Part of the answer to the energy crisis could be found in your used phone books.
That's because a Texas company is tackling the issue one brick at a time, and recycled phone books play a great role in it.
Bullets won’t break them and fires won't even destroy them.
They’ll also keep your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The bricks are called Greenstar Cinderblox and they are made from recycled paper.
What are green building products?
In making building products greener, the goal is to reduce the use and the impact materials will have on the environment throughout the building life cycle.
“It’s made out of 65 percent paper so it’s twice as strong.” Ed Risinger with Mason Greenstar said.
It starts out as recycled paper and another company processes it and creates a high quality recycled paper that is used to create an adobe style brick. And it weighs about 8 pounds, whereas the traditional brick weighs 40-50 pounds, Risinger said.
As a result of being much lighter than regular bricks, they also cost less to ship, too.
“It’s a wet process where we’ve added 65 percent paper, cement which is used on all concrete products ... and then our special mix that gives them the strength and the bonding qualities,” he said.
The bricks cost more than the regular cinder blocks used in construction but because the bricks require no insulation the end result is ultimately cheaper.
The labor is certainly less, he said.
“You can cut it with a chain saw and put in conduits. The building process for a 2,600 square foot house took 9 days as opposed to months,” he said.
To view a presentation of the Greenstar cinderblock, click here.
There’s a factory house out in Mason, Texas with no air conditioning and no heat. You can go out there during 102 degree weather, but once you walk inside you feel cool.
Similar bricks on the market use petroleum products which make them less green.
Since the Greenstar Blox does not use petroleum, it is the greenest brick of its kind.
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Green Living: Building blox
Part of the answer to the energy crisis could be found in your used phone books.
 
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They’re also mold and termite proof and they’re made just hours from Austin in Mason, Texas.
