Appropriate technology

The Universal Nut Sheller in use in Uganda, an example of appropriate technology

Appropriate technology (AT) is technology that is designed with special consideration to the environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political, and economical aspects of the community it is intended for. With these goals in mind, AT proponents claim their methods require fewer resources, are easier to maintain, and have less of an impact on the environment compared to techniques from mainstream technology, which they contend is wasteful and environmentally polluting.

The term is usually used to describe simple technologies proponents consider suitable for use in developing nations or less developed rural areas of industrialized nations. This form of "appropriate technology" usually prefers labor-intensive solutions over capital-intensive ones, although labor-saving devices are also used where this does not mean high capital or maintenance cost. In practice, appropriate technology is often something described as using the simplest level of technology that can effectively achieve the intended purpose in a particular location. In industrialized nations, the term appropriate technology takes a different meaning, often referring to engineering that takes special consideration of its social and environmental ramifications.

Background and definition

Sustainable portable classroom design proposal

The term appropriate technology came into some prominence during the 1973 energy crisis and the environmental movement of the 1970s. The term is typically used in two arenas: utilizing the most effective technology to address the needs of developing areas, and using socially and environmentally acceptable technologies in industrialized nations.

Appropriate technology founders

In the modern world appropriate technology is supposed to commence from Mohandas Gandhi who advocated small, local, mostly village-based technology to help India's villages become self reliant and thus aid in the freedom struggle against British and wealthy Indians. Gandhi's philosophies on technology were contrary to the belief that technological development was inherently synonymous with progress. He believed the powers of technology should be produced and used artfully and the benefits should be close to the individual and widely produced and distributed in a decentralised fashion. Gandhi claimed that his favorite technologies were the sewing machine, because it was invented out of love, and the bicycle, because it kept one's feet close to the ground. He felt that the paradigm of technology should not be one that disenfranchises people and be used in the pursuit of violence, rather, it should be used in a way that empowers people broadly. Integrated with the movement for self-rule, which was based on local economies, Gandhi championed the spinning wheel, or charka, employed in the khadi movement in the 1920s, which produced cloth locally in an act of civil disobedience of the imperial system, causing the British monopoly on textiles to collapse. However, in the movement for Swaraj, or home rule, Gandhi believed in a total revolution of production, saying that "It is not about getting rid of the tiger and keeping the tiger's nature". Having said "it is better for a machine to be idle than a man to be idle", Gandhi rejected the factory model of industrialisation, which valued production over the worker. He raised money to offer a reward for someone to invent a spinning wheel that could employ people in the same way, while producing more thread.

E. F. Schumacher who was very strongly influenced by Gandhi's philosophy took his village development further and coined "intermediate technology" in early 1970s. It is Schumacher through his book Small is Beautiful and later by creating the Intermediate Technology Development Group that really started the appropriate technology movement.

Appropriate technology practitioners

Some of the well known practitioners of the appropriate technology-sector include: M K Ghosh, B.V. Doshi, Buckminster Fuller, William Moyer (1933–2002), Amory Lovins, Sanoussi Diakité, Victor Papanek, Johan Van Lengen and Arne Næss (1912–2009)

Appropriate technology in developing areas

The term has often been applied to the situations of developing nations or underdeveloped rural areas of industrialized nations. The use of appropriate technology in these areas seeks to fill in the gaps left by conventional development which typically focuses on capital-intensive, urban development.

Appropriate technologies are not necessarily "low" technology, and can utilize recent research, for example cloth filters which were inspired by research into the way cholera is carried in water. A type of high-efficiency, white LED lights is used by the Light Up the World Foundation in remote areas of Nepal to replace more traditional forms of lighting that cause health problems associated with kerosene lamps or wood fires.

Intermediate technology

Coined by E. F. Schumacher, the term intermediate technology is similar to appropriate technology. It refers specifically to tools and technology that are significantly more effective and expensive than traditional methods, but still an order of magnitude (one tenth) cheaper than developed world technology. Proponents argue that such items can be easily purchased and used by poor people, and according to proponents can lead to greater productivity while minimizing social dislocation. Much intermediate technology can also be built and serviced using locally available materials and knowledge. This intermediate technology is conducive to decentralization, compatible with the laws of ecology, gentle in its use of scarce resources, and designed to serve the human person instead of making him the servant of machines.

