Sharing Stuff without Apps

May 1, 2014 by kris de decker Filed Under: Consumption, Random

pumpipumpe sharing household items

In every household we find tools, appliances and other stuff that are used only occasionally. If these things could be shared among neighbours, we need to buy much less. One way to achieve this is by setting up a hardware library, another way is to design an ‘app’ and use the internet to organize sharing among neighbours.

pumpipumpe sharing household items 2The Swiss project PumpiPumpe presents a low-tech solution that is even easier to apply. They made a collection of small stickers depicting all kinds of consumer goods. Every occupant of a building can paste the stickers on his or her mailbox, showing the neighbours which things can be borrowed from them. Apart from the ecological advantages, the project also stimulates social contact between neighbours.

More at PumpiPumpe. Their website is in French, German and Italian only. The stickers can be obtained for free if you live in Switzerland. If you live in another country, you only pay for the shipping (4 euro). Thanks to Christopher Santerre.

Eight-Wheeler Cargo Cycle

April 28, 2014 by kris de decker Filed Under: Bicycles, Bikes, Cargo, Cargo cycles, Pedal power, Quadricycles, Random, Recumbent tricycles, Travel

8wheeler cargo bikeThink you need a car or a van to move large and heavy stuff around? Think again. This eight-wheeler cargo cycle features a 10 m2 bamboo loading platform and a 450 kg loading capacity. The chassis is based on that of a concrete mixer. The vehicle has four-wheel steering and independent wheel suspension. With two drivers it achieves an average speed of 10 – 15 km/h, which could be further increased by the use of electric motors.

The cargo cycle was designed and built by Berliner Nico Jungel. Find more pictures and videos at his website. The vehicle was spotted at the International Cargo Bike Festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. See all pictures of the event (including more images of the 8-wheeler). Previously: Cargo cyclists replace truck drivers on European city streets.

Discussing the Politics of Technology

April 27, 2014 by kris de decker Filed Under: Events, Quotes, Technology

breaking the frameBreaking the Frame is a low-tech event held in the UK next weekend.

“Technology dominates our world, but many people think ‘its just a neutral tool’ or that technology = progress. Although it does bring some benefits, most technology is designed and controlled by corporate, military and technocratic elites to serve their interests and exert their power. We think it’s time for a much more systematic and joined-up approach to technology that overcomes the democratic deficit in this area. We need to develop a new approach, based on bringing together the insights of different campaigns and movements, sharing skills, and learning from each other.”

[Read more…]

We’re Back Online

April 23, 2014 by kris de decker Filed Under: Uncategorized

We apologize for the inconvenience as Low-tech and No Tech Magazine were down for most of the last six days, following a cyber-attack on our host TypePad. We managed to move No Tech Magazine to another host yesterday, and posting will resume shortly. We are in the process of moving Low-tech Magazine, but for the time being the main blog is still on TypePad, which seems to be back online at least for now.

The Axe Has Been Reinvented

April 19, 2014 by kris de decker Filed Under: Hand tools, Random

“Chopping firewood with traditional axes is often a laborious and even dangerous task. There is always the risk of hitting your own leg with the axe. From this imperfect situation began the pursuit to develop a better axe. It took several years, thinking and testing different exotic methods of chopping wood that were available for purchase at the time, before the idea was born. The traditional axe uses a wedge-shaped head to split the wood, but could this mechanism be improved by using leverage? From this idea the new axe was born, the Leveraxe.

finse hefboombijl

The operational principle of the Leveraxe is totally different from the traditional axe. Upon hitting the top of the log and penetrating it slightly, the leading edge of the axe head begins to slow down. Where the axe blade widens sharply it stops the axe’s penetration. However, the mass of the axe head still has kinetic energy and the off line center of gravity forces it to rotate eccentrically down towards the wood. This rotational movement causes the leading edge, or sharp edge of the blade to turn in a lever action, forcing a split with all the force of the kinetic energy of the axe multiplied by the leverage of the axehead. The widening blade edge also has a benefit in that it helps to prevent the axe from penetrating into the wood and getting stuck there as is often the case with traditional axes.

The 1.9kg axe head has a significant amount of kinetic energy when it begins the rotational movement. While the centre of gravity of the head continues first to the right and then downwards the edge moves in a rotational direction to the left. This movement uses the rotational torque to split a log and push it away from the wood. In total the edge opens the wood by 8 cm. When the axe has rotated sideways it has used most of its energy and ends on top of the log on the in a sideways fashion. This safety feature ensures that the axe does not continue towards your legs and the axe remains totally in control. In addition, the axe holds the log steady on the chopping block ready for the next swing.”

The Finnish Leveraxe. Via Boing Boing and Hackernews. Thanks to Thomas Varney and Brice Waegenire.

How Biomass Energy Has Become the New Coal

April 17, 2014 by kris de decker Filed Under: Ecotech Myths, Energy, Random

“The biomass power industry is undergoing a new surge of growth in the United States. While bioenergy has traditionally been used by certain sectors such as the paper-making industry, more than 70 new wood-burning plants have been built or are underway since 2005, and another 75 proposed and in various stages of development, fueled by renewable energy subsidies and federal tax credits. In most states, biomass power is subsidized along with solar and wind as green, renewable energy, and biomass plant developers routinely tell host communities that biomass power is “clean energy.”

teesside biomass power plant

Promotional photo of BEI-Teesside, a planned biomass power plant in the UK. The volcanoe shape is well chosen if you consider the pollution that is produced by biomass power plants.

But this first-ever detailed analysis of the bioenergy industry reveals that the rebooted industry is still a major polluter. Comparison of permits from modern coal, biomass, and gas plants shows that a even the “cleanest” biomass plants can emit > 150% the nitrogen oxides, > 600 % the volatile organic compounds, > 190% the particulate matter, and > 125% the carbon monoxide of a coal plant per megawatt-hour, although coal produces more sulfur dioxide (SO2). Emissions from a biomass plant exceed those from a natural gas plant by more than 800% for every major pollutant.

Biomass power plants are also a danger to the climate, emitting nearly 50 percent more CO2 per megawatt generated than the next biggest carbon polluter, coal. Emissions of CO2 from biomass burning can theoretically be offset over time, but such offsets typically take decades to fully compensate for the CO2 rapidly injected into the atmosphere during plant operation.”

Read the report: Trees, Trash, and Toxics: How Biomass Energy Has Become the New Coal (PDF), Mary S. Booth, Partnership for Policy Integrity, April 2, 2014. Via biofuelwatch.