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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). 

hot water bottle

The Revenge of the Hot Water Bottle

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

Imagine a personal heating system that works indoors as well as outdoors, can be taken anywhere, requires little energy, and is independent of any infrastructure. It exists – and is hundreds of years old.

  • February 8, 2022
fascine mattress

Fascine Mattresses: Basketry Gone Wild

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

Around the 17th century, the Dutch started reinforcing their dykes and harbours with sturdy mats the size of football pitches – hand-woven from thousands of twigs grown on nearby coppice plantations. These “fascine mattresses” were weighted with rocks and sunk into canals, estuaries, and rivers.

  • December 20, 2021
George Cove's solar panel

How to Build a Low-tech Solar Panel?

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

George Cove, a forgotten solar power pioneer, may have built a highly efficient photovoltaic panel 40 years before Bell Labs engineers invented silicon cells. If proven to work, his design could lead to less complex and more sustainable solar panels.

  • October 21, 2021
sailing ship

How to design a sailing ship for the 21st century?

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

If we want to keep travelling and trading globally in a low carbon society, sailing ships are the obvious alternative to container ships, bulk carriers, and airplanes.

  • May 26, 2021
Operating room nurse

How Sustainable is High-tech Health Care?

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

Health care is one of the most important economic sectors in high income countries, but its environmental footprint is underreported and not often considered.

  • March 17, 2021
Pollarded ash

How to Make Biomass Energy Sustainable Again

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

From the Neolithic to the beginning of the twentieth century, coppiced woodlands, pollarded trees, and hedgerows provided people with a sustainable supply of energy, materials, and food.

  • October 5, 2020
Thermoelectric stoves

Thermoelectric Stoves: Ditch the Solar Panels?

By Kris De Decker, Low-Tech Magazine

Wood stoves can provide a household with thermal energy for cooking and for space and water heating. Wood stoves equipped with thermoelectric generators also produce electricity, which can be more sustainable, more reliable and less costly than power from solar panels.

  • June 9, 2020
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