A team of researchers has found that making one simple change to how an integral industry conducts business can make a mountain of difference when it comes to dangerous air pollution in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
As it rapidly urbanizes, Bangladesh produces about 30 million bricks per year. However, the coal-fueled kilns that fire these bricks are also a huge contributor to air pollution in a nation that consistently ranks among the most polluted, NPR<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n A new study<\/a>, summarized by NPR, discovered that making a simple change to the way bricks are arranged in kilns could increase burning efficiency by about 23% and reduce pollution by about 20%.<\/p>\n Normally, bricks are stacked in a firing chamber and covered with ash. Then, workers shovel in coal to firm up the bricks during firing. According to study co-author Sameer Maithel, many kiln operators pack bricks too tightly, reducing oxygen flow and making burning less efficient. He said that stacking the bricks in a zig-zag pattern \u2014 a method they tested in 276 kilns \u2014 helps increase airflow and ensures that kilns operate more efficiently.<\/p>\n Plus, researchers found that brick quality improved and individual kilns saved about $40,000 a year, thanks to reduced fuel use. The researchers are now working with the Bangladeshi government to expand training and get more kilns in operation with this efficient burning technique.<\/p>\n The new research is just one of many solutions to a growing pollution problem for communities across the globe. For instance, one team at Stanford is turning heat-trapping air pollution into stone. And a Pretoria Nestl\u00e9 plant is turning its dirty fumes into baking soda.<\/p>\n Watch now: Giant snails invading New York City?<\/a><\/p>\n “It’s a hopeful story of a place where solutions are quite feasible,” study lead Nina Brooks, a global health researcher at Boston University, told<\/a> NPR.<\/p>\n “We showed that simple, low-cost interventions can really reduce pollution,” added<\/a> co-author Mahbubur Rahman.<\/p>\n Join our free newsletter<\/a> for good news<\/strong> and useful tips<\/strong>, and don’t miss this cool list<\/a> of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A team of researchers has found that making one simple change to how an integral industry conducts business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[854,21710,728,856,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-air-pollution","9":"tag-bangladesh","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-pollution","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114718994817736669","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}