Appropriate hard and soft technologies

According to Dr. Maurice Albertson and Faulkner, appropriate hard technology is “engineering techniques, physical structures, and machinery that meet a need defined by a community, and utilize the material at hand or readily available. It can be built, operated and maintained by the local people with very limited outside assistance (e.g., technical, material, or financial). it is usually related to an economic goal.” Some have explored the use of classroom projects for university-level physics students to research, develop and test appropriate hard technology.

Albertson and Faulkner consider Appropriate soft technology as technology that deals with “the social structures, human interactive processes, and motivation techniques. It is the structure and process for social participation and action by individuals and groups in analyzing situations, making choices and engaging in choice-implementing behaviors that bring about change.”

Appropriate technology in developed countries

The term appropriate technology is also used in developed nations to describe the use of technology and engineering that results in less negative impacts on the environment and society. E. F. Schumacher asserts that such technology, described in the book Small is Beautiful tends to promote values such as health, beauty and permanence, in that order.

Often the type of appropriate technology that is used in developed countries is "Appropriate and Sustainable Technology" (AST); or appropriate technology that, besides being functional and relatively cheap (though often more expensive than true AT), is also very durable and lasts a long time (AT does not include this; see Sustainable design).

Parallel to this theory, British architect interested in human settlements and development, John F. C. Turner (co-author and editor of the book Freedom To Build and author of the book Housing By People), has said that truly appropriate technology is technology that ordinary people can use for their own benefit and the benefit of their community, that doesn't make them dependent on systems over which they have no control. This definition focuses on the idea that technology typically creates dependencies and thus to truly be appropriate, technology should enhance the local or regional capacity to meet local needs, rather than creating or amplifying dependencies on systems beyond local control.^{[citation needed]}

Determining a sustainable approach

Further information: Waste management

Further information: Solid waste

See also: Sewage

Features such as low cost, low usage of fossil fuels and use of locally available resources can give some advantages in terms of sustainability. For that reason, these technologies are sometimes used and promoted by advocates of sustainability and alternative technology.

Besides using natural, locally available resources (e.g. wood or adobe), waste materials imported from cities using conventional (and inefficient) waste management may be gathered and re-used to build a sustainable living environment. Use of these cities' waste material allows the gathering of a huge amount of building material at a low cost. When obtained, the materials may be recycled over and over in the own city/community, using the cradle to cradle method. Locations where waste can be found include landfills, junkyards, on water surfaces and anywhere around towns or near highways. Organic waste that can be reused to fertilise plants can be found in sewages. Also, town districts and other places (e.g. cemeteries) that are subject of undergoing renovation or removal can be used for gathering materials as stone, concrete, or potassium.

The waste materials include

• recyclable plastics such as PE, PP, PVC, PS, SB; PSE, ABS PMMA, PTFE, PA, PC, PUR, EP, UP and PET. ISF has made two documents on how respectively discarded plastics and aluminum can be salvaged and reused in developing countries.
• ferrous waste materials (e.g. cans, ...)
• sewage sludge (for use as a fertiliser)

The waste materials can be gathered by waste pickers, or – if possible – with more sophisticated machines such as materials recovery facilities (MRFs),and solid waste processing facilities. The latter may allow better separation of the different metals, plastics, ... resulting in a higher – and more efficient- yield. Also, waste pickers -besides usually not being equipped to disassemble the materials - risk being exposed to various poisonings.

Sewage sludge is collected not by hand, but through a sludge processing plant that automatically heats the matter and conveys it into fertiliser pellets (hereby removing possible contamination by chemical detergents, ...) This approach eliminates seawater pollution by conveying the water directly to the sea without treatment (a practice which is still common in developing countries, despite environmental regulation). Sludge plants are useful in areas that have already set up a sewage system, but not in areas without such a system, as composting toilets are more efficient and do not require sewage pipes (which break over time).

After collection, the obtained materials often need to be melted and recast in forges and/or may require bending, cutting, folding, ... in a workshop. Plastics are a special case that are too melted in a workshop, using small, purpose-built hand-operated melting containers. Metalworking tools that can be used to cut or fold the metal are the OpenLathe and Multimachine. Also, some CNC metalworking tools can be appropriate.

In some cases, melting and recasting is not required, as some parts can be simply cut and used as is in different devices. An example is the passive solar collector built from old refrigerator tubing.

