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.
When modernity meets its end-point and creates a world where everything is sterile, controlled, and known, there will be little space for fermentation.
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.
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.
Modular cargo cycles are cheap to build and easy to customize.
Automation is more energy-intensive than mechanisation.
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).
Virtually all human cultures have made baskets, and have apparently done so since we co-existed with ground sloths and sabre-toothed cats.