Punjab is all set to build a healthy environment brick by brick. Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST) with the support of United Nations Development Programme's Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF) is working on the project to help the brick industry switching over to resource-efficient method for brick-making.
Foreseeing the immense contribution by Indian brick industry in mitigating climate change through technological innovations, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has decided to implement this project across country, appointing the PSCST as its local resource centre for the north India. The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) is the responsible partner for the project implementation.
The PSCST will handle nearly 3000 brick kilns in Punjab and over 2000 in Haryana, producing on an average 50 lakh to one crore bricks every year. Being the second biggest in the world, the Indian brick industry produces about 140 billion bricks annually, mainly through traditional processes, consuming about 24 million tonnes of coal along with huge quantity of biomass fuel emitting 42 million tones carbon dioxide per annum.
The adoption of this technique will help in bringing down the carbon emissions by the brick industry. As per studies, the brick kilns in Punjab alone results in emission of pollutants to the tune of 2400 tones in just one day and as many as 40 to 50 per cent of cost go into the purchase of coal only in each unit.
Bringing in a revolution in the brick industry, the new technique-resource efficient bricks, the perforated and hollow bricks-will make possible the reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, 20 per cent less consumption of top soil and coal, more strength and reduced water absorption, nearly seven per cent reduction in construction cost and about five per cent saving in power bill due to insulating property.
Around 12 units of resource efficient bricks will reduce 1.87 lakh tonnes of carbon emissions in a year. "The present day constructions have reinforced concrete cement (RCC) columns and mainly bricks are used as partition walls, not as load bearing walls in majority of buildings. So by switching over to resource efficient bricks, the fuel can be saved and pollution in brick production process will also be reduced," said PSCST senior engineer Pritpal Singh while talking to The Pioneer.
He said: "This will also help in significantly reducing the consumption of top soil-the main raw material for making bricks. Also, due to its thermal insulation properties, this will also help in reducing the energy consumption of buildings." "Being selected as the local resource centre for north, a lot of responsibility is attached to us. Our main job is to inform the people by providing the technical know-how," he added.
"The council, other than that, will encourage the industry, architects and builders to switch over to such bricks. Soon we are going to arrange international conferences to get to know this technique in a better way. Also, we are mulling to conduct seminars and workshops across," added Singh.
To popularise the technology, the Council is planning to organise study tours for the representatives of the industry and architects to south India, where the use of such bricks is gaining ground. "There is a dire need to sensitise people about the technology and tell the manufacturers how to market the product. There is a need to bring in the mechanisation," added he.
"UNDP and the centre are only helping us in establishing markets, providing technical support wherever required, and facilitating financial help by asking the banks to provide loans to the industry for upgradation," added Singh.
