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 not available here but, nonetheless, the article is worth reading.

Go to :: Concrete: a ‘Burning’ Issue

Trying to bring users of different flavours of IntelliCAD together to interact about all things IntelliCAD, Deelip Menezes has launched IntelliCAD.net. The intention is to:

1. Use the forums to ask and offer help.
2. Post on the IntelliCAD.net network blog.
3. Create or join groups of members.
4. Share photos and videos.
5. Post events such as user meetings, tradeshows, etc.

If you’re an IntelliCAD user, head over to IntelliCAD.net a.s.a.p.

Not exactly a name I’d choose for a website, but never mind. The content is wonderful.

Stair Porn via :: TreeHugger

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 :: Business Standard via :: TreeHugger

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…

I’ve been using some free photoshop compatible (8bf) filters within IrfanView but you can only really apply them to the entire image - or not at all. If you want a little more control, you might use something like the GIMP. The beauty of it is, these filters can now be used under Linux.

Go to :: PSPI
Via :: ossblogger.com

Warning: This post is slightly technical

I’ve been using AVG’s free version for quite some years now and have always been happy with it. Accordingly, when they posted their latest version, 8.0, I was quick to download and install it. AVG now includes an antispyware component and a bit of fluff called LinkScanner. This, I found to be rather unnecessary and also a consumer of bandwidth and time (although AVG denies it on their support forum). Search results loaded noticeably slower in Firefox and disabling it in the AVG control panel resulted in a horrible “you may not be protected” icon in the system tray.

Reinstalling AVG 8 without that component did pretty much the same as just disabling it in the tray and that led me on a hunt for a permanent solution. Well, it’s documented in the AVG FAQs and it is possible - albeit a little differently from what they say because of the way my XP is set up; I can’t RUN any program directly.

Here are AVG’s instructions:

1. Download the AVG 8.0 Free Edition installation package from our website.
2. Run the installation with the parameters /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch.
3. One way to achieve this is to:
   • save (or copy) the AVG Free installation file directly to disk C:\
   • Start > Run
   • type c:\avg_free_stf_*.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch
4. The installation will be started, and AVG will be installed without the LinkScanner component.

In my case, I had to make a batch file in C: with the following line (watch for wordwrap).

Start “” avg_free_stf_*.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch

This is the only thing that worked for me and I hope it helps someone else in a similar situation.

One more thing. The download is a huge 47Mb+ in size compared to just 22MB for version 7.5. I suppose the antispyware component does need some space. However, I’m beginning to wonder if this software is getting too bloated for its own good. Time will tell…

I can’t say I like the look of this furniture myself but, if you’re aiming for a slightly retro look, these GDL objects might be just what the architect ordered.

Go to :: http://www.johansondesign.se/