Reducing energy is important for nearly everything, including our buildings. If we are to reach our goal of reducing emissions worldwide, we need to fix the problem that is the impact of our buildings on the environment. It doesn’t seem like when the focus has been on our transport and items we use, but buildings are responsible for 39% of carbon emissions from the construction of it to the upkeep.
We might be more worried about how much plastic we use on a daily basis or the amount of water we waste daily (rightfully so) but we also need to consider how our homes contribute to global warming. Luckily scientists are working on solutions to this problem along with many others in the worldwide effort to save our Earth. Recently, scientists in Scotland have developed a building brick made from 90% recycled construction and demolition waste.
The building block, called the K-Briq, is the first of its kind and uses less than a tenth of the energy it takes to make the traditional brick. The K-Briq is already starting to make its way into homes through the company Kenoteq which produces it. If we can use this brick worldwide, we could cut carbon emissions even more than we already have and change the way that we build our communities. Of course we don’t want to get our hopes up yet, but this could be one of the solutions we’re looking for.
-AK