This guide explains everything you need to know to build stand-alone photovoltaic systems that can power almost anything you want.
Low-tech Magazine built a bicycle generator for an exhibition on energy at the Pavillon d’Arsenal in Paris, now open to the public. Our two other bikes can be seen and experimented with in Rotterdam and Barcelona.
From 10 to 14 October, Low-tech Magazine holds a free workshop where we will build a bicycle generator together.
Using solar panels without backup infrastructure makes renewable energy production much more affordable, efficient and sustainable.
Andy Lagzdins built and documented a pedal-powered air compressor to run the power tools in his motorcycle workshop.
While manufacturing modern firearms and bullets depends on a global supply chain and fossil fuels, bows and arrows can be made anywhere out of anything, using only human power and simple hand tools.
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.
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.
As a freelance journalist – or an office worker if you wish – I have always believed that I should regularly buy a new laptop. But older machines offer more quality for much less money.
The fire – which we have used in our homes for over 400,000 years – remains the most versatile and sustainable household technology that humanity has ever known.
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.
Our new website is designed to radically reduce the energy use associated with accessing our content.