 emission of their projects?
The solution!
Using reclaimed bricks, which are taken from old buildings and cleaned, offer an significant environmental advantage over choosing to use newly manufactured stone, concrete or clay bricks, due to their low embodied carbon. Repurposing already existing materials is less wasteful, and helps reduce carbon emissions throughout the construction process. These bricks require no new extraction, unlike clay or stone bricks which have to be quarried. Instead reclaimed bricks are salvaged from old buildings, meaning that no raw materials need to be extracted from the earth. Reclaimed bricks are sourced locally which lowers transportation costs and emissions.
Reclaimed bricks offer a significant environmental advantage over newly manufactured or stone bricks due to their low embodied carbon. By repurposing existing materials, they help reduce carbon emissions at multiple stages of the construction process. This completely avoids degrading land, and producing high co2 emissions by cutting into stone. Reclaimed bricks are also locally sourced which reduces transportation emissions in comparison to the transportation of bricks from quarries. The kiln firing and cutting processes are also eliminated as these bricks do not need to use them, avoiding emissions from firing, drying, and chemical treatments. This also reduces waste and promotes a circular economy as every year millions of tons of construction waste ends up condemned to landfills. By reclaiming bricks demolition waste is prevented and the life cycle of materials is extended which supports a circular economy, reducing embodied carbon and therefore conserving natural resources.
By eliminating the extraction, and minimising the transportation need, and avoiding new manufacturing, reclaimed bricks can cut embodied carbon significantly compared to using stone bricks. They provide a character and aesthetically rich, sustainable, eco-friendly solution to modern construction. Builders and architects should definitely consider low embodied carbon reclaimed options, and consider sustainability when choosing materials for new construction projects.
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