How to Make Biomass Energy Sustainable Again
Categories:
[Obsolete Technology]
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.
Image: Pollarded trees in Germany. Image: René Schröder (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How is Cutting Down Trees Sustainabl
...Thermo-electric Stoves: Ditch the Solar Panels?
Categories:
[Low-tech Solutions]
Wood stoves equipped with thermoelectric generators can produce electricity that is more sustainable, more reliable, and less costly than power from solar PV panels.
Illustration: Diego Marmolejo.
If the 2,000 year old windmill is the predecessor of today’s wind turbines, the fireplace and...
Too Much Combustion, Too Little Fire
Categories:
[Obsolete Technology]
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.
Illustration: Diego Marmolejo.
The fire – which we have used in our homes for over 400,000 years – remains the most versatile and...
Mist Showers: Sustainable Decadence?
Categories:
[Low-tech Solutions]
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.
Image: Mist Shower Hack Kit. Jonas Görgen.
The daily shower would be hard to sustain in a world without fossil fuels. The mist shower, a satisfying but forgotte...
Keeping Some of the Lights On: Redefining Energy Security
Categories:
[Low-tech Solutions]
To improve energy security, we need to make infrastructures less reliable.
Maintaining a steady supply of something that’s finite is impossible. Image: Camilla MP.
As a society depends more on energy sources for its daily functioning, it becomes more vulnerable if the supply of energy is inte...