Exploring the Low-Tech Activities in Lorient
The Local Climate and Energy Agency of South Brittany(ALOEN) hosted the FEEL partnership on the 18th and 19th September for the 3rd study visit. The meeting in Lorient kicked off with a musical icebreaker to ease everyone into a creative and innovative mindset.
ALOEN then presented its work to set up a Low-Tech community, including the organisation of a Low-Tech Tour. The tour consisted of a week-long cycle held in June 2024 inviting anyone interested in the concept of Low-Tech actions. attendees got to experience the Low-tech activities available, visit the venues and meet the local players. 65 people, both young and old took part in the tour over the week which promoted the low-tech concept and boosting the low-tech community in the region.
Marie-Laure Lamy presented the the Functional and Cooperative Economy, a multi-skilled group of collaborators coming together to develop an economic model that moves away from the sale of a product of service to the provision of the most economically efficient integrated solution. Partners then heard about the Atelier Syklett, a bicycle self-repair workshop offering education and training in bike repair. The Workshop has 600 members and 3 full-time supervisors.
The afternoon was filled with methods to employ Low-tech solution for Housing. Partners visited Village Colibris, which will install tiny houses, yurts, modular housing, container houses and other forms of reversible housing, which will be rented out as a priority to those most affected by the property crisis. Finally for Day one, Compagnons Batisseurs presented their housing support initiatives involving residents and volunteers for people in vuinerable situations. the Compagnons Baissteurs also organise repair shops where trained volunteers repair small electrical appliances brought in by residents.
Day two focused on the reuse of materials. The city of Lorient presented to the partners the creation of a reuse platform as part of a complete renovation of a priority district of the city. The second part of the morning was devoted to a visit to the Pays de Lorient Fab Lab. A range of tools are available, including computer-controlled machine tools for designing and producing objects. Citizens can use the Fab Lab to repair or make products and employing the low-tech concept.
Following a picnic on the banks of the Enat du ter, the attendees visited the Low-tech Lab at Concarnew and the Explore project. Explore is an endowment fund that finances a number of low-tech projects, including the Low-tech Lab. Partners visited the Tiny House, which has been the focus of a 1-year experiment to test and document the low-tech solutions that have been put in place.
Up next in the project is the Study visit to Bistrita in October to examine their good practices in person and see the low-tech methods employed to preserve their historical buildings and monuments.