This document summarizes a life cycle assessment (LCA) conducted on clay bricks used for construction in South Africa. The LCA found that brick production and the use phase of buildings have the largest environmental impacts. Burning fossil fuels for drying and firing bricks in kilns and powering buildings contributes most to climate change. More efficient kiln technologies and building designs, such as insulated cavity walls, can significantly reduce impacts. The study also assessed the industry's social impacts and identified both positive contributions and areas for improvement regarding employment practices.

1. www.ncpc.o.za
Name: Dr Pippa Notten
Topic: Life Cycle Assessment in Sector – Claybrick Association
Pippa is an expert LCA practitioner with over 15 years of experience, primarily in the food, retail, and consumer good
sectors, and in the primary industries (mining and power generation). Her past research work has centred on
developing LCA methodology, particularly looking at the information needed to support sound decision-making with
LCA. Pippa is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town, associated with the
Environmental Process and Systems Engineering Group in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and LCA
subject editor for the Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Case Study
Life-cycle Management in
industry

2. THE ENVIRONMENTAL
AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC
IMPACT OF CLAY BRICKS
IN SOUTH AFRICA
Pippa Notten

3. THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIO-
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CLAY BRICKS IN
SOUTH AFRICA
Study undertaken by the Clay Brick Association
representing the brickmakers that participated and
contributed to the development of the study
Lead authors:
• Environmental LCA: Prof Piet Vosloo & Greg Rice
• Social LCA: Michele Gilbert &
San-Marié Aucamp
Funded by the Clay Brick Association and the National
Research Foundation
Reviewed by Quantis International
Communicated by The Green House and Rothko

4. WHY DO A LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF
CLAY BRICKS IN SOUTH AFRICA?
Support CBA in their efforts towards creating a sustainable
clay brick supply chain in South Africa
• Reveal and quantify impacts and resource use along the
complete clay brick value chain
• Identify where along the value chain the highest
environmental impacts arise, and thus where the greatest
opportunities for improvement lie
LCA provides a framework and accepted methodology for
assessing sustainability;
governed by the ISO 14040 series of standards

5. WHY DO INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS DO LCA?
Improve their product
• Support members to improve their environmental and
socio-economic performance
• Benchmark - against baseline, between producers,
against competing materials
Marketing
• Reputation and being seen as a market leader
• Provide environmental credentials of their product
Industry associations have historically been an excellent
source of life cycle data for life cycle inventory databases

6. WHAT IS AN LCA?
Two core concepts of life cycle assessment:
• Consider all stages in the product system
• Take all relevant environmental impacts into account
A model of the life cycle of a product (or service), its
resource use and emissions (inputs & outputs)
A model of the consequences of these inputs & outputs
on our health, the health of ecosystems, and the
availability of resources
Every model is a simplification of reality
A model is only as good as the data that goes into it!

7. WHAT IS AN LCA?

8. THE CLAY BRICK LCA
Looked at the environmental impact of a clay brick wall over the
4 stages of its life cycle:
CLAY BRICK PRODUCTION
TRANSPORT AND BUILDING-IN
OPERATION OF A LIVED-IN HOUSE
DEMOLITION AND DISPOSAL

9. CLAY BRICK PRODUCTION
Detailed data collection via survey of
operational brick manufacturers
Data collected on amounts of all materials,
fuels, energy used in production (e.g. clay,
coal, electricity etc.), as well as data on
transport services and production
processes
Clay extraction
Clay preparation &
mixing
Brick drying
Brick firing
Factory overheads
Clay stockpiling
Brick extrusion

10. CLAMP KILN
TUNNEL KILN
TVA KILN
VSB KILN
HOFFMAN KILN
ZIGZAG KILN
South African
kilns:
Type and
production share
CLAY BRICK PRODUCTION
68% of bricks in SA,
typically stock bricks
The LCA considered six different kiln types used in South Africa:
20% of bricks in SA,
advanced firing
technique with most
face bricks produced
in SA produced in
tunnel kilns

