Environmental Sustainability: Stabilized Mud Block

Abstract

The urban ecosystem is considerably dependent on its surrounding areas; green enriches it and pollution degrades the same. Brick kilns are a common sight in any urban periphery. In the advent of rapid urbanization, the demand for brick as filler material of buildings has been increasing exponentially. Conventional burnt brick puts tremendous pressure on the environment, as the burning process results in lot of greenhouse gases. An alternative to burnt brick is the call of the day. However, alternatives such as hollow concrete/fly ash blocks are costly. The paper examines the case of stabilized mud blocks as filler material. These blocks do not need burning and thus save the ecosystem from burden of burning fossil/conventional fuel. The paper discusses the engineering viability of such stabilized mud blocks. The engineering properties of such blocks have been presented. The paper concludes that stabilized mud blocks are a viable alternative to conventional bricks with lot more intangible benefits attached to it.