EcoFaeBrick

 

 

Cheap, plentiful building materials are needed to meet the massive demand for sound dwellings in informal settlements. In Indonesia, clay bricks could offer an alternative to scrap metal and wood housing, but the quarry mining techniques used to make bricks are expensive and damage the land. EcoFaeBricks, developed by students from Prasetiya Mulya Business School, are made from cow dung with soil extracts and are cured using biogas, reducing the carbon dioxide emitted during the traditional process of using wood-fire heat. The result is a building material that is 20% lighter than clay bricks and has 20% greater compressive strength. Because they make use of a replenishable waste product, EcoFaeBricks are also less expensive than clay bricks. EcoFaeBricks are made in partnership with local communities, providing work opportunities and helping to preserve agricultural land devastated by clay quarrying. Groups in India, Kenya, and Mexico have expressed interest in the technology to meet their own rapid urban development needs.