For his latest endeavor, Elon Musk is taking on the title “rock star.”
Musk dropped the “rock star” joke in a series of tweets announcing a plan to turn material removed during the Boring Company’s tunneling into interlocking bricks that could be used to construct “sculptures and buildings.”
And they said I’d never be a rock star …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2018
Musk said the bricks would be strong, lightweight, and with a “precise surface finish.” The Boring Company plans to offer kits for using the blocks to recreate iconic structures like the pyramids, the Sphinx, the Temple of Horus, and others.
The bricks can also be used for affordable housing. Musk said that two people could use the interlocking bricks to create the walls of a small house in “a day or so.”
The Boring Company’s bricks follow a series of unique offerings, including a flamethrower branded with the company logo. But, the bricks aren’t just a gimmick.
In typical tunneling projects, excavated dirt is shipped offsite to disposal locations. This process is costly, time-consuming, noisy, and can be environmentally hazardous.
“The Boring Company is investigating technologies that will recycle the earth into useful bricks to be used to build structures,” the company’s FAQ page says. “This is not a new concept, as buildings have been constructed from Earth for thousands of years including, according to recent evidence, the Pyramids. These bricks can potentially be used as a portion of the tunnel lining itself, which is typically built from concrete. Since concrete production accounts for 4.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, earth bricks would reduce both environmental impact and tunneling costs.”