Isramart : An important tool in global carbon trading

Isramart news:
Bangladesh is planning to replace all traditional brick kilns by the year 2010 with modern and environment friendly technologies. To this effect, the Department of Environment (DoE) has been instructed not to renew the environmental clearance certificates of the traditional brick kilns after 2010. Brick making in Bangladesh is a highly energy-intensive and carbon-emitting activity and one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. There is no denying that introducing modern technology is very important in brick kilns but the transition would not be that easy. During eight months of each year these brick kilns operate 24 hours a day and are responsible for severe air pollution.

In Dhaka there are around 4,500 brick kilns in operation, producing about 9.0 billion bricks per year. The largest brick-making zone is on the north of Dhaka city, where more than one thousand brickfields are situated. Air pollution worsens during winter when the wind blows from the north. Of the 4,500 kilns, around 4,000 are Bull's Trench type kilns which use extremely crude technology to bake bricks. Besides, there are about 400 fixed chimney kilns, 15 zigzag kilns, 25 Hoffman kilns and five modern tunnel-type kilns. Most traditional brick kilns use firewood and coal with high level of sulphur.

Traditional kilns are responsible for severe air pollution. People living around the brickfields suffer from problems, asthma and inflammation of eyes. Brick kilns also destroy fertility of the soil. Brick particles and black smoke of the kilns damage paddy, vegetables and other crops on the fields around them. Most brick kilns are set up without environment impact assessment. In October 2002 the government made it mandatory for the brickfield owners to build 120 feet high chimneys to reduce air pollution.

Although the existing technologies are simple, require low capital investment and yield very good returns, it is not environment-friendly. Newly innovated compressed bricks are suitable for clean environment. There are two types of technologies that are being contemplated for launching in Bangladesh. These are Hoffman kiln and the vertical shaft brick kiln (VSBK). Transition to these alternative technologies, however, requires higher initial investments. Brick industry owners are mostly unable to afford them and it will also increase the price of brick.

A study conducted by the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) shows that the country has more than 6000 traditional brick kilns and they emit 8.75 millions tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, which can be halved to 4.16 million tonnes by adopting clean brick-burning technology. A traditional brick kiln consumes 24 tonnes of coal a year and emits some 1500 tonnes of C02, making it one of the worst greenhouse gas emitters in the country. Experts say the emission could be halved if the kilns burn bricks by using a German-invented technology, called Hybrid Hoffman Kiln (HHK), now popular in China.

The HHK design combines a highly efficient kiln technology. Wet clay and pulverised coal are mixed together when the brick is being made. The wet bricks are then first dried in a drying chamber using waste heat from the firing chamber. The dried bricks are then loaded into the firing chamber. In the firing chamber, the coal inside of the dry bricks then ignites and bakes the bricks. The combined use of waste heat and the internal combustion of coal reduce coal consumption per brick andgreenhouse gas emissions.

The money to be earned through this technology -- provided all of the country's bricks are produced by using the HHK -- would stand at $70 million through the global carbon credit market launched by the United Nations. The emission reduction rate known as Certified Emission Reduction (CER) has been fixed at $ 15.20 per tonne, which is likely to soar more than two times after the Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

According to reports, the country can immensely benefit by selling the amount of carbon it can save through using latest green technology such as the HHK. At present, four brick factories have adopted HHK, earning 23,200 tonnes of CER annually while 16 more brickfields are in the process of replacing their environmentally hazardous kilns with the clean technology. If all of them start using the HHK, the country's total emission reduction capacity would cross 116,000 tonnes a year. Out of the emitted amount, Danish government has already bought 40,000 tonnes of CER through the global carbon trading set under the Kyoto Protocol. The carbon from the Bangladeshi brickfields was on sale at the Copenhagen climate change summit.

Reports say, a single unit traditional brick kiln needs only Tk10 million investment while a HHK costs at least Tk 100 million. The government needs to be proactive in pushing the technology nationwide, as it would massively improve air quality in the country and also help capture a sizable portion of the multi-billion dollar carbon trading market. At least $1.3 billion investment is necessary to replace all the 6000 brick kilns with the HHK. But conversion of 700 kilns alone can help meet the target and it would cost only Tk 10 billion, according to experts. Although the new technology is costly, it would create jobs for hundreds of thousands of rural people including women. It will also ensure better health and safety for the workers as these are important components of the technology, they added.

It is heartening to note that country's noted private sector firm -- the Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IIDFC) Limited -- recently signed two agreements with the government of Denmark and World Bank to help brick making sector use efficient and clean energy. As per the agreements, the World Bank and Denmark will buy 189,000 and 60,000 emission reductions respectively. IIDFC is acting as the overall agent for the 20 brick kiln owners to sell the emission reductions. The deals paved the way for purchasinggreenhouse gas emissions reductions from 20 energy efficient HHK at various stages of production and construction. The project involves a community benefit plan, ensuring social improvement for the employees in the brick making sector such as installing a first aid room with regular visit by a medical practitioner ensured and make sanitary facilities and safety gears available.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank is contemplating on creating a fund to finance carbon trading and has asked the commercial banks to support it. For the sake of a better environment, the government should come up with a premium policy for the existing brickfields so that they can convert easily. Through such conversion, Bangladesh can earn US$70 million and more a year -- enough to build another bridge on the river Karnaphuli -- from global carbon trading simply by reducing emission from the thousands of brickfields that are currently polluting the air.