- A hundred and nineteen things a punkist should know. [http://www.punk.ist]
- Firewood will save the West. [Unherd] “Our dysfunctional society must return to the hearth.”
- ‘Luddite’ Teens Don’t Want Your Likes. [NYT] “When the only thing better than a flip phone is no phone at all.”
- Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time. [Nature] “We find that papers and patents are increasingly less likely to break with the past in ways that push science and technology in new directions. Overall, our results suggest that slowing rates of disruption may reflect a fundamental shift in the nature of science and technology.”
- Assessing the effectiveness of energy efficiency measures in the residential sector gas consumption through dynamic treatment effects: Evidence from England and Wales. [Energy Economics] “This paper disentangles the long-lasting effects of energy efficiency technical improvements in UK residential buildings. The installation of energy efficiency measures is associated with short-term reductions in residential gas consumption. Energy savings disappear between two and four years after retrofitting by loft insulation and cavity wall insulation, respectively. The disappearance of energy savings in the longer run could be explained by the energy performance gap, the rebound effect and/or by concurrent residential construction projects and renovations associated with increases in energy consumption. Notably, for households in deprived areas, the installation of these efficiency measures does not deliver energy savings.”
- Mapping Four Decades of Appropriate Technology Research: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1973 to 2021. [Sains Humanika] “The purpose of the study is to examine the publication trends, collaborative structures, and central themes in appropriate technology studies.”
- Life in the Slow Lane. [Longreads] “Cooking all day while the cook is away. How the slow cooker changed the world.”
- Can a Robot Shoot an Olympic Recurve Bow? A preliminary study. [National Taiwan Normal University]
- Amnesty, Yes—And Here is the Price. [Charles Eisenstein] “The invisible workings of the Covid machine must be laid bare if we are to prevent something similar from happening again.”
- Reduce, re-use, re-ride: Bike waste and moving towards a circular economy for sporting goods. [International Review for the Sociology of Sport] “This study focuses on the bike and its role in global waste accumulation through various forms of planned obsolescence.”
- Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System. [International Center on Nonviolent Conflict]
- Millionaire spending incompatible with 1.5 °C ambitions. [Cleaner Production Letters]
- Radical online collections and archives. [New Historical Express]
No Tech Reader #35
January 5, 2023 by Filed Under: Archery, Bicycles, Bikes, Books & Reference, Communication, Cooking stoves, Economy, Energy efficiency, Energy efficiency paradox, Fire, Gadgets, Health, No Tech Readers, Phones, Technology, Warfare
Machine Environmentalism
November 12, 2022 by Filed Under: Environmentalism
“The phrase ‘eco fascist’ is a label which is increasingly being applied to the wrong kind of environmentalist: those who offer up a vision of humanity and nature that involves roots, traditions, smallness, simplicity, a return to previous lifeways, or any other kind of challenge to Machine modernity. This in turn is contrasted with the right kind of green: that which is modern, global, progressive and – most importantly of all – friendly to the onward march of the technological society.”
Read more: The Fourth Revolution, Paul Kingsnorth. Via Wrath of Gnon.
Everyday counter-narratives of the so-called fourth agricultural revolution
November 8, 2022 by Filed Under: Farming
Prevalent narratives of agricultural innovation predict that we are once again on the cusp of a global agricultural revolution. According to these narratives, this so-called fourth agricultural revolution, or agriculture 4.0, is set to transform current agricultural practices around the world at a quick pace, making use of new sophisticated precision technologies. Often used as a rhetorical device, this narrative has a material effect on the trajectories of an inherently political and normative agricultural transition; with funding, other policy instruments, and research attention focusing on the design and development of new precision technologies.
A growing critical social science literature interrogates the promises of revolution. Engagement with new technology is likely to be uneven, with benefits potentially favouring the already powerful and the costs falling hardest on the least powerful. If grand narratives of change remain unchallenged, we risk pursuing innovation trajectories that are exclusionary, failing to achieve responsible innovation. This study utilises a range of methodologies to explore everyday encounters between farmers and technology, with the aim of inspiring further work to compile the microhistories that can help to challenge robust grand narratives of change.
We explore how farmers are engaging with technology in practice and show how these interactions problematise a simple, linear notion of innovation adoption and use. In doing so, we reflect upon the contribution that the study of everyday encounters can make in setting more inclusionary, responsible pathways towards sustainable agriculture.
Read more (open access): Rose, David Christian, et al. “The old, the new, or the old made new? Everyday counter-narratives of the so-called fourth agricultural revolution.” Agriculture and Human Values (2022): 1-17.
Forgotten Clothing: Hip Scarves
November 6, 2022 by Filed Under: Clothes, Heating appliances, Random
Hip Scarves. Image by Marie Verdeil.
Last year my partner stumbled upon a fascinating piece of clothing in a second-hand shop in Donostia, Basque Country. It looks like a miniskirt but is a (unisex) piece of underwear that increases thermal comfort in winter.
The clothing piece comes by different names: hip warmer, hip hugger, hip scarf, waist scarf, back warmer, belly warmer, tummy band, core warmer, warming belt, thermal brace — the list goes on. It is known as a “Haramaki” or “belly wrap” in Japan.
My hip warmers come in different sizes and are made from 69% wool, 22% cotton, and 9% elastodiene. Judging by the packaging design, they date from the 1970s or early 1980s. [Read more…]
The World’s Largest Flutes
November 4, 2022 by Filed Under: Musical Instruments, Random
Winne Clement made and recorded these huge Overtone flutes for The soundtrack of the Movie ‘The Whale’ by Darren Aronofsky. Check out the video on YouTube. We interviewed Winne Clement a few years ago.
Low Energy Chest Fridge
November 2, 2022 by Filed Under: DIY, Random, Refrigeration
“Using vertical doors in refrigeration devices is an act against the Nature of Cold Air. Understanding and cooperating with Nature rather than acting against it leads to much better efficiency. My chest fridge (Vestfrost freezer turned into a fridge) consumes about 0.1 kWh a day. This fridge is 10 to 20 times more energy efficient than typical household fridges on the market today.”
“It works only about 2 minutes per hour. At all other times it is perfectly quiet and consumes no power whatsoever. It is obvious that a truly energy efficient fridge does not cost any more money than a mediocre one. It actually costs less. It also has amazing food-preserving performance because temperature fluctuations in its interior are naturally minimized.”
Image: Dr. Tom J. Chalko.
“Comparing the daily energy consumption of various refrigeration devices available on the market reveals that well-designed chest freezers consume less electricity per day than refrigerators of comparable volume, even though freezers maintain much larger interior-exterior temperature difference (their interiors are much cooler). While chest freezers typically have better thermal insulation and larger evaporators than fridges, there is another important reason for their efficiency.”
“Vertical doors in refrigeration devices are inherently inefficient. As soon as we open a vertical fridge door – the cold air escapes, simply because it is heavier than the warmer air in the room. When we open a chest freezer – the cool air stays inside, just because it’s heavy. Any leak or wear in a vertical door seal (no seal is perfect) causes significant loss of refrigerator efficiency. In contrast, even if we leave the chest freezer door wide open, the heavy cool air will still remain inside.”
“The chest-style refrigerator is surprisingly practical and convenient to use. The most frequently used items are placed in top baskets and are very visible and very easily accessible. Baskets slide on top edges of fridge walls so that quick access to deeper sections of the fridge interior is possible without removing any basket.”
Read more and find the manual at Dr. Tom J. Chalko’s website. Thanks to Pablo M.
