At the Design Museum, follow the power behind a compost computer

A compost-powered web server makes you ask a question most websites hide. How much of the page can it serve before the next charge? On 19 November, London’s Design Museum is due to open A Matter of Land, a free display of seven design research projects. One is by Critical Climate Computing, whose Manchester experiment used local compost to power a server for a lightweight website. The useful thing to follow at the display is what the design team had to change on the page because of the power available at the other end. See the museum’s display · Read the researchers’ account.

Follow the charging cycle

The researchers worked at Platt Fields Market Garden with FutureEverything, Manchester Urban Diggers and Sow the City. The partners describe a proof-of-concept in which microbial fuel cells turn activity in decomposing organic material into electrical energy. The research group says the voltage and current available during a charge affect how long the server can run and how much data it can deliver. The project is a reason to ask about uptime and page size together. The organisers describe a small experimental site and are seeking collaborators for further development. Read about the Manchester prototype · Open the hardware toolkit.

The credits show how the work was divided. Wesley Goatley and Eva Verhoeven led the project. The researchers name Mariana Marangoni as the lead on the back-end server architecture and Shinji Toya as the lead on the fuel-cell power system and physical computing. That division matters. The people setting the limit at the power source had to work with the people deciding what the site should load. In the display, look for which decisions belong to the power source, the server and the website. See the team’s full project credits.

Choose the free display or the separate tour

A Matter of Land is on Level 2 in Kensington. The museum lists it from 19 November 2026 to October 2027, with step-free access and no advance booking for general entry. A separate guided tour on Sunday, 22 November, is listed for 14:00–15:00 with programme producer Leilah Hirson-Comley and has its own pay-what-you-can booking. Check the event page for the tour’s access terms before making plans. Exhibition programme and address · Tour and booking information.

Try the page question wherever you work

Readers following from Lagos, Accra or elsewhere can start with the team’s site-design toolkit. On a site you control, try loading the essential information first on a phone using the connection your audience normally has. Then compare it with a version that loads large images or extra scripts immediately. Count the data transferred and check whether a reader can still complete the first useful task. This is a practical takeaway from the project’s design choices. Hosting on compost would require its own local test of power, network access and maintenance. Read the low-carbon website toolkit.

The Design Museum in Kensington in September 2017. The photograph shows the venue before A Matter of Land. Ben Sutherland, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Resized only. Licence.

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