Doing Business Contributor “Going Green”

Simutaneously, and perhaps jointly, the financial crisis and global warming tend to be on everyone’s mind. As the financial crisis wears on, it is becoming even more important to find innovative ways for cutting costs and reducing CO2 emissions. Architecture et Construction (A.C.), a Doing Business local partner in Burundi is doing just that.

Prosper Ringuyeneza, a civil engineer working for A.C., invited me to visit a construction site on the outskirts of Bujumbura, where a secondary technical institution financed by an entity in Belgium (Direction Générale de la Coopération au Développement). The project is called Appui à l’Enseignement Technique et Professionnel.

The construction project is of special interest because it is the first time earth compressed bricks instead of the traditional baked red bricks will be used in Burundi. And when asked why the use of earth compressed cricks, Prosper answers “my country has been at war for so long, the forests are depleted. It is now time to save the remaining forests for future generations, cut down the CO2 emission and reduce construction costs.”

This is especially important in an economy where, according to Doing Business data dealing with construction permits and other construction related activities costs 85 times the average income. A.C. has taken example from several countries already using the earth compressed bricks and decided that it was about time to do the same in Burundi. Soil is available everywhere and is cheap, so why not use it.

Traditional baked bricks are made from red clay and are energy intensive. The burning of wood used to make the bricks results in high CO2 emissions and depletes the natural forest. In addition, since the bricks are made in far away villages, the cost of transportation has to be considered as well. This not only increases CO2 emission, but the cost of transportation increases the cost of bricks, rendering constructions very expensive. But there were no other alternatives.

The use of compressed bricks in construction is not new. It has been in use in Europe since 1800. In Sudan, for example, earth compressed bricks are heavily used in construction. One of the leading schools for earth compressed bricks is CRATerre-EAG in Grenoble, France. The first brick-press called “CINVA RAM” was developed in 1956 by Colombian engineer Raül Ramirez.

Now, thanks to this project, Burundi is joining the group of countries using compressed bricks for construction. Earth compressed bricks, as the name implies, are made from a mixture of different soils. The soil at the construction site is first analyzed to determine its quality. Once the brick is done, it will also be tested for its solidity and resistance. The bricks will be made on the construction site, eliminating the transportation cost.