Breeze Blocks and Gypsum
- Posted on 17th July, 07
- in Sustainability
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Did you know that plasterboard and breeze blocks are made from the waste products of coal-fired power stations? Their production diverts thousands of tonnes of material from landfill. Breeze blocks are made from the ‘clinker’ and fly ash which are what is left after the burning of the coal dust.
Plasterboard is made of gypsum which is the by-product of the removal of the acid from the power stations smoke. The lime to remove the sulphur often arrives by train, then the gypsum is used in a nearby factory to make plasterboard.
Low transport of materials for production, and total re-usage!
Both these products play huge roles in our construction industry, but I was not aware that they were made from essentially waste products!
In my opinion there is a lot of information out there which is not always readily available!
(I believe that the Victorian word for ash was breeze, hence the Breeze Block!)
Hmm the power of the Internet strikes.
Cinder blocks their originally called in the states (how accurate this, is open it is wikipedia ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinder_block and no longer used in the UK building industry ????
I’m guessing the Cinders referred to the ash and breeze was an olde term for ash ?
Mind you the problem of using more and more materials could also be eased if we made things to last these days (most new buildings in London (for instance) are designed to last no longer then 20 years !