Dr. Jim Forth of Leeds University has developed a replacement for concrete blocks that build homes. These replacement blocks are called Bitublocks, and they are sustainable and require less energy to manufacture than concrete blocks. They can use up to 100% waste materials, being made of crushed glass, incinerator ash, metal slag, and sewage sludge that are pressed together with bitumen, which is the substance used to make asphalt in paved roads and is used to cook gasoline at the tar sands. The minimal energy required to make them is used to heat the materials for the bitumen to oxidize and harden. By taking bitumen from the gasoline processes, there are double benefits because tar sands are big culprits of environmental pollution and using the bitumen as building blocks would not cause nearly as much pollution. Also, another benefit of using these Bitublock is that they are approximately six times as strong as normal concrete blocks. These blocks will be in the market in an estimated 3 -5 years.This solution would not only reduce the amount of garbage from landfills and oceans but also reduce 7% of global CO2 emissions that come from producing concrete. The biggest problem from concrete production is Portland cement which causes 74% to 81% of the total CO2 emissions and bitumen takes the place of Portland cement in Bitublocks.
We tried to contact Dr. Forth but unfortunately, he is on vacation until Monday, February the 16th so he is unable to provide us with more information on this fascinating project.
This solution seems to be the best one I've seen yet. Hopefully all will go well and these Bitublocks will be finished in their testing modes and out in the market as predicted. This is not only taking garbage and using it to make something new but also the process of making it does not harm the environment. This is good short term and long term, despite the need to use an incinerator which will heat up the world but it does not need to heated quite as long as it does for powering the garbage truck. Also, while the garbage truck using that energy and cannot reuse it again, once you have a Bitublock, it will last longer than you will.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/04/building_houses.php
http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cenepe/casestudies_Bitublock.html
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ReplyDeleteI think that's a great idea. A good way of getting rid of so much waste is to reuse everything as much as we can. I also heard that there is a lack of land to dump garbage on, so I think this would help out the problem, because the garbage is put to use and not just left to pollute and stink up our world.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a good idea, but do people really want to buy garbage houses? Okay, it's not that bad and it's environmentally friendly, but I wonder how that will sell on the market. It's true that people want to help the environment, but how far will they go? It'll be interesting to see in a couple of years. Who knows? Maybe we'll all be living in houses built with Bitublocks a few years down the road.
ReplyDeleteI guess we'd have to wait and see if those blocks smelled any different than normal cement? I would think that they treated the garbage before making it into blocks. Appearance of the Bitublocks are similar to normal cement blocks so people won't be put off by the way it looks. Would long time exposure living in a "garbage" house cause health problems? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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