Stanford Brick Kilns Initiative Research Themes and Projects

Research Themes: Reducing air pollution, improving health

1. Research the health, air quality, and climate impacts of brick kilns

While the health consequences of air pollution exposure have been widely documented, understanding the contributions of brick kilns to adverse health outcomes in Bangladesh has required additional study. Stanford researchers have found that living within two kilometers downwind from a brick kiln during the brick-making season is associated with increases in PM2.5 that exceed WHO guidelines by a factor of five, as well as higher odds of COPD symptoms and respiratory symptoms among non-smoking adults. In children, exposure to PM2.5 pollution can cause respiratory illnesses (a globally leading cause of death for children under five), asthma, low birthweight, pre-term birth, infant mortality, and asthma. Especially since health impacts were observed amongst populations as far as eight kilometers downwind from brick kilns, and in populations living 50 kilometers downwind from multiple brick kilns, researchers have also identified that government restrictions on where brick kilns can be constructed are inadequate, and that a more effective strategy is to reduce emissions overall.

2. Develop a theory of change for reducing brick kiln emissions, including through the identification of incentives for kiln owners

Stanford researchers have identified a range of interventions to reduce brick kiln emissions, including: improving fuel feeding through continuous inputs, temperature monitoring, and biomass substitutions; reducing the density of brick stacks; shortening cooling and pre-heating zones; and reducing wasted heat through increasing the depth of the ash layer, plugging leaks, and insulating shunts and fuel hole covers. Still, in a setting with limited capacity to enforce government regulations, enacting policy to implement these interventions is difficult. Given this context, Stanford researchers are identifying interventions that align with existing incentives for brick kiln owners, assessing opportunities to communicate strategies for the implementation of recommended interventions to brick kiln owners, and developing a theory of change for further scaling this work.

3. Study the impacts of interventions to improve brick kiln efficiency, reducing health- and climate-harming emissions while improving profitability 

Stanford researchers have led randomized controlled trials among 350 traditional brick kilns in Bangladesh to assess the effectiveness of intensive technical training and worker incentives on the adoption of efficiency interventions among brick kiln owners and workers. In addition to collecting data on kiln characteristics and operating practices through baseline and endline surveys, researchers also conducted mid-season kiln performance assessments to measure emissions, brick production, and fuel use, and surveyed 1,750 workers to assess working conditions and the worker experience. 65% of kilns that received the technical training adopted the efficiency interventions, resulting in over 20% reductions in both CO2 and PM2.5 emissions, as well as a nearly 20% improvement in production of bricks rated as Class I (best quality). Improvements in brick quality and brick production resulted in improved profitability for brick kiln owners. In an additional study of 473 coal-fired brick kilns, researchers found that kilns that adopted recommended interventions burned 24% less coal per 100,000 bricks produced. Currently, a key research priority is studying the impacts of additional steps to further improve energy efficiency of kilns.

4. Research opportunities to scale brick kiln efficiency interventions across Bangladesh

Following early successes in the uptake of brick kiln interventions in randomized controlled trials, Stanford researchers, in partnership with the Bangladesh Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the icddr,b, are expanding their reach in other parts of Bangladesh to identify opportunities to scale technical training on recommended interventions to reduce emissions and consequent health and environmental impacts.

Select Publications

Lee et al. 2021, “Scalable deep learning to identify brick kilns and aid regulatory capacity”

Brooks et al. 2023, “Health consequences of small-scale industrial pollution: Evidence from the brick sector in Bangladesh”

Miller et al. 2024, “A Business Case for Human Rights at Work? Experimental Evidence on Labor Trafficking and Child Labor at Brick Kilns in Bangladesh”

Brooks et al. 2024, “Reducing Emissions and Air Pollution from the Informal Sector: Evidence from Bangladesh”

Brooks et al. 2024, “Building blocks of change: The energy, health, and climate co-benefits of more efficient brickmaking in Bangladesh”

Sherris et al. 2021, “Associations between ambient fine particulate matter and child respiratory infection: The role of particulate matter source composition in Dhaka, Bangladesh”

Chowdhury et al. 2021, “Child lead exposure near abandoned lead acid battery recycling sites in a residential community in Bangladesh: Risk factors and the impact of soil remediation on blood lead levels”

Biswas et al. 2018, “The Drivers and Impacts of Selling Soil for Brick Making in Bangladesh”

Luby et al. 2015, “Why highly polluting methods are used to manufacture bricks in Bangladesh”

Gurley et al. 2014, “Indoor Exposure to Particulate Matter and Age at First Acute Lower Respiratory Infection in a Low-Income Urban Community in Bangladesh”

Partners and Funders

icddr,b, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), and the Bangladesh Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford Impact Labs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Child Health Research Foundation, Jameel Poverty Action Lab, King Climate Action Initiative, Stanford Sustainability Accelerator, Innovations for Poverty Action

People

Steve Luby, Nina Brooks, Jihyeon Lee, Fahim Tajwar, Debashish, Biswas, Grant Miller, Moogdho Mahzab, Shoeb Ahmed, Mahbub Rahman, Sameer Maithel, Lester Su, Eli Hiss, Jeffrey Wood, Sayedil Morsalin, Abir Hasnat, Sania Ashraf

_{Image Credit: Mohammad Rofi Uddin, Jyoti Bhushan Das, Md. Moniruzzaman, Selim Reza Babul}