Environment-friendly 'green bricks' introduced

A pilot project under Efficient and Climate Change Programme of UNDP has introduced environment-friendly 'green bricks' at Dhamrai to improve kiln efficiency in brick-making industry.
Project officials yesterday said the new technology will reduce by 20 percent of average energy cost per unit bricks.
To reduce pollution, energy wastage and production cost in the brick making industry, the project uses Hybrid Hoffman Kiln (HHK) which is obtained from China.
Sources said 30 more such brick kilns would be set up across the country within a short time.
UNDP officials at a presentation on HHK demonstration plant at Universal Bricks Limited at Dhamrai said brick production is one of the most environmentally damaging activity among the whole industrial sectors.
Project Officer Iqbal Hossain said about 4000 brick kilns across the country are producing over 12 billion bricks and emitting three to six tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.
The currently used technology at the brick kilns in the country requires about 22 tonnes of coal for producing 100,000 bricks, while the HHK technology requires only 12 tonnes of coal for the output, he added.
Iqbal further said that this is a new option for the brick kiln owners and at the same time it is an initiative to reduce pollution.
He hoped that around 4.3 percent of brick kilns would be energy efficient, greenhouse gas emissions would reduce by 186 tonnes of carbon dioxide and would save about 3,629 tonnes of coal by the end of the project.
UNDP Country Director Stefan Priesner, DoE Director General Najibur Rahman, Programme Coordinator of Sustainable Energy for Development Erich Otto Gomm and Project Promoter Iftekhar Hossain also spoke.