Interesting possibilities arise when you combine old technology with new knowledge and new materials, or when you apply old concepts and traditional knowledge to modern technology.
Technology has become the idol of our society, but technological progress is—more often than not—aimed at solving problems caused by earlier technical inventions.
There is a lot of potential in past and often forgotten knowledge and technologies when it comes to designing a sustainable society.
We built a pedal-powered generator and controller, which is practical to use as an energy source and exercise machine in a household — and which you can integrate into a solar PV system. We provide detailed plans to build your own, using basic skills and common hand tools.
The printed archives of Low-tech Magazine now amount to four volumes with a total of 2,398 pages and 709 images.
George Cove, a forgotten solar power pioneer, may have built a highly efficient photovoltaic panel 40 years before Bell Labs engineers invented silicon cells. If proven to work, his design could lead to less complex and more sustainable solar panels.
It is surprisingly difficult to build a carbon neutral sailing ship. This is even more the case today, because our standards for safety, health, hygiene, comfort, and convenience have changed profoundly since the Age of Sail.
Wood stoves equipped with thermoelectric generators can produce electricity that is more sustainable, more reliable, and less costly than power from solar PV panels.
We present our website’s energy and uptime data, calculate the embodied energy of our configuration, consider the optimal balance between sustainability and server uptime, and outline possible improvements.
The water and energy use of the mist shower is so low that the bathroom could be taken off-grid and off-pipe even in an urban context.
A wooden rotor and tower greatly increase the net energy output over the lifetime of a small wind turbine.
Given the right conditions, a mechanical windmill with an oversized brake system is a cheap, effective, and sustainable heating system.
To improve energy security, we need to make infrastructures less reliable.
Our new blog is designed to radically reduce the energy use associated with accessing our content.
When modernity meets its end-point and creates a world where everything is sterile, controlled, and known, there will be little space for fermentation.
Compressed air energy storage is the sustainable and resilient alternative to chemical batteries, with much longer life expectancy, lower life cycle costs, technical simplicity, and low maintenance.
Researchers have calculated minimum levels of energy use needed to live a decent life, but what about maximum levels?
Adjusting energy demand to supply would make switching to renewable energy much more realistic than it is today.
Unlike solar and wind energy, human power is always available, no matter the season or time of day.
Vietnam’s decentralised food system has low energy inputs and reduced food waste, giving us a glimpse of what an alternative food system might look like
Could we rethink and redesign office equipment, combining the best of mechanical and digital devices?
Solar panels on window sills and balconies can supply more power than you would think.
Directly coupling DC power sources with DC loads can result in a significantly cheaper and more sustainable solar system.
Contrary to its fully glazed counterpart, a passive solar greenhouse is designed to retain as much warmth as possible.
If we want the internet to keep working in circumstances where access to energy is more limited, we can learn important lessons from alternative network technologies.
These days, so many households have a WiFi-router installed that sharing the signal of these devices could provide free mobile internet access across densely populated cities.
Before the British arrived, people on the subcontinent used traditional low-cost, low-tech engineering to collect rainwater for thousands of years.
If we are looking for quick and substantial energy savings for existing buildings, then local heating systems deserve our closest attention
Radiant and conductive heating systems make energy use independent of the size of a room or building.
Cooling people by increasing local airflow is at least ten times more energy efficient than refrigerating the air in a given space.
A fireless cooker doubles the efficiency of any type of cooking device because it shortens the time on the fire and limits heat transfer losses
Modular cargo cycles are cheap to build and easy to customize.
The arrival of compact lithium-ion batteries has increased the performance and diversity of electrically heated clothing.
The hydro power installations in use today are less energy efficient than those of earlier centuries.
A modular system unites the advantages of standardisation (parts can be produced cheaply in large amounts) with the advantages of customisation (a large diversity of unique objects can be made with relatively few parts).
About a quarter of the existent wind turbines would suffice to power as many electric velomobiles as there are people.
A cargo cycle is at least as fast as a delivery van in the city - and much cheaper to use.
The Spanish botijo is a water bottle that cools itself, without electricity.
Modern research, which combines ancient knowledge with fast computing techniques, shows that passive solar cities are a realistic option, allowing for surprisingly high population densities.
To power industrial processes like the making of chemicals, the smelting of metals or the production of microchips, we need a renewable source of thermal energy.
The possibilities of pedal power largely exceed the use of the bicycle.
Modern thermal underclothing offers the possibility to turn the thermostat much lower without sacrificing comfort or sex appeal.
The human power required to achieve a speed of 30 km/h in a velomobile is only 79 watts, compared to 271 watts on a normal bicycle.
Flushing the water closet wreaks ecological havoc, deprives agricultural soils of essential nutrients and makes food production dependent on fossil fuels.
Manuals and tutorials for low-tech solutions.
Trolleybuses and trolleytrucks have all the advantages of electric cars — and none of their drawbacks.
Time for a new age of sail.
Oven stoves are greener, more efficient, healthier, safer and cosier than all modern heating systems. Why are they gone and how do we get them back?
Replacing tractors with real horse power could be the revolution that agriculture needs.
Energy hungry America teaches the world how to build ecological houses.