11. TRANSPORT AND BUILDING-IN
The second stage of the life cycle is the transport of the brick to
where it will be used and the construction of the wall
Includes all materials required for the construction of 1m2 of
walling (mortar, plaster, paint, wall ties and insulation)
Average transport distance of bricks from factory gate to building
site obtained from survey data
3 brick wall typologies considered
• 220mm double brick wall
• 280mm cavity brick wall
• 280mm insulated cavity brick wall,
• Either face brick externally or plaster and paint both externally and
internally

12. OPERATION OF LIVED-IN HOUSE
The use phase of a clay brick is the
operation of a typical South African lived-in
house
Includes the electricity required for heating
and cooling the house over its life span, and
the maintenance of the wall
88%Brick drying
and fir
i
ng
10%Clay extraction, preparation
and stockpiling
2%Transport and factory overheads
Assumed life span
of 50 years
Thermal performance study looked at the heating and cooling
requirements of typical buildings in South Africa, and
considered:
• six climatic zones of the country;
• six wall construction methods, including three clay brick wall types

13. DEMOLITION AND DISPOSAL
Final stage of the brick life cycle is demolition of the wall and
disposal of the bricks - either to landfill or re-use/recycling
Recycling and re-use of demolition waste not a formalised or
regulated industry in South Africa – thus difficult to obtain accurate
data
Desktop study revealed that a significant quantity of clay bricks are
recycled either prior to arriving at, or from landfill sites
Recycled bricks are mainly crushed and used as aggregate fill or
re-used by the informal building sector
36%of clay bricks
estimated to
be recycled
e span
ars
SECURE SAVE RECYCLE STYLE

14. WHAT THE STUDIES FOUND
Contribution to climate change of 220 mm double brick wall over
its life cycle:
MINING AND BRICK
PRODUCTION
TRANSPORT AND
CONSTRUCTION
Building and maintaining
the walls
OPERATION OF A
LIVED-IN HOUSE
Heating and cooling
of the building
DEMOLITION AND
DISPOSAL
Demolishing the
wall and disposing
of the bricks
Percentagecontributiontoclimatechange
Contribution to climate change* of a 220mm double brick wall over its life cycle:
Very similar relative trend obtained for human health and ecosystem
impacts as they are also predominantly caused by coal use

15. CLIMATE
Resulting from burning fossil fuels100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoclimatechange
WHAT THE STUDIES FOUND
Relative contribution to climate impact of the six different kiln
technologies assessed (cradle to gate):
Percentagecontributiontoclimatechange
88%Brick drying
and fir
i
ng
10%Clay extraction, preparation
and stockpiling
2%Transport and factory overheads
1
clay brick =
boiling 5 kettles
Transports & factory overheads Brick drying & firing Clay extraction, preparation & stockpiling

16. CLIMATE
Resulting from burning fossil fuels100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoclimatechange
WHAT THE STUDIES FOUND
Relative contribution to climate impact of the six different kiln
technologies assessed (cradle to gate):
Transports & factory overheads Brick drying & firing Clay extraction, preparation & stockpiling
Contribution to
220mm double b
ontributiontoclimatechange
88%Brick drying
and fir
i
ng
10%Clay extraction, prepa
and stockpiling
2%Transport and factory overhead
1
clay brick =
boiling 5 kettles
= 0.74 kg CO2
equivalents

17. ECOSYSTEM QUALITY
Impacts primarily arise during coal mining
CLAMP
100%
0%
TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoecosystemimpacts
CLIMATE
Resulting from burning fossil fuels100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoclimatechange
WHAT THE STUDIES FOUND
Relative contribution to brick production impacts of the six
different kiln technologies assessed:
Transports & factory
overheads
Brick drying & firing Clay extraction, preparation
& stockpiling

