Low-tech Tour

Area France

Start Juin 2017

Duration 1 an

Searching for sustainable housing

Housing is at the heart of western considerations: how can each one of us transform his or her living space into a more cost-effective and sustainable ecosystem?

Onboard a van-come travelling workshop, the Low-tech Lab France team met with 12 inventors or local initiatives that developed solutions to reduce the impact of housing thanks to low-technologies adapted to their context. At each stop, the systems discovered were documented with their inventor and all the written and filmed tutorials will be available on the Low-tech Lab platform.

Goals of the mission

Promoting sustainable lifestyles

Low-tech Tour France meets those who have opted for a lifestyle with less impact and tells you their stories.

Sharing practical solutions

Heating, indoor composting, sanitary facilities... Low-tech Tour France documents practical technical solutions for reducing our impact on our habitat.

Thinking about the habitat of tomorrow

During its tour of France, Low-tech Lab questions the relationship of the French with their habitat to visualise how a low-tech house could look.

Discover the solutions

Poelito - Mass stove, semi-dismountable

Semi-dismountable inertial mass stove.

A mass stove or accumulation stove is a household heating device. Its mass, composed of heavy materials (rock, brick or concrete), stores the energy of a daily unique and intense fire (1 to 3 hours). It spreads back the heat during 24 hours, once the fire is out. Its mass confers a thermic inertia, favourable to reduce inside temperature curve of a building (that's why these stoves can be called "inertial stoves"). All the wood necessary to heat the household is burnt in one time, which induces high temperatures in the fireplace and allows a complete, low-pollutive burning. The accumulator is conceived to absorb the majority of the energy issued from the burning and smokes. So when leaving the firpace, the smokes are considerably cooled down. The heat accumulated is mainly diffused by irradiation and a littlebit by convection. Irradiation heating implies the stove to be placed in the center of the household. Most of actual mass stoves are placed in the main room, opened on the living room, dining room and kitchen. With a yeld superior to 80% for most of them, these stoves are parts of the best performers of wood heating devices.

You can find here the tutorial video : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO7M41Ud78A]