Sunbathing in the living room : oven stoves are greener, more efficient, healthier, safer and cosier than all modern heating systems. Why are they gone and how do we get them back?
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The age of speed : how to reduce global fuel consumption by 75 percent Engineers treat velocity as a non-variable, while in fact it is the most powerful factor to save a really huge amount of energy - with just one stroke, at minimal cost, and without the need for new technology.
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Heat your house with car tyres and earth Building houses out of car tyres and cans might sound unconventional, but the ecological benefit of an earthship is so large that the concept deserves to be given some serious consideration.
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Get wired (again): trolleybuses and trolleytrucks Greening public transportation and cargo traffic, on the other hand, could be done fast with existing technology for a reasonable price - if we opt for the trolleybus and the trolleytruck.
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Sailing at the touch of a button : we have computer-controlled windmills, why not computer-controlled sailing cargo vessels?
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Wind up your laptop Eco-tech boffins dream of self-sufficient gadgets: mobile phones fed by solar energy, heartbeat-powered music players. However, the potential of these energy sources is much too small. Handles, cranks and biking machines on the other hand, do have a promise to be a powerful energy source.
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Life without airplanes: from London to New York in 3 days and 12 hours Before mass air travel took off in the 1960s, people crossed the globe in majestic passenger ships. Reintroducing ocean liners would be more than a nostalgic move: it could be a much more energy efficient (yet slower) way to travel.
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Lego for Big Boys : habitable shipping containers Cars, washing machines, televisions: almost everything we can buy today is assembled on the conveyor belt of some factory. But our houses are still built on the spot by a team of workers. Accompanied by lots of noise for the neighbours, and hampered by the weather. That could change: a growing number of architects see the very thing in habitable shipping containers.
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Bring back the horses Reintroducing horses in city traffic would be a bad idea - cars might be noisy, dangerous and polluting, but mounts are even worse. In agriculture, however, animal power would bring surprisingly large environmental profits. Replacing tractors with real horse power could be the revolution that agriculture needs.
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The pinhole camera : low-tech photography It might be useful to remember that a camera is nothing more than a darkened box with a small opening and a shutter, as demonstrated by the pinhole camera. In many senses, this device is the very opposite of the latest digital cameras.
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Cars : out of the way We don't need any new infrastructure, what we need is to clear the existing infrastructure of inefficient vehicles and replace them with efficient ones. In other words: give all streets, highways, cloverleaves and motorways exclusively to bicycles and all other human powered wheeled vehicles. Get rid of cars. Why make things so complicated if the solution is so simple?
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The dustcarts of the sea Considering that the oceans hold more garbage than fish by now, this might be the right time to retrain our fishermen and let them hunt for litter.
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Green, slow air cargo Air freight is the most ecologically damaging mode of transport. It becomes the most eco-friendly option if speed is reduced.
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Floating Windmills: energy from the clouds At great heights the wind blows much more powerfully and steadily than it does at lower altitudes. Some companies are convinced that there lies an opportunity to generate cheap, durable energy.
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The revival of the sailing ship Considering the wind as an extra source of power, the fuel use of cargo ships can be reduced substantially.
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Gaming unplugged The newest generation of board games is more fascinating than most computer games
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A world without trucks : underground freight networks If water, sewage, gas and oil can be transported through underground pipelines, why not consumer goods as well?
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Solar powered cars If racing cars can drive on solar energy, then why do normal cars still need fossil fuels?
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The Aeromodeller 2 : the zeppelin that never lands
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Build your own windturbine : building plans for the low-tech "Windbelt".
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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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