City construction

In order to increase the efficiency of a great number of city services (efficient water provisioning, efficient electricity provisioning, easy traffic flow, water drainage, decreased spread of disease with epidemics, ...), the city itself must first be built correctly. Having the city designed using a grid plan brings the benefits all in a single go. As in the developing world, a lot of cities are hugely expanding and new ones are being built. Looking into the cities design in advance is a must for every developing nation.

Building construction

Further information: Autonomous building

Further information: Earthship

• Adobe (including the variation called Super Adobe),
• Rammed earth,
• Compressed earth block,
• Dutch brick,
• Animal products,
• Cob
• and/or other green building materials could be considered appropriate earth building technology for much of the developing world, as they make use of materials which are widely available locally and are thus relatively inexpensive.

The local context must be considered as, for example, mudbrick may not be durable in a high rainfall area (although a large roof overhang and cement stabilisation can be used to correct for this), and, if the materials are not readily available, the method may be inappropriate. Other forms of natural building may be considered appropriate technology, though in many cases the emphasis is on sustainability and self-sufficiency rather than affordability or suitability. As such, many buildings are also built to function as autonomous buildings (e.g. earthships, ...). One example of an organisation that applies appropriate earthbuilding techniques would be Builders Without Borders.

The building structure must also be considered. Cost-effectiveness is an important issue in projects based around appropriate technology, and one of the most efficient designs herein is the public housing approach. This approach lets everyone have their own sleeping/recreation space, yet incorporate communal spaces e.g. mess halls, Latrines, public showers, ...

In addition, to decrease costs of operation (heating, cooling, ...) techniques as Earth sheltering, Trombe walls, ... are often incorporated.

Organizations as Architecture for Humanity also follows principles consistent with appropriate technology, aiming to serve the needs of poor and disaster-affected people.

Energy

Further information: Microgeneration

Further information: Remote-area power supply

Small-scale (DIY) generation system

A plant microbial fuel cell (PMFC)

The term soft energy technology was coined by Amory Lovins^{[citation needed]} to describe "appropriate" renewable energy. "Appropriate" energy technologies are especially suitable for isolated and/or small scale energy needs. However, high capital cost must be taken into account.

Electricity can be provided from:

• PV solar panels (which are expensive initially, but simple), and (large) Concentrating solar power plants. PV solar panels made from Low-cost photovoltaic cells or PV-cells which have first been concentrated by a Luminescent solar concentrator-panel are also a good option. Especially companies as Solfocus make appropriate technology CSP plants which can be made from waste plastics polluting the surroundings (see above). In certain cases, a dish stirling setup could be appropriate (by using low-cost Stirling engines as the Thermomechanical generator); primarily as they have greater efficiency, reducing the size required for the plant. However, repair of these more efficient CSP setups is more difficult than with regular CLFR, solar power towers or parabolic troughs.
• Solar thermal collector
• wind power (home do-it yourself turbines and larger-scale)
• micro hydro, and pico hydro
• human-powered handwheel generators
• Plant microbial fuel cells
• other zero emission generation methods

Some intermediate technologies (causing still some degree of pollution) include:

• Biobutanol,
• biodiesel,
• and straight vegetable oil can be appropriate, direct biofuels in areas where vegetable oil is readily available and cheaper than fossil fuels.
• Anaerobic digestion power plants
• Biogas is another potential source of energy, particularly where there is an abundant supply of waste organic matter. A generator (running on biofuels) can be run more efficiently if combined with batteries and an inverter; this adds significantly to capital cost but reduces running cost, and can potentially make this a much cheaper option than the solar, wind and micro-hydro options.
• Feces (e.g. cow dung, human, etc.) can also be used. For example DEKA's Project Slingshot stirling electricity generator works this energy source to make electricity.
• Biochar is another similar energy source which can be obtained through charring of certain types of organic material (e.g. hazelnut shells, bamboo, chicken manure, ...) in a pyrolysis unit. A similar energy source is terra preta nova.

Finally, urine can also be used as a basis to generate hydrogen (which is an energy carrier). Using urine, hydrogen production is 332% more energy efficient than using water.

