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[January 2010]
CalStar Products Opens Green Brick Plant in Wisconsin
CalStar Products Inc opened its first green brick and paver plant last week in the village of Caledonia, in south-eastern Wisconsin, USA.
The first of its kind in the country, the Caledonia plant takes to commercial scale a new process that combines innovations in material science and manufacturing. Using fly ash from a nearby We Energies power plant as the body and binder of the products, CalStar is able to reduce the energy required for brickmaking by 85% versus kiln-fired clay brick. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by a similar 85% reduction in CO2 generated.
Distinguished speakers at the event included US Senator Russ Feingold (WI-D) and Wisconsin Secretary of Department of Natural Resources Matt Frank. “We welcome CalStar Products to Wisconsin and wish you great success with your fly ash brick product,” said Senator Feingold. The plant promises to bring 30 to 35 new jobs to Racine County in the next two years, lower the energy and carbon footprint of brickmaking by 85% and provide architects and masons with a sustainable alternative to high-energy fired brick, reports the company.
“We love brick and want to safeguard and extend brick masonry as a primary technique within the built environment,” said Mike Kane, building materials veteran and CEO of CalStar Products. In recent years, brick has started losing ‘wall share’ to competitors like fibre cement board, vinyl and wood because some LEED architects have questioned its ‘green’ qualities. “Chicago and Milwaukee have a deep history with brick – and a well articulated commitment to LEED construction. Midwest designers want our brick,” said Mr Kane.
The plant location was chosen in November 2008 after a competitive process that included candidate partners at four utilities in four other states. “We Energies and Wispark LLC (the real estate development arm of We Energies) put forward a strong proposal – matched by their ability to execute on several fronts: material supply and quality, logistics and real (economic) participation,” said Tom Pounds, COO of CalStar Products. We Energies provides fly ash from the Oak Creek Power Plant in neighbouring Racine, WI and Wispark LLC purchased and retrofitted the Young Radiator Building to make it suitable for its new brick manufacturing tenant.
ENDS