Isramart : Carbon emission reduction, brick by brick

Isramart news:
Copenhagen summit may have failed to draw a succinct map for reduction in carbon emission, but Punjab has started doing its bit, brick by brick.

With an aim to reduce carbon emissions in the brick industry, United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF) is supporting a project on manufacture of energy-efficient bricks. The Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST), which is the local resource centre for north India, will provide technical guidance to about 5,000 kilns in Punjab and Haryana.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is the implementing agency and The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) is a partner in the project.

The Indian brick industry is second biggest in the world after China and produces about 140 million bricks in a year, consuming 140 billion tonnes of coal along with a huge quantity of biomass fuel. The total carbon dioxide emission is estimated to be 42 million tonnes. In India, the brick industry comes third after power and steel in coal consumption, and employs one crore labourers, but the technology used is age-old, which causes lot of pollution and is hazardous for workers as most of the processes are conducted manually.