The Printed Website: Volume III & The Comments
The printed archives of Low-tech Magazine now amount to four volumes with a total of 2,398 pages and 709 images.
Transportation
Interesting possibilities arise when you combine old technology with new knowledge and new materials, or when you apply old concepts and traditional knowledge to modern technology.
Technology has become the idol of our society, but technological progress is—more often than not—aimed at solving problems caused by earlier technical inventions.
There is a lot of potential in past and often forgotten knowledge and technologies when it comes to designing a sustainable society.
How to Design a Sailing Ship for the 21st Century?
It is surprisingly difficult to build a carbon neutral sailing ship. This is even more the case today, because our standards for safety, health, hygiene, comfort, and convenience have changed profoundly since the Age of Sail.
The Printed Website: Second Volume Out Now
The second volume features a third of the web articles published in the earlier years, carefully selected for their continued relevance and interest today.
Could We Dredge the Netherlands Without Fossil Fuels?
For centuries, the Netherlands were mainly dredged by hand, supplemented by animal power, wind power and tidal power. Could it be done again?
High Speed Trains are Killing the European Railway Network
High speed rail is destroying the most valuable alternative to the airplane; the “low speed” rail network that has been in service for decades.
Electric Velomobiles: as Fast and Comfortable as Automobiles, but 80 times more Efficient
About a quarter of the existent wind turbines would suffice to power as many electric velomobiles as there are people.
Cargo Cyclists Replace Truck Drivers on European City Streets
A cargo cycle is at least as fast as a delivery van in the city - and much cheaper to use.
How to Downsize a Transport Network: The Chinese Wheelbarrow
For being such a seemingly ordinary vehicle, the wheelbarrow has a surprisingly exciting history.
Gas Bag Vehicles
The old-timers on these pictures are not moving furniture or an oversized load. What can be seen on the roof is the fuel tank of the vehicle - a balloon filled with uncompressed gas.
Aerial Ropeways: Automatic Cargo Transport for a Bargain
Cargo tramways can be fully or partly powered by gravity, and some deliver excess power that can be utilized to generate electricity or to drive cranes or machinery in nearby factories
The Velomobile: High-tech Bike or Low-tech Car?
The human power required to achieve a speed of 30 km/h in a velomobile is only 79 watts, compared to 271 watts on a normal bicycle.
Piston-powered aircraft from the 1950s were as fuel-efficient as the current average jet
Estimates about the fuel efficiency of aircraft ignore the record of the pre-jet era.
The Status Quo of Electric Cars: Better Batteries, Same Range
We don’t need better batteries, we need better cars.
Wood Gas Vehicles: Firewood in the Fuel Tank
During the Second World War, almost every motorised vehicle in continental Europe was converted to use firewood.
Trolley Canal Boats
Only four years after the first experimental trolleybus, an ordinary steam canal boat was adapted to a trolleyboat.
Water Powered Cable Trains
Cable trains (or funiculars) are one of the most energy-efficient modes of transport out there.
Get Wired (Again): Trolleybuses and Trolleytrucks
Trolleybuses and trolleytrucks have all the advantages of electric cars — and none of their drawbacks.
Cargo Ships, Then and Now
Time for a new age of sail.
Who Killed the Electric Grid? Fast-charging Electric Cars
Fast recharging times generate lots of excitement, but what seems to be forgotten is that they can lead to a fabulous amount of peak demand.
Life Without Airplanes: from London to New York in 3 Days and 12 Hours
If we would stuff people in the ‘Queen Mary 2’ like we fold passengers into airplane seats, the ship could transport more than 500,000 people
High speed trains: planes on wheels
From an ecological point of view, the strategy to move travellers from airplanes to high speed trains just doesn’t make sense.