UC14 February-March 1976

N O MORE WORK n.K 7S SAKE FOR !.i .f C. Workers give thumbs down to undesirable projects

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Methane: Fuel of Bell/Boulter/Du Practical Building of Plants L J Fry

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Bio-gas Today J C V Mitchell Energy Primer: Solar, Water, Wind & Biofuels Portola Institute

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Backyard Dairy Book L StreetIA Singer Allotments Campaign Manual Friends of the Earth

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Food For Free R Mabey

Fields, Factories & Workshops Tomorrow

P Kropotkin

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Large SAE for ct Please send MI payment including: F & P 4UKordersup toel: 30%;

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.UNBEftCUERENTS fafnaattoaalStoodaxd Serial Numbex 0306 2392 Undercurrents to n u b w e d every two months egistered Office, 275 Finchley Road, Londo1%IW3), a democlatic.non-pxofit company without W e capital awl limited by Guarantee. mttd in England by Prestagate Ltd., Reading.

SSBVl ADDRESS Firoinmw on. Ultdercurrents will have two addresses,one in the city. one in the country.

Our new city address Is: W m b *Earth Ex&anca Ba213 Archway Road. London N6 5BN. Tabphone (01)340 1898.

Letters about New*. Reviews or Advertising should from now on be sent to this office.

Letter*about Features and general editorial matter* should be sent to: Undeicun-ents, 11 Shadwell. Uley, Duxdey, . Gloucestershire GL11 5BW.

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Since Airh&hting is only economic when aa manv xubJCribei~ as ooxaible use it. we cannot accept surface mail skb~enpaon*to these

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EDDIES. Six pages of News, Scandal, Gossip, Horror and Happiness.

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LETTER?.

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BRADFORD: NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED. Reports o1 what happenedat the conference on Industry, The Community and Alternative Technology, held at Bradford in November. By Godfrey Boyle, Dave Elliott, Diana Manning and Alan Warr.

15-16

NO MORE WORK FOR WORK'S SAKE. Tony Durham interviews Jack Mundey, former secretary of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Builders Laborers* Federation, who have over the last few placing "Green Bans' on three billion dollars worth of years suc+,h u w projects.

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AROVMI THE WORLD I N AT DAZE. Andrew MacKillop reports the progress being made in developing renewable energy sources in Canada, th( United States, New Zealand and Australia.

Britain has a fossil fuel fixation and isn't even in the same league as her former colonies.

countries.

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SECONDCLASS POSTAGE PAID AT NEW YORK, NY. COPYRIGHT. The copyright @ bf all articles in Undercurrents belongs to Undercurrents Limited, unless otherwise stated, and they must not be reproduced without our permission. We will normally allow our material to be used for non-profit purposes, on condition that Undercnrrents i s credited.

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The Undercurrents RepressiveTolerance page.

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POWER TO THE PEDAL Frank Thompson shows how you can couple an old bicycle to an alternator to make a.machine that generates electricity while it gives you exercise.

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BUILDING HILLSIDE COTTAGE - BUILDING WITH NATURAL ENERGY. Ian Hogan talks about how, and w.hy, he re-built a derelict cottage in Gloucestershire, and highlights the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned. He then launches into a poster-sized guide to buildinf houses in a way that takes advantage of natural energy flows.

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HELLO SAILOR! Brian Hurley describesa novel vertical-axis sailwing windmill.

27-29

BUTTON UP YOUR WINDOWS. John Cotesby and Phil Townsend tell you how to make insulating shutters that retain more heat than double glazing but cost a Jot less. Do it, and help keep the dreaded Nukes at bay.

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AS WE KNOW IT. Dave Elliott unveils THE END OF CIVILISATION the Chibof Rome's dastardly plot to rule the world. A play for tomorrow.

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ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY I N INDIA. Professor Reddy of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore argues that the introduction of inequality-reducing technologies is an essential preconditionfor the equitable development of his country.

