Needs "2011" in the title. For example the section about friction drive hasn't been true for about a decade now

Not to mention they’re talking about lead-acid batteries, which have been replaced for pretty much every application, except (for now) starter motor batteries for combustion vehicles, by the various lithium batteries.

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chihuahua 2 hours ago | parent [-]

To be fair (as a joke), it's from Low Tech Magazine. Lithium batteries are too high-tech for them. They want you to power your mechanical blender, mixer, and other machines with a drive belt. Turn the drum of your washing machine with a wood fire heating the water.

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Gibbon1 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Solar panels I think are too high tech for them.

I remember reading about low tech efficient cook stoves for poor countries and thinking the misses would rather have an induction burner, microwave, and an ice chest running off a solar panel.

	▲	getpokedagain an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The server the article is being hosted on is battery powered via solar. You can see it's charge percent on any page the server sends back to you. https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/power/
	▲	msla 10 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> the misses would rather have an induction burner, microwave, and an ice chest running off a solar panel. Those would definitely be hits. Also, solar panels are old. Bell Labs demonstrated the first practical silicon solar cell in 1954. At some point, you're just trying to split (possibly nonexistent) hairs for an aesthetic, as opposed to making a principled stand against technology. https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2009/04/bell-labs-silicon-solar-...

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allenrb 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Nobody would (or should, at least) be using a lead-acid battery for this in 2026, either.

Full-cycle efficiency should be higher now. And the inverter. And the generator.

	▲	allenrb an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Huh? Was I wrong about something here? If so, please educate me.