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SUSTAINABILITY

Bricks are a versatile and durable building material, with excellent life cycle performance, energy efficiency, high thermal mass and responsible manufacturing.

View or download Brick: Building a Sustainable Resource for the Future
Download the Industry’s Sustainability Strategy Update 2011
Find more literature on Sustainability

Brick and brick buildings are sustainable because they:

• are highly durable;
• offer long term life performance;
• are low maintenance;
• are energy efficient;
• provide healthy and comfortable environments;
• are recyclable.

Sustainability is often compressed into a consideration of energy use defined as the emission of CO2.  The brick industry measures this annually and also reports on it under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

The UK clay brick and paving industry is firmly committed to minimising carbon emissions and reducing the impact manufacturing has on the environment. Locally available resources are used as efficiently as possible; to reduce waste, to reduce the energy used in manufacture, to encourage the re-use of materials and to design products with the longest possible life span and best performance.

If the CO2 emissions from the brick in a square metre of brickwork are spread over a life of 150 years it equates to 0.000186 tonnes of CO2 /sq metre/per annum. This carbon isn’t “locked up” to be released at the end of life, it has already been expended and the longer the building exists, the better the value.

Very little clay is wasted during manufacture. Unfired waste clay is reused in the manufacturing process and less than perfect fired bricks are crushed and used as aggregates in other parts of the building industry. Materials from Alternative, Recycled and Secondary Sources (MARSS) are increasingly important in the manufacture of clay bricks – the current level of recycled material content in brick is 11% (CERAM 2010).

EMBODIED ENERGY/EMBODIED CARBON DIOXIDE IN CLAY BRICKS

Embodied energy is the amount of energy it takes to manufacture and supply bricks to their point of use. Bricks have been labelled as having high embodied energy due to their process of manufacture. However, in measuring sustainability it is necessary to take into account a material’s life cycle performance, as well as the amount of energy consumed in the manufacturing process.

Research recently undertaken demonstrates that the proportion of embodied energy of clay bricks for the modern semi-detached home is equal to just 1.87% of the overall heating requirement for the home over its 150 year life.

The Industry makes annual reports to the Government for both the climate change agreements and the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EUETS), and therefore monitors CO2 emissions regularly.

The embodied carbon for brick is 0.244 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of bricks (quarry to site).  Using a UK typical brick weight of 2.35kg the CO2/year for a typical 2 bedroom end of terrace home is no greater than:

15kg of CO2 per year over 150 years

22kg of CO2 per year over 100 years

These calculations are based on a total floor area of 61 m2 for a two-storey end of terrace property (31 m2/floor) as noted in the document ‘Energy and CO2′ by The Concrete Centre.
Assuming a floor area of 31 m2 (4.8m x 6.4m), a storey height of 2.5m and blockwork party wall, the net brickwork area, assuming 20% glazing, is 64 m2.  There are 60 x 64 = 3840 bricks, each weighing 2.35kg, in the walls with an embodied carbon content of:244 x 3840 x 2.35/1000 = 2202kg CO2/tonne of bricks.
Therefore, the embodied CO2 for 100 and 150 years design life is 2202/100 = 22.0kg CO2/year and 2202/150 = 15kg CO2/year, respectively.

The University of Bath recently issued a revised document on the CO2 impact of clay materials. Download the University of Bath revised document