About
Low-tech Magazine refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution. A simple, sensible, but nevertheless controversial message; high-tech has become the idol of our society.
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Low-tech Magazine is written by Kris De Decker (Barcelona, Spain). Contact me.
Vincent Grosjean (London, UK), Matt Hill (San Francisco, US) and Shameez Joubert (Grahamstown, South Africa) edit and review articles before publication.
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Low-tech Magazine posts irregularly. You can subscribe by feed or email if you would like to be informed of new articles.
For general (public) comments not related to a specific article, please go to this page.Copyright & translations
Privacy
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ARCHITECTURE
Heat your house with car tyres and earth : energy hungry America teaches the world how to build ecological houses.
Lego for Big Boys : habitable shipping containers promise cheap, modular and comfortable housing.
Tiles as a substitute for steel : the art of timbrel vaulting allowed for structures that today no architect would dare to build without steel reinforcements.
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ENERGY
Wind up your laptop : the human body can deliver enough power to drive computers, television sets and washing machines.
Urban windmills damage the environment : sad, but true
Viva Las Vegas : LEDs will raise energy consumption, not lower it
The ugly side of solar panels : generating electricity with solar panels can also be a very bad idea.
Energy from the clouds : floating windmills?
Nuclear reactors, but no fuel : already in 10 to 15 years time, there will be a severe shortage of uranium.
Carbon sequestration : bury the idea, not the CO2
The world's factory hall : almost 30 percent of energy use in China comes from the production of export goods.
Build your own windmill : traditional micro-wind turbines are plagued by problems.
Leave the algae alone : the second generation of biofuels is not any better than the first
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HISTORY
Reinventing the wheel : the story of the motorized monowheel.
Television in the 17th century : the panorama, the stereoscope, the magic lantern and the peepshow
Bring back the horses : real horse power could save agriculture
Email in the 18th century : the surprising speed of the optical telegraph.
Satellite navigation in the 18th century : who needs the GPS?
The Museum of Old Techniques : historical alternatives to modern say machinery
Invention & Technology Magazine : dedicated to the history of technology
Photoshop in the early 20th century : tall tale postcards
The acoustic sound mirror system : a low-tech forerunner of radar
Computing without electricity : fast and complicated calculations are a product of fossil fuels
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HIGH-TECH
Carrier pigeon beats internet : the revival of the sneakernet
Faster internet is impossible : internet users continually need faster connections to surf the web at the same speed.
The revival of the sneakernet : the internet versus a parcel service, a hiker, a car and a carrier pigeon
Is ecotech the new asbestos? What will remain of greentech, cleantech and ecotech if nanotechnology turns out to be harmful for people and the environment?
The digital oubliette : chances are small your children will be able to enjoy the family photo album when they grow up.
The right to 35 mobiles : the high energy consumption of the mobile phone network is due to the extremely short life span of the phones.
Information damages the environment : is an electronic newspaper more ecological than a paper newspaper?
Supercomputers reach their limits : the energy consumption of supercomputers is getting out of hand.
Second hand bits and bytes : where is the second hand market for digital products?
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TRANSPORTATION
The age of speed : how to reduce global fuel consumption by 75 percent
Ecotech from the 1940s : if we really want more energy efficient cars, the Citroën 2CV shows us that we need not more, but less technology
Only idiots travel by train : why are trains so expensive?
Racing on solar energy : if racing cars can drive on solar energy, then why do normal cars still need fossil fuels?
A world without trucks : underground freight networks
Cars on hot air : following the hype on hydrogen - meet the car on compressed air.
Green, slow air cargo : air freight could become the most eco-friendly mode of transport if speed is reduced.
Why the electric car has no (wireless) future : the e-car still faces the same fundamental problems as 170 years ago.
Life without airplanes : can ocean liners save long distance travel and tourism?
Planes on wheels : from an ecological point of view, the strategy to move travellers from airplanes to high speed trains doesn't make sense.
The return of the sailing ship : considering the wind as an extra source of power, the fuel use of cargo ships could be reduced substantially. Could be.
Camping in the clouds : the zeppelin that never lands.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WATER
Why bottled water is good for the environment : water drinkers should be praised instead of criticized
Water eats energy : if we fail to reduce water use, we may safely double predictions on future energy consumption.
How to build a floating trash island : artificial floating islands can be used as a low-tech way to clean urban bodies of water.
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GAMES & TOYS
Download, print, cut, fold, paste : an overview of the best paper models on the web
Gaming unplugged : the newest generation of board games is more fascinating than most computer games
Low-tech photography : turn your bedroom into a camera obscura
When rich women built houses : dolls' houses
Los Grumildos : mechanical puppets on the fringes of society
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MIXED LINKS
More mixed links in the side column
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LOW-TECH MAGAZINE
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