LOW-TECH MAGAZINE

Doubts on progress and technology                                                                                                                                                          

  • About
  • Obsolete Technology
  • High-Tech Problems
  • Low-Tech Solutions
  • All Articles
  • Offline Reading
  • Translations
  • HPP
  • NTM

Obsolete technology?

There is a lot of potential in past and often forgotten knowledge and technologies when it comes to designing a sustainable society.

  • January 2022
    The Revenge of the Hot Water Bottle
  • November 2021
    Fascine Mattresses: Basketry Gone Wild
  • March 2021
    Urban Fish Ponds: Low-tech Sewage Treatment for Towns and Cities
  • September 2020
    How to Make Biomass Energy Sustainable Again
  • April 2020
    Fruit Trenches: Cultivating Subtropical Plants in Freezing Temperatures
  • December 2019
    Too Much Combustion, Too Little Fire
  • March 2019
    Low-tech Magazine: The Printed Website
  • August 2018
    Could We Dredge the Netherlands Without Fossil Fuels?
  • May 2018
    History and Future of the Compressed Air Economy
  • March 2017
    Heat Storage Hypocausts: Air Heating in the Middle Ages
  • March 2016
    Power Water Networks
  • December 2015
    Fruit Walls: Urban Farming in the 1600s
  • February 2015
    Restoring the Old Way of Warming: Heating People, not Places
  • September 2013
    Burning the Bones of the Earth: Lime Kilns
  • September 2013
    Power from the Tap: Water Motors
  • March 2013
    The Mechanical Transmission of Power (3): Endless Rope Drives
  • February 2013
    The Mechanical Transmission of Power (2): Jerker Line Systems
  • January 2013
    The Mechanical Transmission of Power (1): Stangenkunst
  • February 2012
    The Art of Producing Sustainable Consumer Goods: Basketry
  • December 2011
    How to Downsize a Transport Network: The Chinese Wheelbarrow
  • November 2011
    Gas Bag Vehicles
  • September 2011
    Medieval Smokestacks: Fossil Fuels in Pre-industrial Times
  • May 2011
    The Short History of Early Pedal Powered Machines
  • January 2011
    Aerial Ropeways: Automatic Cargo Transport for a Bargain
  • December 2010
    Hand Powered Drilling Tools and Machines
  • November 2010
    Boat Mills: Water Powered, Floating Factories
  • June 2010
    Lost Knowledge: Ropes and Knots
  • March 2010
    The Sky is the Limit: Human-Powered Cranes and Lifting Devices
  • January 2010
    Wood Gas Vehicles: Firewood in the Fuel Tank
  • December 2009
    Trolley Canal Boats
  • October 2009
    Rings of Fire: Hoffmann Kilns
  • October 2009
    Wind Powered Factories: History (and Future) of Industrial Windmills
  • September 2009
    Water Powered Cable Trains
  • November 2008
    Tiles as a Substitute for Steel: The Art of the Timbrel Vault
  • August 2008
    A Steam Powered Submarine: The Ictíneo
  • June 2008
    The Citroen 2CV: Cleantech from the 1940s
  • June 2008
    Life Without Airplanes: from London to New York in 3 Days and 12 Hours
  • March 2008
    Life Before Television
  • February 2008
    A World Without Trucks: Underground Freight Networks
  • January 2008
    Satellite Navigation in the 18th Century
  • December 2007
    Email in the 18th Century: The Optical Telegraph

Get Updates

  • Low-tech Magazine underscores the potential of past and often forgotten technologies and how they can inform sustainable energy practices.
  • Subscribe by email
  • Subscribe by feed (RSS)
  • Follow LTM on Twitter
  • Support us: PayPal / Patreon

Solar Powered Website

  • New
  • Read Low-tech Magazine on our solar powered server -- if the weather is good.

Recent Posts

  • How to Build a Practical Household Bike Generator
  • The Revenge of the Hot Water Bottle
  • The Printed Website: Volume III & The Comments
  • Fascine Mattresses: Basketry Gone Wild
  • How to Build a Low-tech Solar Panel?
  • How to design a sailing ship for the 21st century?
  • Urban Fish Ponds: Low-tech Sewage Treatment for Towns and Cities
  • How Sustainable is High-tech Health Care?
  • Vertical Farming Does Not Save Space
  • How and why I stopped buying new laptops

NO TECH MAGAZINE

The Printed Website

  • Two-books
  • Read Low-tech Magazine with no access to a computer, a power supply, or the internet.

Search LTM + NTM