With climate and clean air having occupied the center stage in the local, regional and global discourse of late, the Peshawar administration under instructions from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has been adopting pragmatic measures to cut down on emissions of toxic gases from brick kilns and improve on the air quality in a cost effective and sustainable manner.
\nBrick kilns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of Pakistan traditionally burn coal, rubber and plastic to bake bricks, which have become a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, and this release of toxic gases into the air hastens environmental degradation, which, both in the short and long terms, weigh heavily on mental health and physical wellbeing of the people.
\nAccording to a report of this newspaper, the Peshawar administration has taken a commendable decision to convert the brick kilns scattered across the provincial metropolis to a zigzag technology, which sounds extremely hi-tech, but it is actually a way to stack raw bricks in the kiln in a zigzag pattern for baking instead of arranging them in straight line, and this zigzag pattern redirects air flow and make fuel combustion more efficient.
\nPeshawar\u2019s commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud during a meeting issued instructions to relevant quarters to initiate pragmatic measures to reduce power consumption and cut on greenhouse gas emissions to improve the air quality. At present, only brick kilns are converted to the zigzag technology, which involves better insulation of the walls and floor of the brick kiln for efficient consumption of fuel. This zigzag method of arranging bricks also changes the way coal is loaded to the kiln, which, experts say, leads to better fuel consumption and increases energy efficiency. The experts also say that a brick kiln using zigzag pattern efficiently reduces use of coal by 20 per cent.
\nDoubtlessly, the air quality in the provincial metropolis has visibly improved during the past couple of years and especially after the launch of the PTI government\u2019s signature project of Peshawar Rapid Bus Transit (BRT) and removal of rundown buses and other old public transport plying on the city\u2019s roads to prevent environmental degradation.
\nAnd, now, the decision to convert the brick kilns in Peshawar district to zigzag technology is likely to further improve the air quality. It is also in line with the framework of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to raise awareness about environmental pollutants. Pakistan, which became a member of the coalition in 2017, has been working since then to bring visible improvement in the air quality and check on the sources of environmental degradation.
\nThe Peshawar administration has also directed the participants of the meeting, which also included officials of the Environmental Protection Agency, to hold special meetings with stockholders and brick kiln owners for converting their units to the modern zigzag technology. It is a wise decision on part of the Peshawar administration to take all the stakeholders on board before going ahead with the implementation of the program to ensure healthy environment to the masses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With climate and clean air having occupied the center stage in the local, regional and global discourse of late, the Peshawar administration under instructions from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has been adopting pragmatic measures to cut down on emissions of toxic gases from brick kilns and improve on the air quality in a cost effective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11369,11370],"class_list":{"0":"post-294241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial","7":"tag-spewing-black","8":"tag-venom"},"yoast_head":"\n