37-39

TACTtCAL NUCLEAR FUSION? Two articles by Philip Brachi show the change of mood in die Biotechnic Research and Development community since it began in 1973. Early &/thin Daze expresses the group's initial euphoria and enthusiasm for AT hardward; Nothing Succeeds Like Failure reflects the group's realisation that living with one another is a far more ding - and more rewarding task than building a solar roof.

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CONTRIBUTIONS. We welcome unsolicited articles, news items, iUwtraMona, photographs, etc. from our readers. Though every o r e is taken with such material, we cannot responsible for it* loss or damage, and we cannot undertake to return it unless it is accompanied by an appropriate stamped envelope addressed to the sender.

To make life easier for our typesetters. manuscripts tor publication tnust be typed clearly on . one side of the page only, with double or triple spacing and at least- one inch margin on each side of the type. OK? -

DEADLINES. Undercurrents 15 will be published on April 1st. Features, Reviews and Display Advertisementsshould be in o w hands

by March 1st. Eddies and Small Ads copy deadline is March 20th.

* CREDITS. Undercurrents Is produced by a large number of people. There are only two, paid staff, one full time, one part time. The rest of us work tor nothing in our spare time. Here, in alphabetical order, are the names of the people most directly concerned in putting the magazine together.

Godfrey Boyle, Sally Boyle, Duncan Campbell.

Peter Cockerton, Pat Coyne, Tony Durham, Dave Elliotl. Richard' men, Sotires Eleftheilou.

Herbie Girardet, Peter Harper. Chris HtittonSquire. Martin Ince. Barbara Kern. Martyn Partridge, and Peter Sommer. Other people without whom Undercurrents would be moreor-less impossible include: Graham Andrews.

Gavin Browning, Ollie Caldecott, Charlie Clutterbuck, Brian Ford, Ian Hogan, Roger Hall, Cliff Harper. John Prudhoe. Dieter Pevsner, Nigel Thomas, Geoff Watts, Martyn Turner, Joy Watt and Woody. And of course everyone we've forgotten.

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AMBIENT LUCRE. Dave Elliott and Godfrey Boyle report on the Ambient Energy Stand at this year's Interbuild exhibition in London.

Amid the gleaming spot-lit 'alternative technologies', they found smell of greased palms, the roar of commercialism.

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in~ Energy and Econornli REV1EWS. The Energy h i m e r ~ ~ e s tMardForest Development and Living on the Sun. Plus reviews of new magazines and books on Oil.

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SMALL ADS and SUBSCRIPTION FORM.

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HELPERS:"!* you're interested in helping on Undercurrent0 in any way write or phone for details of our weekly meetings.

AS WE APPROACH THE POST INDUSTRIAL AGE, a totally new set of solutions is required to the problems that confront - malnutrition crime - war - p o l l ~ t i o n etc- The need is for ecological solutions rather than technological ones, solutions that do not require the massive expenditure of ever scarcer resources, that solve problems rather than mask them by eradicating their symptoms, that lead to stability rather than instability and collapse. THE ECOLOGIST - Journal of the Post Industrial Age, whose editors wrote the now famous Blueprint for Survival (Vol 2. 1. Jan. 1972) has for more than three years published articles that contribute to this end.

man today: - poverty - unemployment - disease

=----mmm-m-mm-mR-m----=------=-=Annual Subscription £5.5 (U.S.A. $14.50) Members of the Conservation Society, Friends of the Earth, Soil Association, £5.00Students attending full time course £4.50(Annual index (Wp) included free with all subscriptions).

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Radical Technology is a large-format, extensively illustrated collection of original articles concerning the reorganisa-

/ision No 1: Intended +," -"' or rural or semi-rural reas. These dwellid would be independent if grid w r v i c t . Some Urvicec bv8sm trÑt -, some food,space lnd wter heating) would be provided at ¥i household level, thers (electricity, water, cooking gas, orne food) at the cornnunhy level, where iconomit of sale nake shared facilities ;beeper. The houses are >asod on Brenda Vale's Autonomous House'

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olitical. The contributors are all