Lowtech Graph lists low-tech options for every need of a home. Here you can compare them, find tutorials to build them, and link them together into a circular system. Why low-tech?
Shared solar terrace
Passive
One of 2 ways to meet this need. Cost, carbon, footprint and rankings are relative to other solutions for the same need, not absolute.
What your site needs
An accessible flat outdoor surface with clear sky to the south for most of the day, and a building prepared to allocate it. The second is the real prerequisite: the technical bar here is nearly nothing and the collective decision is the whole of the difficulty
A shared rooftop or terrace in a block of flats set aside for solar equipment: a cooker, an oven, a dryer. Households with no sunny outdoor space get somewhere to leave things in the sun for hours. The cost of the equipment is shared among the building.
Build it
Nothing separate is built here: this is a choice about how the home is designed or used.
Cost
Medium
Upkeep
Occasional
Skill to build
None
Lifespan
As long as the terrace itself. What stands on it has its own rows and its own lifespans
Embodied carbon
Low
Space / material use
Medium
Output timing
None
Skill to repair
Basic
Regulation (FR example)
In a French coproprieté, giving over common area (a roof, a shared terrace) to equipment is a decision of the assemblée générale, whatever the technique and however modest. That vote, not the hardware, is what this solution actually costs.
Inputs
none
Outputs
none
Compare the 2 ways to meet this need
Levels are relative to the other options for this need, not absolute. Fewer dots is lighter.
Shared solar terrace (This page) Can I use it? Works in a flat · No rebuilding needed What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Medium · Skill to build: None · Upkeep: Light · Change to daily life: Occasional · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you live in a block of flats and want a sunny place for solar equipment, with the cost shared.
Open-plan shared living/kitchen/dining Can I use it? Works in a flat · No rebuilding needed What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Medium · Skill to build: None · Upkeep: None · Change to daily life: Occasional · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want the house to feel bigger than its floor area.
We don’t list sizing or quantities, as the yield of each technique depends on the quality of its build. The catalogue compares options but doesn’t dimension them. Regulatory notes are indicative, with a French example, and need to be confirmed locally.