LECTURE 1:

INTRODUCTION TO APPROPRIATE
TECHNOLOGY

By: Tafere A. (MSc.)

OUTLINE
 Introduction to Appropriate technology
What is Technology?
Role of chemical technology
Uses of Chemical Technology
 What is chemical engineering technology all about?
 Appropriate Technology Values
 Appropriate Technology for Sustainable Living
 The Relevance of Appropriate Technology?
 What criteria should be used for selecting and
implementing appropriate technology.
 Introduction
WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
 Technology Is;
 The application of scientific knowledge for practical
purposes, especially in industry.
 Also a process, a social mechanism which becomes
complete over time and brings individuals together, or;
 It creates special interest groups, impacts the natural
or developed environments in which these individuals
evolve, and;
- Alters cultural patterns, the way we think and act, and
- The way we see the world and understand it, whether
we have taken ownership of these technologies or
marginalized by their development.
 Introduction
 Technology has been the driving force of
civilization as we know.
 Earlier, technologies used to be small in scale,
responsive to local skills and needs.
 These evolved slowly over a long period of time
and provided to the local needs.

 Today, the technologies have grown in scale with high

production rates, consuming large quantities of
energy and resources, requiring large capital and
highly-skilled manpower.
 ROLE OF CHEMICAL Technology
 Make designs, invent new processes
 Construct instruments and facilities.
 Found the ways to make products from raw
materials by using technology.
 Make processes cost effective & environment
friendly.
 Chemical technologies have produced, altered and
modified many items that are commonly used by us.

WHO USES CHEMICAL Technology?

Everyone uses chemical technologies!
 What kind of technology is used in
chemical Engineering?
The work of chemical engineers can range from
the utilization of nanotechnology and
nanomaterials in the laboratory to large-scale
industrial processes that convert chemicals, raw
materials, living cells, microorganisms, and
energy into useful forms and products.
What is chemical engineering technology
all about?
Chemical engineering is all about changing raw
materials into useful products such as clothes,
food and drink, and energy.

Chemical engineers focus on processes and

products - they develop and design processes to
create products; either focusing on improving
existing processes or creating new ones.
 Appropriate technology
What is appropriate technology ?
 Is small-scale technology.
 It is simple enough that people can manage it
directly and on a local level.

 Appropriate technology makes use of skills and

technology that are available in a local
community to supply basic human needs, such as
electricity, water, food, and waste disposal.
 Appropriate technologies (AT)
 Refer to technologies that are adaptable to local
needs, acceptable to users and made using locally
available materials with the aim to;
 improve the lives of people in resource
constrained environments.
 Appropriate technology is used to address wide range
of issues.
 The concept of appropriate technology is multi
faceted; in some contexts, appropriate technology can
be described as;
The simplest level of technology that can achieve
the intended purpose, Whereas in others;
 Con’t …
AT- can refer to engineering that takes
adequate consideration and designed with
special consideration to the environmental,
cultural, social, and economic connected to
sustainable living aspects of the community it is
intended for;
- Typically requires fewer resources
- Is easier to maintain
- Has a lower overall cost
- Less of an impact on the environment
 Con’t …
 (AT) - encompasses a diverse set of tools,
processes and technologies that are implemented
to facilitate on development.
 AT - is in general, characterized by small capital
requirements, the use of local materials and
resources, and is usually relatively labor intensive,
small scale and affordable to individual families.
 The core principle of AT - is to include local
communities in technology selection and
development, innovation and implementation, all in
an environmentally sustainable manner.
 Con’t …
 AT - are developed and implemented to satisfy
the needs of the local population.

 Appropriate technology is defined as any object,

process, ideas, or practice that enhances human
fulfillment through satisfaction of human needs . ...

 AT - is just the technological change(s)/ modification(s) or

even innovation to meet the specific need and purposes of
the community.
Con’t …
 A technology is considered to be appropriate
when it is well-matched with local, cultural, and
economic conditions (i.e., the human, material and
cultural resources of the economy), and
 Utilizes locally available materials and
energy resources, with tools and processes
maintained and operationally controlled by the
local population.

Most of the groups working in the developing

countries tend to view appropriate technology as
the main tool in meeting the basic needs.
 Characteristics of AT
 Require only small amount of capital.
 Use of locally available materials.
 Relatively labor intensive but more productive
than many traditional technologies.
 Small enough in scale to be affordable to
individual families or small group of families.

 Can be understood, controlled and maintained by

villagers whenever possible, without a high level
of special training.
 Con’t …
 Can be produced in villages/community or small
workshops.
 Suppose that people can and will work together to
bring improvements to the Communities.
 Offer opportunities for local people to become
involved in the modification and Innovation process.
 Are flexible, can be adapted to different places
and changing circumstances.
 Can be used in productive ways without doing harm
to the environment.
 Appropriate Technology Values
􀂄 We believe that communities must be empowered to
access and manage the resources they need to be self-
sufficient and sustainable.

􀂄 We trust and value the ability of local communities to

shape and create their own vision for their future, as
well as the path to move toward it.

􀂄 We believe that transparency and participatory

decision-making is central to the goal of social justice
and sustainability.
 Con’t …
􀂄 We believe that working toward ecological
sustainability must be a priority for all
societies to ensure peace for all peoples.

􀂄 We appreciate and respect the diversity and

differences among our constituents and our
collaborators.
How do you choose appropriate technology?

 Technology is appropriate when its application meets

one of three criteria.

a) It should be in response to specific and clearly; -

defined goals that result in enhanced skills for the
community.
b) It should be compatible with practical constraints such as
the available resources or amount of instruction required
for the community to use the technology.
c) It should result in desirable and sufficient outcomes.
 Why appropriate technology is needed?

