The green brick would it look right ?

[stuartiannaylor]

One of the main problems with the low carbon home is the often forgotten carbon it takes to provide those materials.
Just placing some innovations as i come across them that may make a big difference.

After concrete bricks are probably the second CO2 contributer of building materials.

Have a look at  http://calstarproducts.com/ as an alternative

[Baz]

Made from flyash which comes from?...............

I've seen buildings with a thin reinforced concrete frame infilled with extruded hollow bricks like these
http://www.ar.all-biz.info/en/g2739/
It looks like this would use far less material and energy and if filled with PIR would be even more insulating.

[stuartiannaylor]

Unfortunately there is loads of the stuff as its a byproduct of burning coal.

Mainly posted due to contruction materials concrete, brick, steel, gypsum add up to about 12% of the worlds CO2 output.

The alternative you posted is concrete, though its structure means you use less.

[Philip R]

Rockwool lagging is made from blown furnace slag.

Some of the Gypsum used for wallboard comes from the Flue gas desulphurisation scrubbers on coal fired power stations. The Flyash for Thermalite and HH Celcon blocks comes from the precipitators and furnace bottom ash from coal fired power plants.

Using these materials is better than tipping the surplus into ash lagoons which are commonly found around coal fired power stations, better than carving more material out the ground.

HHCelcons web site has some interesting articles about different types of aerated blocks with respect to decreasing heat losses from buildings.

[Ivan]

My 1950s house is made from clinker block....which is basically flyash or similar. Unlike modern blocks (celcon etc), the blocks are rubbish - very crumbly and dusty. Many of the main roads here are made with concrete substituted with clinker from the Corus works in Newport (closed down a few years ago). Not so much for recycling or for energy-efficiency, but to save having to find somewhere to dump millions of tons of waste.

[biff]

hi stuart,
         i have had a good look at these green brick.they are quite nice. i have looked to see the method they use to make them but i must have missed that bit.
    normal bricks are fired up in a kiln,some extremely hot and some just heated, the brickfields of kent produced a sunbaked yellow stock that was reinforced with straw. i built thousands of these in islington into chimney stacks. i saw the first of the silicates in belfast in the 60s,wimpey used them for inside walls in there poured houses in glenciarn.
        these were made by subjecting a simple weak mix of cement and sand to incredible steam pressure,however it would not have required anything like the energy that the kiln bricks needed. they were a heavy dead brick and i know from experience that they did not tolerate the freeze too well,they soaked up water and would not have been suitable for healthy living. i suspect that these green bricks are another for of the old silicates. nothing to rave about.
                                  biff

[stuartiannaylor]

I can't find much myself. Looking at a video http://calstarproducts.com/flash/calstar_firstbrick_project.swf they look very bricky

Then again after a photoshop session its amazing how much I look like brad pitt.

Its another damn American product and it would be good to here the same in Blighty.