Technical Note #08 Carbon Footprint of Clay Masonry Walling

Publications around the principles of Sustainable Development are reviewed. Articles published during the proceedings of SB10 and SB11, and earlier articles published by ClayBrick.org on the topic of Sustainability and a Life Cycle Assessment of Masonry in Australia were reviewed as possible indicators for relevance to Clay Brick Manufacture and usage in South Africa.

The pollution of the planet via heavy metals, Dioxins, Chloro-Phenyls, radioactive waste, etc. are all environmental hazards which could annihilate all forms of life on earth. Other poisons such as oxides of Nitrogen and Sulphur could also destroy in dramatic fashion, but few poisoning systems are as insidious in contaminating the earth’s atmosphere, as is Carbon Dioxide - a product of the respiratory process of all life with input to the photo-synthetic process of plant growth which has for many years been thought to be in a neat balance, and is now recognised as causing the over-heating of our environment. This is the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) phenomenon, which is overshadowing the impact of other toxins and pollution.

Outline

• Sustainability Principles
• Why Carbon is Central to Sustainability Measurement
• Measurement of Carbon Emissions
• Carbon Footprint Expectations for RSA
• Conclusions