May 2004

You can’t do without refrigerators, alright. At least know what you live with . . .
If you pause to reflect, you will realize that the refrigerator at home is perhaps the only energy user that is switched on all the 8760 hours of the year!
Barring, of course, the automatic off-cycle and that is dependent on a lot of things for how often it turns off—the surrounding space temperature, cabinet insulation, the number of door openings, compressor location, compressor efficiency, system performance coefficient, the refrigerant used, the defrost cycle, and so on.

Will the ‘alternate’ never join the mainstream?

So the debate goes on
between conventional
and alternative building technologies.
It is pointless to discuss what ails the building industry. The reasons, too many to enumerate, have been talked about by many people in many groups.
I’d rather dwell on innovation and its diffusion. This is something that is firmly in the hands of professionals – architects, academics and research institutions, with selective dependence on larger (read governmental) segments.

There’s a little statistic that escapes our attention. Today, India’s construction industry accounts for as much as five per cent of the GDP. That is over Rs 60,000 crore, with the total GDP estimated to be a little over Rs 12 lakh crores. It is the second largest employer after agriculture. It offers a means of living for over 60 million people, the second largest after the farm sector’s 240 million.