Cutting the energy used while firing the bricks means big savings at scale.
Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia have developed special "energy-smart bricks" that can be made by mixing clay with glass waste and coal ash. These bricks can help mitigate the negative effects of traditional brick manufacturing, an energy-intensive process that requires large-scale clay mining, contributes heavily to CO 2 emissions, and generates a lot of air pollution. According to the RMIT researchers, "Brick kilns worldwide consume 375 million tonnes (~340 million metric tons) of coal in combustion annually, which is equivalent to 675 million tonnes of CO 2 emission (~612 million metric tons)." This exceeds the combined annual carbon dioxide emissions of 130 million passenger vehicles in the US. The energy-smart bricks rely on a material called RCF waste. It mostly contains fine pieces of glass (92 percent) left over from the recycling process, along with ceramic materials, plastic, paper, and ash. Most of this waste…