Air conditioning and energy efficiency

The energy audit of Rail Bhavan

"15 per cent of heat in a building can come through roof, which is why it is important to insulate roof of a building,' say many architects. The best way to insulate roof is to create a rooftop garden.

Green architecture needs norms and regulations

CFL consists of a long glass tube fitted with electrodes. The tube is filled with mercury vapour and gas (argon or xenon). The glass tube's interior is coated with phosphor. When electricity is supplied, electrons are released from the electrodes, which excite the mercury atoms causing them to emit ultraviolet (UV) light.

Agriculture and food systems play an important role in fossil fuel consumption and climate change because of their significant energy use and because of agriculture

This article is based on extracts from a recent report published by the World Alliance for Decentralised Energy (WADE) entitled 'Concrete Energy Savings'. The WADE report establishes that significant untapped potential for onsite power in the cement industry remains despite the many benefits it offers, both to society in general and, in many cases, for plant managers. July-Sep 2007

ACC has extended financial support to the construction of what is expected to turn out to be the most exemplary sustainable building on the Indian subcontinent. The building based in New Delhi, will house the headquarters of Development Alternatives, a reputed non government organization.

Slag is a by-product of steel. It contains about 30-35 per cent calcium oxide, 35-38 per cent silica, 10-18 per cent aluminium oxide and 7-10 per cent magnesium oxide. Slag, generated from manufacture of pig iron, is granulated and called blast furnace slag. It is non-biodegradable. One tonne of slag saves around 3.30 GJ (giga-joule) thermal energy, or energy obtained from 99 litres of petrol, and 55.5 kWh electrical energy, or energy obtained from 6 litres of petrol.

Presently in India, about 960 million tonnes of solid waste is being generated annually as by-products during industrial, mining, municipal, agricultural and other processes. Of this ∼350 million tonnes are organic wastes from agricultural sources; ∼290 million tonnes are inorganic waste of industrial and mining sectors and ∼4.5 million tonnes are hazardous in nature. Advances in solid waste management resulted in alternative construction materials as a substitute to traditional materials like bricks, blocks, tiles, aggregates, ceramics, cement, lime, soil, timber and paint.

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