No Tech Magazine

It's Easy Being Green

Green-leaf-eco-enviro-logo-compilation (via).

TimberTower: a High-Tech Wind Turbine, Made from Trees

Our article on industrial windmills appeared on The Oil Drum and, as could be expected, this generated many interesting comments. One in particular was made by a reader named "anyone", who sent in a link about a high-tech wind turbine placed on a tower made entirely of wood.

So while we suggested to redesign traditional windmills by using modern, high-tech materials, the German company TimberTower proposes the opposite: redesign modern wind turbines by using traditional, low-tech materials.

Large wind turbines are usually made of steel, and while they definitely deliver more energy over their lifetime than it takes to produce them (contrary to small wind turbines), using no energy at all would of course be even better - and cheaper.

Wood is easier to transport (the TimberTower is manufactured out of glued laminated timber panels which are assembled on-site), doesn't need to be mined, has no corrosion issues (think of offshore turbines), and it captures carbon. And while trees bend in strong winds, they usually don't break.

Using a timber tower for a 100 metre high wind turbine can save approximately 300 tons of sheet steel, writes the company at their website. One "TimberTower" also ties up approximately 400 tons of CO2. They say they can build them as high as 200 metres. Serial production should start in 2010. More:  TimberTower. Related: wooden pipelines, wooden bridges.

City Life - Lessons in Vanity

"Already in the western world and Japan millions of city-dwellers and suburbanites have grown accustomed to an almost hermetically sealed and sanitized pattern of living in which very little of their experience ever impinges on non-human phenomena. For those of us born to such an existence, it is all but impossible to believe that anything is any longer beyond human adjustment, domination, and improvement. That is the lesson in vanity the city teaches us every moment of every day. For on all sides we see, hear, and smell the evidence of human supremacy over nature - right down to the noise and odor and irritants that foul the air around us. Like Narcissus, modern men and women take pride in seeing themselves - their products, their planning - reflected in all that they behold. The more artifice, the more progress; the more progress, the more security. We press our technological imperialism forward against the natural environment until we reach the point at which it comes as startling and not entirely credible news to our urban masses to be told by anxious ecologists that their survival has anything whatever to do with air, water, soil, plant, or animal."

Quoted from (again): "Where the Wasteland Ends", Theodore Roszak, 1972. (Amazon link).

Hand Powered Table Saw

The Jointmaker pro R2 is a great example of a modern tool being high-tech and low-tech at the same time. And it's already sold out. Video here. Update: there is a new version available, the Jointmaker Pro v2. Related: Human powered drilling tools and machines / Hand powered tree sawing machine.

Electric Wooden Car

Here it is.

Plastics in the World of Tomorrow - Plastics in the World of Today

Plastics in the world of tomorrow (1944).
Plastics in the world of today (October 2009).

Kite Power

Italian company Kite Gen is building a full-scale 3 megawatt version (video) of its promising wind turbine concept, we learn from MetaEfficient. A large kite is drawn upward to altitudes around 800 metres, where average wind speeds are four times as strong as they are near ground-based wind turbines. The kites power turbines by rising and flying back to gound level continuously. The retrieval phase is said to require a small fraction of the power that is generated during the flight. A first prototype was built in 2006. One of the recent improvements is an automatic launching system, powered by fans. The technology generated an interesting discussion at the Oil Drum last summer. Previously: Floating windmills - energy from the clouds. Related: Kiteboating & Kite Aerial Photography.

Low-tech Indoor Truck

The Monark Transport kick-scooter is a fast and healthy way for staff to easily move supplies and tools around large indoor spaces. Its load capacity is 150 kg (330 lbs) and it can be equipped with a second platform level and a platform edge rim.

Streetcar Scooter

Found at the Italian Motoblog. Probably a service vehicle for trams/streetcars.

Construction in Reverse

"Deconstructing, as opposed to demolishing, abandoned buildings will revitalize our cities by reducing waste, creating green jobs, and providing high-quality recycled materials for new construction". Read. More.

The Panorama of Professions and Trades (1837)

What do you want to be when you grow up? In the 19th century, this question was easier to answer than it is today. There were 87 possibilities, according to Edward Hazen, author of "The Panorama of Professions and Trades" (1837). The book was also published as "Popular Technology; Professions and Trades" in 1870, Part 1 and Part 2 - these are better scans. Every profession is explained and illustrated. Find the table of contents below. Via Doug Berch, musician and dulcimer maker.

How To Make Everything Yourself - Online Low-Tech Resources

Energy Bulletin pointed us to the website of Practical Action (previously known as the Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development), an online resource devoted to low-technology solutions for developing countries. The site hosts many manuals that can also be of interest for low-tech DIYers in the developed world. They cover energy, agriculture, food processing, construction and manufacturing, just to name some important categories.

We would like to add to this the impressive online library put together by software engineer Alex Weir. The 900 documents listed here (13 gigabytes in total) are not as well organised and presented as those of Practical Action, but there is a wealth of information that is not found anywhere else. The library is also hosted here (without search engine).

Other interesting online resources that offer manuals and instructions are Appropedia, Howtopedia and Open Source Ecology. These are all wiki's, so you can cooperate. The Centre for Alternative technologies has many interesting manuals, too, but the majority of those are not for free. Previously: The museum of old techniques / A do-it-ourselves guide.

Aerial Ropeways in Nepal

"The gravity ropeway is an inexpensive and simple means of transportation. It operates by gravitational force without the use of external power. The gravity ropeway consists of two trolleys which roll on support tracks. These are attached to a control cable in the middle which moves in a traditional flywheel system. When the loaded trolley at the up-station is pulled downward by the force of gravity, the other trolley at the bottom-station is pulled up automatically by means of the control cable.

In principal the goods coming downward from the up-station must to be thrice as heavy as the up-going load. The sliding down of the trolley and its speed depends upon the angle of elevation made by the cables installed with the horizontal ground.

A flywheel with bearing and bracket is used as a brake to control the landing speed of the trolley at the bottom-station. Communication between top and bottom stations is done by tapping the wire rope. The operator at the top-station strikes the wire rope with a stick to send a wave signal through the wire rope to the operator at the down-station. The operator at the down-station then applies the hand brake to control the flywheel."

Read more (building plans included). In-depth article: "Aerial ropeways: automatic cargo transport for a bargain". Related: Water powered cable trains & (for those lacking mountains) Electric road trains 1901-1950.

Trashwiki for Dumpster Divers

Worldwide guide for dumpster diving (search by location).

Scale Models of Dutch Industrial Windmills

Penterbak shows a dozen scale models of traditional Dutch Windmills. The text is in Dutch, but that should not stop you. Above: a saw mill. Some building plans are here, here and here. Related: Wind powered factories - the history (and future?) of industrial windmills.