Bricks and Sustainability
No matter which way you look at it, bricks are sustainable and make it easy for your home to be energy efficient:
Brick lasts forever
Long before ’sustainability’ was a priority, builders and home owners were using clay bricks because they lasted forever and required almost no maintenance over that time. This has been the reason brick has thrived and been in continuous use over thousands of years in different climates.
Brick has high thermal mass so brick buildings are energy efficient
Using clay bricks to make both external and internal walls is sustainable because brick walls require almost no maintenance and, as a major source of thermal mass , they improve the energy efficiency of buildings by slowing down the process of heat entering or leaving a building.
�
By using clay bricks in conjunction with good solar passive design and insulation, home owners can now create a house that requires no artificial heating or cooling in nearly all parts of Australia . For more information, visit http://www.designingforclimate.com.au/
Efficient manufacture uses recycled energy and materials
Over the past thirty years the manufacture of bricks has improved dramatically, contributing to the inherent sustainability of the product. Manufacturing plants have been re-engineered to make use of highly efficient tunnel kilns, fired using natural gas, and all waste heat and clay is recycled within the plant. Many plants also collect all the water they use.
For more information visit www.thinkbrick.com.au