 Many people would prefer to return to a

simpler way of life.
 Appropriate technology is attractive because it
makes households and industries more self-
sufficient , and most things can be managed at
a local level.
 We may have to do more hand labor instead of
depending on automation to satisfy our basic
needs.
Con’t…
 Appropriate Technology is used to solve
technological problems throughout the world, by
providing sustainable solutions which are;

1. beneficial to the local community, and

2. sensitive to the need to reduce environmental
pollution, by using renewable sources of energy
and recycling materials wherever possible.
Con’t …
 Appropriate technology is usually much cheaper
for small village/community applications.

 The designs are built relatively user

friendly making it easier for the
uneducated natives to use them.
 What criteria should be used for selecting
and implementing appropriate technology?

 10 Criteria to Evaluate When Choosing a New

Technology.
• Question 1: To what extent will this
technology meet our needs today?
• Question 2: To what extent will the
technology meet our future needs?
• Question 3: To what extent does the
technology work within your budget?
 Question 1: To what extent will this technology
meet our needs today?
 To answer this question, break it down into three
criteria:
1. Features: Does the technology provide out-of-the-
box features that meet your requirements?
- If not, can the gaps be filled through
configuration?
2. User-friendliness: How easy-to-understand, is
the technology’s user-interface and user-
experience?
 The strong opinions on the end-users are best
positioned to evaluate this criterion.
Con’t …
 Often; user-friendliness evaluated only
from the perspective of end-users
doing data collection or capture – that’s
a crucial; but the technology’s friendliness
for: data management, data analysis, data
visualization may be equally important.
 3. Security:
 Can you trust that your data are safe on the
technology?
 Security can be: internal and external.
 For internal security, evaluate how well you’ll be
able to control users’ access and permissions
with the technology, ensuring the right staff
are able to see and do the right things.
 For external security, you want to ensure your
system will be safe and that only authenticated
users will have access.
Question 2: To what extent will the technology
meet our future needs?
Flexibility
 How easily can the solution evolve as your organization &
requirements.
Interoperability
 How does it integrated with other standard tools staff use.
Innovation
 How much investment & efforts is going into
improving the technology and its adoption.
Ecosystem
 How strong & connected is the community of users &
partners around the technology ?
Question 2: To what extent will the
technology meet our future needs?

Characteristic Weight [%]

Features 15
Use – friendliness 20
Security 15
Flexibility 20
Interoperability 10
Innovation 10
Ecosystem 10
 Question 3: To what extent does the
technology work within your budget?
 Depending how spending works in your organization, it
may be tempting to look at this question purely from the
perspective of “how do we minimize ongoing license fees?”
or “how do we get a solution up and running on a budget?”
 Making a sound, strategic decision centers on
understanding the technology’s total cost of ownership
(TCO).
 TCO breaks down into three components: setup
costs, license costs, and maintenance costs.
 Con’t …
 Setup Costs: How much will it cost us–directly and indirectly–to design,
configure, and rollout this tool?
 Firstly, work out what upfront investment will be needed to get the
tool up and running.
 License Costs: What do we need to pay each year to license this
technology?
 Maintenance Costs: What will it take and what will it cost to
support this technology?
 The final and perhaps most important component of
answering the budget question revolves around the cost of
maintaining and supporting the technology, once it has been
launched.
 “How is maintenance the most important cost component?”
you ask.
 Appropriate Technology for
Sustainable Living
 People need small and effective technologies which evolve
out of the available resources by the community and for the
community.
• So, these technologies, as termed Appropriate
Technology, are usually small.

• However, it needs to be clear enough that the AT is

NOT restricted to only design and development tools,
but new methods and technique also.
 Con’t …
 Here, technology is designed with principle of;
 Minimization
 Energy efficiency
 More option of renewability, regenerative cycle,
more user friendly, so that everyone is empowered
through the process of its application.
“The term was sustainable development defined
as:
 “Development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.”
 Is there a Sustainability Factor?

 The Triple Bottom Line

- Environment
- Society
- Economy
Figure: Sustainability Factor

How do we measure “Sustainability”;

􀂄 The size of the triangle?
􀂄 Can the triple bottom line be independently
addressed?
􀂄 Where are we right now?
How do we make Communities
Sustainable?
How we develop: Through mostly
unsustainable Resource Use
Some of the areas where appropriate technologies
are widely used are:

 Technology to Empower People.

 Appropriate – Suitable, sustainable.
 Empowerment: • Health
• Air and Water • Information
• Food preservation • Transportation
• Shelter • Livelihoods
• Renewable Energy • Disaster Management
• Agriculture • Education
• Energy and Environment
 The Relevance of Appropriate
Technology?
􀂄 First technologies developed to satisfy the
needs of the community and enhance that
community’s capabilities to; survive, endure and,
if possible, prevail.
􀂄 Subsequent technological developments
addressed other needs.
􀂄 Shift from addressing human need to
addressing the need exclusively for profit,
hence needs began to be created as required by
capital.
Con’t …
􀂄 Incredible and amazing creativity and technological
capabilities of humankind.

􀂄 Nevertheless, of the 6.5 billion people on the

planet:
- Over 2 billion people lack clean drinking water
access.
- More have no access to sanitary waste
disposal.
- More than half have no light.
- More than two-thirds have no access to web.
Con’t …
􀂄 Need to refocus technological development
and implementation.

Note: Appropriate Technology becomes

increasingly relevant for empowering these
communities.