Kris De Decker

Kris De Decker is the creator and author of "Low-tech Magazine", a blog that is published in English, Dutch and Spanish. Low-tech Magazine refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution. (Since 2007).
Creator and author of "No Tech Magazine". Short posts related to the same topics. In English. (Since 2009).
Articles and columns for "Energy Bulletin" (English) (now Resilience.org), "The Oil Drum" (English), "Scilogs" (Dutch), "nrc.next" (Dutch), "EOS" (Dutch), "Scientific American" (Dutch), "De Koevoet" (Dutch) and "Down To Earth" (Dutch). (Since 2009).
Co-author of the book "Energie in 2030" ("Energy in 2030"), a project of the "Rathenau Instituut", an organisation that advises the Dutch government on challenges related to science and technology. (2009 - 2011).
Freelance journalist for (among others) "Knack", "De Tijd" and "De Standaard", all newspapers and magazines in Belgium. In-depth articles on science, technology, energy and environment. Dutch language. (1996 - 2007).

Too Much Combustion, Too Little Fire

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

The fire – which we have used in our homes for over 400,000 years – remains the most versatile and sustainable household technology that humanity has ever known. The fire alone provided what we now get through a combination of modern appliances such as the oven and cooking hob, heating system, lights, refrigerator, freezer, hot water boiler, tumble dryer, and television.

January 23, 2020

Mist Showers: Sustainable Decadence?

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

The daily shower would be hard to sustain in a world without fossil fuels. The mist shower, a satisfying but forgotten technology which uses very little water and energy, could be a solution. Designer Jonas Görgen developed a do-it-yourself kit to convert almost any shower into a mist shower and sent me one to try out.

November 6, 2019

How to Make Wind Power Sustainable Again

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

For more than two thousand years, windmills were built from recyclable or reusable materials: wood, stone, brick, canvas, metal. When – electricity producing – wind turbines appeared in the 1880s, the materials didn’t change.It’s only since the arrival of plastic composite blades in the 1980s that wind power has become the source of a toxic waste product that ends up in landfills.

June 27, 2019

Reinventing the Small Wind Turbine

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

Small wooden wind turbines offer additional benefits that are inherent to all decentralised power sources. The fact that they're paid for by the same people that enjoy their benefits, increases their public acceptance.

June 17, 2019

Heat your House with a Water Brake Windmill

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

Direct heat production thus offers the possibility to save three times more greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuels using the same number of windmills, which are also cheaper and more sustainable to build. Hopefully, direct heat production will be given the priority it deserves.

February 28, 2019

Keeping Some of the Lights On: Redefining Energy Security

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

What does it mean for a society to have “energy security”? Although there are more than forty different definitions of the concept, they all share the fundamental idea that energy supply should always meet energy demand.

December 13, 2018

How Circular is the Circular Economy?

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

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.

November 12, 2018

How to Build a Low-tech Website?

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

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.

September 27, 2018