Driving Environmental Change

The  brick sector in India is struggling to respond to the demands of cleaner environment, social equity and emerging market needs.  Environmental regulation has resulted in the establishment of standards for air quality and norms for utlisation of fly ash in brick production; but compliance continues to be an uphill task.  The working conditions and remuneration of brick workers are below minimum standards; product quality and diversification are largely sub optimal.

The World Bank, as trustee of the Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF), signed a path breaking agreement in July this year to promote technologies that may help revolutionize the building material industry to utilize a more energy efficient technology to produce burnt clay bricks.  According to World Bank Country Director for India, Michael F. Carter “these projects will help clean up the brick industry, which is not just one of the major contributors to India as carbon dioxide emissions, but also uses up in ordinate amounts of coal energy”.  He further stated that it would also result in significant local environmental and social benefits.  The World Bank managed CDCF will purchase the carbon credits and he hope this will help finance the spread of energy efficient brick technologies in India. 

The conventional practice of firing clay bricks in traditional kilns consumes large quantities of coal, firewood and other biomass fuels.  The Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK) technology an innovation that resulted from a five year research programme of the Development Alternatives Group supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, is capable of saving more than 50% of the energy and nearly 55% of the carbon emissions in comparison with traditional brick kilns in the SME sector.  The Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK) technology aims to improve the thermal and environmental performance of new brick manufacturing units.  Highly mechanized and carefully designed to maximize efficiency and minimize pollution, its continuous process vertical shaft technology and low capital investment has captured the imagination of brick manufacturers in many parts of the country and overseas.  Since starting rollout in 2004 with support from the India-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF), TARA has commercially launched this technology in new states.

TARA, the agency which provides the VSBK technology in the country will setup a total of 126 VSBK plants in selected clusters of the country; especially in the states of Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.  The TARA Eco-Kiln, the first major innovation in brick making in several centuries, is the only solution currently available to replace conventional brick making technology and save the country side from air pollution and the small and medium enterprise segment from oblivion. 

With a rapidly growing demand for bricks every year in our country, already at 140 billion, and the huge saving it enables of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, the sky is literally the limit for this technology - and clear skies are among the prizes.  The advantages of the TARA Eco-Kiln were already many and varied – and these are further multiplied by the carbon offset deal signed with the World Bank.  The TARA Eco-Kiln technology project will generate 4,00,000 tones of greenhouse gas emission reduction over 10 years, which will be purchased by the CDCF.  This initiative generates for prajapatis and other traditional brick makers additional funds for their family and community needs - and it considerably enhances the profits of the entrepreneurs who employ it.    This represents a veritable win-win-win-win outcome for all. In addition, of course, the World Bank gets itself a new category of customers - the rural poor -plus new sources of funding to drive environmental change in SME businesses. q                                                                                                                   

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