I’ve railed against the unnecessary use of concrete for years but I was not aware that it is such a huge contributor to Carbon Dioxide emissions - 10% of the worldwide total according to some estimates.
Here’s an interesting article because it gives a few alternatives to the use of concrete - most of them are [...]

This is the ideal air conditioner - the hotter the sun gets the better the a/c works. Still, there have been drawbacks that made such machines non-viable. Now, a company called GreenCore Air has released a hybrid unit that claims to have solved the inefficiency problem.
Go to :: GreenCore via :: MetaEfficient

The Clinton Foundation is talking to the Gujarat Government to set up a “solar city” project that will eventually generate 5 gigawatts of power. Talks are also on with the Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan for setting up solar energy projects.
Now we can only hope that the Great Indian Bureaucracy doesn’t kill this initiative…
Full Article :: [...]

The price of electricity in India has gone up substantially of late and the argument for eliminating incandescent bulbs has become even stronger. Scroll towards the bottom of this article to see cost comparisons for Bulbs, CFLs and Fluorescent Tubes.
Sustainable Design :: Energy :: Efficient Lighting

It’s been a while but I finally got this page uploaded. The [RaBV] bungalow has been completed and the clients are living there already. Teething problems are still being sorted out - rather slowly - by the local contractor and they should be done soon. more…

Found this article at Sustainable Design Update about Sintex Industries making a prefabricated biogas digester which turns waste and garbage into cooking fuel. Nothing new about the technology but constructing a tank has always been the biggest headache. Now, you can just get it ready-made and install it. According to this Fortune magazine article, it [...]

This is absolutely wonderful. When it comes to inexpensive, self-help construction, you can hardly go wrong with this extremely low-tech system.
See :: Earth Bag House in Haiti [via :: Sustainable Design Update]

Researchers at IIT Kanpur are working on a toilet design that will reuse water. The design is still under development but, if it works as advertised, it’ll be a good thing because the amount of fresh water flushed down the drain is dramatically reduced. The article at Down To Earth may disappear in the next [...]

I’ve been watching the much-talked-about Antilia building on Altamount Road come up these last few months and other than the architects, nobody seems to know what exactly is so green about it (apart from vegetation hanging over the side). Like many others, I’m convinced this is a major case of green-washing but, what I like [...]

Just a few days ago, a friend of mine emailed an article from the NY Times talking about Orange County in California treating their sewage and then piping it back into people’s taps. Conceptually, it’s the correct thing to do but the cost attached is much too high. Of course, this is not the first [...]