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Reinventing the Small Wind Turbine

Detail-eaz-wind

Many commercially available small wind turbines with plastic blades and steel towers are infamous for their low reliability, high embodied energy, and limited power output.

Building them out of wood can address these issues. Because of their aesthetic appeal, and thanks to the ability to produce them locally, small wooden wind turbines can also improve the public acceptance of wind power.

Furthermore, innovation in tower design facilitates the installation of small wind turbines, reducing the need for concrete foundations and heavy machinery. 

Image: A wind turbine with wooden blades. Source: EAZ Wind.

Continue reading "Reinventing the Small Wind Turbine" »

Posted on June 01, 2019 at 08:57 PM in Cover story, DIY, Embodied energy, Energy production, Kinetic energy, Low-tech solutions, Small windmills, Wind energy, Wind turbines | Permalink | Comments (12)

Low-tech Magazine: The Printed Website

Lowtechmagazine-book-2012-2018

After 12 years, Low-tech Magazine finally makes the jump from web to paper.

The first result is a 704-page perfect-bound paperback which is printed on demand and contains 36 of the most recent articles from the website (2012 to 2018).

A second volume, collecting articles published between 2007 and 2011, will appear later this year.

Continue reading "Low-tech Magazine: The Printed Website" »

Posted on March 31, 2019 at 03:01 PM in Access to information, Books & References, Cover story, DIY, History, Internet | Permalink | Comments (34)

Heat your House with a Mechanical Windmill

Heat generating windmill illustration rona binay

Renewable energy production is almost entirely aimed at the generation of electricity. However, we use more energy in the form of heat, which solar panels and wind turbines can produce only indirectly and relatively inefficiently. 

A solar thermal collector skips the conversion to electricity and supplies renewable thermal energy in a direct and more efficient way.

Much less known is that a mechanical windmill can do the same in a windy climate -- by oversizing its brake system, a windmill can generate lots of direct heat through friction. A mechanical  windmill can also be coupled to a mechanical heat pump, which can be cheaper than using a gas boiler or an electric heat pump driven by a wind turbine.

Continue reading "Heat your House with a Mechanical Windmill" »

Posted on February 27, 2019 at 11:04 AM in Cover story, DIY, Embodied energy, Energy production, Heating, History, Industry, Low-tech solutions, Thermal energy, Towers, Wind energy, Windmills | Permalink | Comments (48)

Keeping Some of the Lights On: Redefining Energy Security

As a society depends more on energy sources for its daily functioning, it becomes more vulnerable if the supply of energy is interrupted. This obvious fact is ignored in current strategies to achieve energy security, making them counter-productive.

Energy-security

Continue reading "Keeping Some of the Lights On: Redefining Energy Security" »

Posted on December 09, 2018 at 08:10 PM in Cover story, Energy, Energy consumption, Energy production, Infrastructures, Low-tech solutions | Permalink | Comments (13)

How Circular is the Circular Economy?

The circular economy – the newest magical word in the sustainable development vocabulary – promises economic growth without destruction or waste. However, the concept only focuses on a small part of total resource use and does not take into account the laws of thermodynamics.

Circular-economy-2

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Posted on November 03, 2018 at 04:55 PM in Cover story, Energy consumption, Mining, Recycling, Trash, Waste | Permalink | Comments (25)

How to Build a Low-tech Website?

Low-tech Magazine was born in 2007 and has seen minimal changes ever since. Because a website redesign was long overdue — and because we try to practice what we preach — we decided to build a low-tech, self-hosted, and solar-powered version of Low-tech Magazine. The new blog is designed to radically reduce the energy use associated with accessing our content.

New-solar-charge-controller

The solar powered server that runs the new website.

Continue reading "How to Build a Low-tech Website?" »

Posted on September 25, 2018 at 03:49 PM in Access to information, Computers, Cover story, DIY, Energy consumption, Energy Efficiency, Internet, Low-tech solutions, Solar energy, Solar powered machines | Permalink | Comments (154)

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