Silicon Valley reinvents the lowly brick

[Kadie]

Silicon Valley reinvents the lowly brick
By David Lawsky - Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:57PM EDT

NEWARK, California (Reuters) - Forget microchips.

Silicon Valley sees a profitable future in the humble brick thanks to a low-energy production process that illustrates the greening of the U.S. technology capital.

Brick maker Calstar Products is heavy on PhDs and backed by venture capitalists whose vision is to create buildings less expensively and in a way that saves energy.

"We think it is time for a second industrial revolution," said Paul Holland, a partner at Foundation Capital, which invested $7 million in Calstar. EnerTech Capital led another round that raised $8 million for the business.

snip...
Bricks have been made pretty much the same way for 3,000 years, until Calstar's scientists came up with their new technique, said Chief Executive Michael Kane.

Ordinary bricks are fired for 24 hours at 2,000 degrees F (1,093 C) as part of a process that can last a week, while Calstar bricks are baked at temperatures below 212 F (100 C) and take only 10 hours from start to finish, Kane said.

The recipe incorporates large amounts of fly ash -- a fluffy, powdery residue of burned coal at electric plants, that can otherwise wind up as a troublesome pollutant.

more...
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090922/tc_nm/us_bricks_siliconvalley_1




Calstar Products Chief Executive Michael Kane stands next to submerged samples of experimental high tech bricks undergoing testing in his Newark, California plant September 16, 2009. Silicon Valley sees a profitable future in the humble brick thanks to a low-energy production process that illustrates the greening of the U.S. technology capital.
REUTERS/David Lawsky


Experimental bricks from Calstar Products are shown in Newark, California September 16, 2009. The company plans has started constructing a plant in Wisconsin to turn out bricks in quantity. Silicon Valley sees a profitable future in the humble brick thanks to a low-energy production process that illustrates the greening of the U.S. technology capital. Photo taken September 16, 2009.
REUTERS/David Lawsky (UNITED STATES SCI TECH)

[ddeclue]

1. Not so keen on having a building made out of fly ash from a coal plant.

Lots of heavy metals/poisons in them: mercury, arsenic, thorium, etc.

Don't think I'd want to live inside of a building loaded with them.

:eyes:

[Omnibus]

2. Don't worry!

All the lead inside will shield you from the radioactives!

[TexasObserver]

3. brick

house

[Brickbat]

5. Well, I'll have that in my head the rest of the day.

I thank you for that.

[TexasObserver]

6. just lettin' it all hang out

brick ...

[Brickbat]

7. Ain't nothin' holdin' back...

[Brickbat]

4. Coal-fired electric plants?

Well, that'll be outsourced to China soon enough.