18. ECOSYSTEM QUALITY
Impacts primarily arise during coal mining
CLAMP
100%
0%
TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoecosystemimpacts
CLIMATE
Resulting from burning fossil fuels100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoclimatechange
WHAT THE STUDIES FOUND
Relative contribution to brick production impacts of the six
different kiln technologies assessed:
Transports & factory
overheads
Brick drying & firing Clay extraction, preparation
& stockpiling
HUMAN HEALTH
Primarily respiratory diseases arising from burning coal
100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontohumanhealthimpacts

19. ECOSYSTEM QUALITY
Impacts primarily arise during coal mining
CLAMP
100%
0%
TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoecosystemimpacts
CLIMATE
Resulting from burning fossil fuels100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontoclimatechange
WHAT THE STUDIES FOUND
Relative contribution to brick production impacts of the six
different kiln technologies assessed:
Transports & factory
overheads
Brick drying & firing Clay extraction, preparation
& stockpiling
HUMAN HEALTH
Primarily respiratory diseases arising from burning coal
100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontohumanhealthimpacts
NON-RENEWABLE RESOUR CES
Consumption of coal and other fossil fuels100%
0%
CLAMP TUNNEL TVAVSBK HOFFMANZIGZAG
Relativecontributiontonon-renewable
resourcedepletion

20. KEY FINDINGS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL LCA
Environmental impacts are driven by dependence on
fossil fuels: Most significant impacts are contribution global climate
change, consumption of non-renewable resources and emissions of
substances that cause respiratory diseases
A brick’s biggest impact is in its use: Greatest share of climate
and health impacts occur in the use phase due to electricity used for heating
and cooling houses
The highest production impacts occur in the kiln: High
impacts on ecosystem quality and resources are caused by the production of
coal; impacts during firing are from emissions of burning fossil fuels.
Kiln technologies have differing life cycle impacts: No one
technology performs consistently best across all the different environmental
impacts assessed; continuous firing technologies perform best

21. THE SOCIAL LCA
89 manufacturers contributed data, representing a 78% response rate to
the online survey
Follows the UNEP Guidelines for the Social Life Cycle Assessment of
Products
Includes all stakeholders in brick manufacturing and looks at the industry’s
socio-economic impact in the following categories:

23. FINDINGS OF THE S-LCA
A positive socio-economic impact
R6.50 SPENT ON COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT per 1000 bricks produced
4 JOBS
for every million bricks
74% OF SUPPLIES provided by SMMEs
Areas for improvement:
Provision of equal opportunities for employment at higher education
levels
Equal remuneration across gender and race
Industry strong-points:
Transparency and
communication about the
industry’s environmental and
social performance
Provides employment in rural
areas

24. 30% to 70% energy saving using clay
brick relative to other typical building materials
= 3 to 7 passenger cars off the road for a
month for every year the building is in use
WHAT CAN THE INDUSTRY DO?
The importance of design and education
The sector can reduce its environmental impact in two ways:
By educating the building sector on the need for the design of energy-
efficient buildings and the importance of choosing suitable building
materials
By becoming more energy efficient and adapting to the use of better
performing kilns and cleaner-burning fuels
mate change* of a
wall over its life cycle:
Building with an insulated cavity wall
rather than a solid wall reduces the
use phase climate impact by
30%

25. changing from the worst
to best performing kiln has
the potential to remove 38
passenger cars off the road
for a day.
changing from a solid wall
to a double cavity wall with
insulation has the potential to
remove 5 x as many cars off
the road.
Over the life cycle of 1 m2
of wall:
WHAT CAN THE INDUSTRY DO?
The importance of design and education
The use phase has a much higher environmental improvement
potential than the production phase

26. www.tgh.co.za | pippa@tgh.co.za
Tel: +27 (0) 21 671 2161
Ubunye House, 70 Rosmead Ave,
Kenilworth, 7708, South Africa
For more information: www.claybrick.org/LCA
A summary of the environmental LCA study is available,
authored by Quantis International, funded by the Swiss
Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) as part of
the Energy Efficient Clay Brick (EECB) project implemented in
South Africa by Swisscontact.