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Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

cnn.com

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Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#11

Post by aidenn0 »

kube-system wrote: post #6

We already have several reinventions of the brick which are stronger and more eco-friendly -- we call them concrete blocks. I thought it was pretty silly to compare this product to bricks on it's cost/strength/waste. People aren't choosing brick for these factors anyway. People choose brick mainly for the aesthetic.

Yeah, I lost it when TFA referred to bricks as "The building blocks of modern suburban homes." I'm not sure what suburbs the author is familiar with where new homes are made of structural brick.

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#12

Post by jmelloy »

kube-system wrote: post #6

We already have several reinventions of the brick which are stronger and more eco-friendly -- we call them concrete blocks. I thought it was pretty silly to compare this product to bricks on it's cost/strength/waste. People aren't choosing brick for these factors anyway. People choose brick mainly for the aesthetic.

There isn’t much eco-friendly about cement.

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#13

Post by kube-system »

jmelloy wrote: post #12
kube-system wrote: post #6

We already have several reinventions of the brick which are stronger and more eco-friendly -- we call them concrete blocks. I thought it was pretty silly to compare this product to bricks on it's cost/strength/waste. People aren't choosing brick for these factors anyway. People choose brick mainly for the aesthetic.

There isn’t much eco-friendly about cement.

I was referring to the relative comparison being made with clay brick, the same comparison the article was making.

Of course, there are even better alternatives, like building your home out of solar sequestered carbon solids, i.e. wood.

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#15

Post by g8oz »

aidenn0 wrote: post #11
kube-system wrote: post #6

We already have several reinventions of the brick which are stronger and more eco-friendly -- we call them concrete blocks. I thought it was pretty silly to compare this product to bricks on it's cost/strength/waste. People aren't choosing brick for these factors anyway. People choose brick mainly for the aesthetic.

Yeah, I lost it when TFA referred to bricks as "The building blocks of modern suburban homes." I'm not sure what suburbs the author is familiar with where new homes are made of structural brick.

The article says 1.5 trillion bricks are produced annually...wonder where they are getting used. In North America their use seems to have been relegated to facades.

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#16

Post by frosted-flakes »

g8oz wrote: post #15
aidenn0 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I lost it when TFA referred to bricks as "The building blocks of modern suburban homes." I'm not sure what suburbs the author is familiar with where new homes are made of structural brick.

The article says 1.5 trillion bricks are produced annually...wonder where they are getting used. In North America their use seems to have been relegated to facades.

In central/southern Ontario, nearly all homes have brick facades (stick-built frames), even cheap subdivision homes and new construction. I'd put it at something like 80%-90%. I have no idea why brick is so popular here, but that's a lot of bricks.

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#17

Post by golemiprague »

aidenn0 wrote: post #11
kube-system wrote: post #6

We already have several reinventions of the brick which are stronger and more eco-friendly -- we call them concrete blocks. I thought it was pretty silly to compare this product to bricks on it's cost/strength/waste. People aren't choosing brick for these factors anyway. People choose brick mainly for the aesthetic.

Yeah, I lost it when TFA referred to bricks as "The building blocks of modern suburban homes." I'm not sure what suburbs the author is familiar with where new homes are made of structural brick.

Maybe not in North America but in Europe and the middle east it is very common.

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#18

Post by rapnie »

saeranv wrote: post #14
exabrial wrote: post #5

I think the killer invention would be to solidify C02 efficiently for building materials (much like trees do).

If only we could use trees as a building material!

Cross-laminated timber is quite promising in that regard.

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=cross+laminated

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#19

Post by Nasrudith »

Pfhreak wrote: post #10
stonogo wrote: post #4

This is in CNN Style for a reason. It's a neat research project, great for prestige projects like Hyde Park. It just cannot compete with clay from a cost perspective.

I'd be curious if you've got some figures or if you are just guessing that it's the case. (Intuitively, I'd agree with you, but I couldn't find any info.) Assuming also that the externalities of the existing brick manufacturing industry are not costed into the price of a standard brick. Other sources suggest that the k-briq is also more insulative than a regular brick, which should impact the cost calculations as wel…

Technically true but wouldn't going with a cheaper exterior option and using the saved cost for dedicated insulation be more efficient? Aside from airflow it is usually windows and frames where the insulation property is relevant, otherwise we would see using thicker walls instead of just spraying insulation for cheap development.

I mean it is a neat concept but unfortunately efficiency often selects the "boring" option.

Re: Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

#20

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

aidenn0 wrote: post #11
kube-system wrote: post #6

We already have several reinventions of the brick which are stronger and more eco-friendly -- we call them concrete blocks. I thought it was pretty silly to compare this product to bricks on it's cost/strength/waste. People aren't choosing brick for these factors anyway. People choose brick mainly for the aesthetic.

Yeah, I lost it when TFA referred to bricks as "The building blocks of modern suburban homes." I'm not sure what suburbs the author is familiar with where new homes are made of structural brick.

The article is fairly UK-centric, and in the UK, most suburban homes are made of brick.
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