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design
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121
Australia’s first Carbon Neutral Certified bricks are now available
In an Australian first, all bricks from Daniel Robertson and
Austral Bricks (Tasmania) are now certified as Carbon
Neutral under the Australian Government’s National Carbon
Offset Standard.
Achieving this environmental “holy grail” largely results from the
use of sawdust to fire the kilns at the Longford TAS plant where
these bricks are manufactured. Most, if not all, other brick kilns
in Australia, are fired using natural gas.
Sawdust, a byproduct of the local timber industry, is a biomass,
that is, a biological material derived from living, or recently-living
organisms.
Brickworks Building Products’ national energy and sustainability
manager Steven Mouzakis said the use of low emissions
biomass as opposed to fossil fuels is largely responsible for a
dramatic reduction in the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions.
“Emissions from the biomass are just 215 tonnes per year, about
the same as 12 average Australian households,” he said.“In
contrast, a conventional natural gas kiln of the same capacity
could emit approximately 8000 tonnes of greenhouse gases.”
To meet the National Carbon Offset Standard for a Carbon
Neutral Certified product requires more than the reduction of
emissions from the direct manufacturing process.The emissions
resulting from ancillary operations such as raw material
extraction, transport, water usage, packaging, waste and
business operations, including administration are also taken
into account. Even the lubricants used in production machinery
are part of the equation.
All remaining greenhouse gas emissions are offset by
purchasing carbon credits that assist in local projects such as
tree planting under the Forests Alive program (forestsalive.com).
Even the carbon expended in transporting the bricks to the
customer – anywhere in the world! – is fully offset.This means
that all Daniel Robertson and Austral Bricks (Tasmania) bricks
are certified Carbon Neutral from raw material excavation
through to delivery of the finished products to the work site.
Clay bricks are often accused of being environmentally
compromised due to the relatively high natural gas
consumption required in kiln firing.This simplistic approach
overlooks their long life, role as thermal mass in an energy-
efficient design, reusability, and the fact that bricks do not
require resource-hungry finishes such as paint or render to
maintain their good looks and durability.
However, architects, builders and consumers seeking a carbon
neutral solution can now specify bricks from Daniel Robertson
and Austral Bricks (Tasmania) knowing that their manufacture
results in zero net emissions of greenhouse gases into our
atmosphere.
As well as producing bricks for the Tasmania market and the
high-end Daniel Robertson bricks, valued across Australia for
their unique and varied colours and textures, the Longford
plant exports its products, mainly to New Zealand and Japan.
This latest innovation is part of Brickworks Building Products
ongoing program to reduce the environmental impact of its
extensive operations and conserving our precious natural
resources.
“We are totally committed to conserving our natural resources
and becoming a low carbon emitter, while not compromising
on the high quality of our products,” Stephen Mouzakis
concludes.
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