[Greenbuilding] Green Streets?

[Rob Tom]

On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:13:03 -0400, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> one advantage of clay bricks is their longevity. The intersections of the
> new bus mall in downtown Portland, Oregon features clay bricks set in  
> sand.
> I can't think of a more punishing set of circumstances.

If one were to do the same here in Kanata, those clay bricks would  
self-destruct within a year or less, as a result of frost action.

The first thing that would happen is the hard surface would spall off  
exposing the softer core.

Then the core would deteriorate rapidly after that.

And we haven't even touched upon the consquences of road salt and  
snowplows.

OTOH, if those "bricks" were granite cobblestones, they'd probably outlast  
you, me and our (children's children's) ^n.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the embodied energy of granite cobbles  
is lower than that of fired clay brick.

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at chaffY a h o o  dot  c a >
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