Aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a considerable amount, Bangladesh has adopted smokeless brick making technology which will replace over 150-year old traditional system.The new technology has been introduced by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh through a development project titled 'Improving Kiln Efficiency in the Brick Making Industry', which will contribute US$ 25 million (approximately Tk 175 crore) for the next five years.
UNDP in a media release Sunday claimed that with the newly introduced smokeless technologies, the industry will operate under higher energy efficiencies, better energy control capabilities, higher rates of production and processing, all of which could bring about reduced production costs, improved product quality, lower local pollution and, most importantly, reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
"The innovative technology that is being used to replace the existing old system will simply make the brick making industry so efficient that when this is replicated across Bangladesh we will have huge benefits for both the people and the global environment," said Stefan Priesner, UNDP Bangladesh Country Director.
Brick making is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Bangladesh estimated to be 6.0 million tonnes of CO2 annually. Such high levels of emissions are a result of the use of outmoded technologies and substandard fuels such as high sulphur coal, tyres and wood energy in kilns. Estimates indicate that in Bangladesh it takes about 23 tons of coal to produce 100,000 bricks whereas in China it takes only 7.8 to 8 tons.
Equally alarming is the use of wood energy in the kilns. Studies carried out in the 1980s identified brickfields as a major cause of deforestation in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Brick Makers Association estimates that even today 25 per cent of the fuel used in kilns is still from wood. Growth of the brick industry has been estimated at 5.3 per cent over the last decade; this growth trend is likely to continue over the next decade.