Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh

We present results from a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh that introduced operational practices to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in 276 “zigzag” brick kilns. Of all intervention kilns, 65% adopted the improved practices. Treatment assignment reduced energy use by 10.5% ( P...

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Autores principales: Brooks, Nina, Biswas, Debashish, Maithel, Sameer, Miller, Grant, Mahajan, Aprajit, Uddin, M. Rofi, Ahmed, Shoeb, Mahzab, Moogdho, Rahman, Mahbubur, Luby, Stephen P.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174559
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author Brooks, Nina
Biswas, Debashish
Maithel, Sameer
Miller, Grant
Mahajan, Aprajit
Uddin, M. Rofi
Ahmed, Shoeb
Mahzab, Moogdho
Rahman, Mahbubur
Luby, Stephen P.
author_browse Ahmed, Shoeb
Biswas, Debashish
Brooks, Nina
Luby, Stephen P.
Mahajan, Aprajit
Mahzab, Moogdho
Maithel, Sameer
Miller, Grant
Rahman, Mahbubur
Uddin, M. Rofi
author_facet Brooks, Nina
Biswas, Debashish
Maithel, Sameer
Miller, Grant
Mahajan, Aprajit
Uddin, M. Rofi
Ahmed, Shoeb
Mahzab, Moogdho
Rahman, Mahbubur
Luby, Stephen P.
author_sort Brooks, Nina
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description We present results from a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh that introduced operational practices to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in 276 “zigzag” brick kilns. Of all intervention kilns, 65% adopted the improved practices. Treatment assignment reduced energy use by 10.5% ( P -value <0.001) and decreased CO 2 and PM 2.5 emissions by 171 and 0.45 metric tons, respectively, per kiln per year. Valuing the CO 2 reductions using a social cost of carbon of 185 USD per metric ton, we find that the social benefits outweigh costs by a factor of 65 to 1. The intervention, which required no new capital investment, also decreased fuel costs and increased brick quality. Our results demonstrate the potential for privately profitable, as well as publicly beneficial, improvements to address environmental problems in informal industries.
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language Inglés
publishDate 2025
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publisher American Association for the Advancement of Science
publisherStr American Association for the Advancement of Science
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spelling CGSpace1745592025-10-26T12:56:38Z Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh Brooks, Nina Biswas, Debashish Maithel, Sameer Miller, Grant Mahajan, Aprajit Uddin, M. Rofi Ahmed, Shoeb Mahzab, Moogdho Rahman, Mahbubur Luby, Stephen P. air pollution drying kilns greenhouse gas emissions We present results from a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh that introduced operational practices to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in 276 “zigzag” brick kilns. Of all intervention kilns, 65% adopted the improved practices. Treatment assignment reduced energy use by 10.5% ( P -value <0.001) and decreased CO 2 and PM 2.5 emissions by 171 and 0.45 metric tons, respectively, per kiln per year. Valuing the CO 2 reductions using a social cost of carbon of 185 USD per metric ton, we find that the social benefits outweigh costs by a factor of 65 to 1. The intervention, which required no new capital investment, also decreased fuel costs and increased brick quality. Our results demonstrate the potential for privately profitable, as well as publicly beneficial, improvements to address environmental problems in informal industries. 2025-05-08 2025-05-13T14:39:05Z 2025-05-13T14:39:05Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174559 en Limited Access American Association for the Advancement of Science Brooks, Nina; Biswas, Debashish; Maithel, Sameer; Miller, Grant; Mahajan, Aprajit; Uddin, M. Rofi; et al. 2025. Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh. Science 388(6747): eadr7394. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr7394
spellingShingle air pollution
drying kilns
greenhouse gas emissions
Brooks, Nina
Biswas, Debashish
Maithel, Sameer
Miller, Grant
Mahajan, Aprajit
Uddin, M. Rofi
Ahmed, Shoeb
Mahzab, Moogdho
Rahman, Mahbubur
Luby, Stephen P.
Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh
title Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh
title_full Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh
title_fullStr Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh
title_short Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh
title_sort reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns evidence from bangladesh
topic air pollution
drying kilns
greenhouse gas emissions
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174559
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