We have launched the third volume in a new series of books opening up Low-tech Magazine’s archive by theme.
Imagine a personal heating system that works indoors as well as outdoors, can be taken anywhere, requires little energy, and is independent of any infrastructure. It exists – and is hundreds of years old.
The printed archives of Low-tech Magazine now amount to four volumes with a total of 2,398 pages and 709 images.
From the Neolithic to the beginning of the twentieth century, coppiced woodlands, pollarded trees, and hedgerows provided people with a sustainable supply of energy, materials, and food.
Wood stoves equipped with thermoelectric generators can produce electricity that is more sustainable, more reliable, and less costly than power from solar PV panels.
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.
Given the right conditions, a mechanical windmill with an oversized brake system is a cheap, effective, and sustainable heating system.
Compressed air energy storage is a sustainable and resilient alternative to chemical batteries, with much longer life expectancy, lower life cycle costs, technical simplicity, and low maintenance.
How energy-efficient a home is depends not only on the energy label but also on the lifestyle.
The heat storage hypocaust could keep a room warm for days with just one firing of the furnace.
The expression “estar en la gloria” (to be inside the gloria) means that someone feels happy and comfortable.
The information society promises to dematerialise society and make it more sustainable, but modern office and knowledge work has itself become a large and rapidly growing consumer of energy and other resources