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.
Australia’s first Carbon Neutral Certified bricks are now available
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 energyefficient 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.
