Acme Brick's New Lean/Green Brick is Company's "Greenest" Yet

January, 2009 -- Acme Brick engineers have developed a new brick design that increases the area of a brick’s core holes from 25% to 33% of the brick’s total volume. This new version of a King Size brick “lean/green” brick will generate savings of about 11% in energy used to fire or burn the brick. Additional savings will be generated in transportation costs because the new brick will weigh approximately 3.15 lbs. versus 3.5 lbs for a conventional King Size brick. This new brick from Acme will have the same performance qualities as its predecessors and will be available in the full range of colors that Acme currently offers. New “lean/green brick” will enhance brick’s already sterling reputation as the ultimate earth-friendly building material.

Acme's Lean/Green Brick

Acme brick is a natural resource that is in no danger of being depleted. This natural product offers no disposal problems in an era chronically short of landfills. Even at the end of its extraordinary100+ year life cycle, brick is normally reused again in a new structure. The importance of brick’s amazing life cycle is revealed when one considers that: commercial, institutional and residential buildings and their operations account for: 136 million tons of construction/demolition waste and 40% or 3 billion tons annually of global raw material use.

Brick is an environmentally safe product that is 99% pure clay and is produced by burning clean, natural gas. It produces no gases or toxicants like those created in abundance by the many types of foam insulation, including those found in artificial stucco. Brick is second only to wood in having the lowest embodied energy at 2,560 kilowatt-hours/ton of material. Compare that to glass at 8,960 or steel at 15,360 and aluminum at 80,640. Embodied energy is defined as: the total energy used to produce, transport, and dispose of a material at the end of its useful life.

Energy efficient brick creates structures that have excellent thermal insulation and a healthy indoor climate. This natural product also resists water vapor diffusion so it acts to automatically balance moisture within a structure.

Brick requires minimum or no maintenance throughout its long life cycle that can extend many centuries. Brick does not rust, dent, bend or peel like other siding materials. All other sidings use precious natural resources and generate considerable pollution during their manufacturing or harvesting process. Wood structures must also be painted repeatedly. This uses up additional resources and generates considerable pollution both during the manufacturing and application processes.

In Acme Brick’s case, even the mining of clay reserves produces an important ecological benefit. When the clay reserves of a mining pit are depleted, Acme converts the pit into a small, deep lake that is typically about 5 acres in size. The lake is then stocked with fish for the recreational use of employees.

Many products are now making claims to be environmentally sound for use in construction. However, with all of these products, some environmental concessions must be made. Brick is the only major building material that achieves this high level of building "green". And Acme’s new “lean/green” brick is another step forward in environmental stewardship.

Acme, America’s largest U.S. owned brick company, celebrated its 117th birthday on April 17, 2008.

For more information concerning the advantages of brick, write: Marketing Dept., Acme Brick Company, P 0 Box 425, Fort Worth, TX. 76101 or phone (817) 792‑1234 or visit www.brick.com.