brick kilns

Building a better brick kiln to fight pollution

Environment lborkowski | August 21, 2013

In a recent article in Environmental Health Perspectives, Charles W. Schmidt takes on the topic of artisanal brick kilns, a major source of pollution in developing countries. The article focuses largely on Latin America, where the Swiss-funded group EELA (that's Eficiencia Energética en Ladrilleras Artesanales, which translates to Energy Efficiency in Artisanal Bricks) is working to "modernize artisanal brick making in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico." It takes a lot of heat to turn mud, clay, and other substances into bricks, so kilns are…