Electricity distribution could be improved so to make use of a more structured electricity line arrangement and universal AC power plugs and sockets (e.g. the CEE 7/7 plug). In addition, a universal system of electricity provisioning (e.g. universal voltage, frequency, ampère; e.g. 230 V with 50 Hz), as well as perhaps a better mains power system (e.g. through the use of special systems as perfected single wire earth returns; e.g. Tunisia's MALT-system, which features low costs and easy placement)

Electricity storage (which is required for autonomous energy systems) can be provided through appropriate technology solutions as deep-cycle and car-batteries (intermediate technology), long duration flywheels, electrochemical capacitors, compressed air energy storage (CAES), liquid nitrogen and pumped hydro. Thanks to Daniel Nocera, low-cost hydrogen storage is now also possible as a mid to short-term storage solution. Many solutions for the developing world are sold as a single package, containing a (micro) electricity generation power plant and energy storage. Such packages are called remote-area power supply

Water supply and treatment

Further information: drinking water

Hand-operated, reciprocating, positive displacement, water pump in Košice-Tahanovce, Slovakia (walking beam pump).

As of 2006, waterborne diseases are estimated to cause 1.8 million deaths each year while about 1.1 billion people lack proper drinking water.

Water generally needs treatment before use, depending on the source and the intended use (with high standards required for drinking water). The quality of water from household connections and community water points in low-income countries is not reliably safe for direct human consumption. Water extracted directly from surface waters and open hand-dug shallow wells nearly always requires treatment.

Appropriate technology options in water treatment include both community-scale and household-scale point-of-use (POU) designs.

The most reliable way to kill microbial pathogenic agents is to heat water to a rolling boil. Other techniques, such as varying forms of filtration, chemical disinfection, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation (including solar UV) have been demonstrated in an array of randomized control trials to significantly reduce levels of waterborne disease among users in low-income countries.

Over the past decade, an increasing number of field-based studies have been undertaken to determine the success of POU measures in reducing waterborne disease. The ability of POU options to reduce disease is a function of both their ability to remove microbial pathogens if properly applied and such social factors as ease of use and cultural appropriateness. Technologies may generate more (or less) health benefit than their lab-based microbial removal performance would suggest.

The current priority of the proponents of POU treatment is to reach large numbers of low-income households on a sustainable basis. Few POU measures have reached significant scale thus far, but efforts to promote and commercially distribute these products to the world's poor have only been under way for a few years.

On the other hand, small-scale water treatment is reaching increasing fractions of the population in low-income countries, particularly in South and Southeast Asia, in the form of water treatment kiosks (also known as water refill stations or packaged water producers). While quality control and quality assurance in such locations may be variable, sophisticated technology (such as multi-stage particle filtration, UV irradiation, ozonation, and membrane filtration) is applied with increasing frequency. Such microenterprises are able to vend water at extremely low prices, with increasing government regulation. Initial assessments of vended water quality are encouraging.

Whether applied at the household or community level, some examples of specific treatment processes include:

• Porous ceramic filtration, using either clay or diatomaceous earth, and oriented as either cylinder, pot, or disk, with gravity-fed or siphon-driven delivery systems. Silver is frequently added to provide antimicrobial enhancement
• Intermittently operated slow-sand filtration, also known as biosand filtration
• Chlorine disinfection, employing calcium hypochlorite powder, sodium hypochlorite solution, or sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) tablets
• Chemical flocculation, using either commercially produced iron or aluminum salts or the crushed seeds of certain plants, such as Moringa oleifera
• Mixed flocculation/disinfection using commercially produced powdered mixtures
• Irradiation with ultraviolet light, whether using electric-powered lamps or direct solar exposure
• membrane filtration, employing ultrafiltration or reverse osmosis filter elements preceded by pretreatment

Some appropriate technology water supply measures include:

• Deep wells with submersible pumps in areas where the groundwater (aquifers) are located at depths >10 m.
• Shallow wells with lined walls and covers.
• rainwater harvesting systems with an appropriate method of storage, especially in areas with significant dry seasons.
• Fog collection, which is suitable for areas which experience fog even when there is little rain.
• Air well, a structure or device designed to promote the condensation of atmospheric moisture.

• Handpumps and treadle pumps are however only an option in areas is located at a relatively shallow depth (e.g. 10 m). For deeper aquifers (>10 m), submersible pumps placed inside a well) need to be used. Treadle pumps for household irrigation are now being distributed on a widespread basis in developing countries. The principle of Village Level Operation and Maintenance is important with handpumps, but may be difficult in application.

• Condensation bags and condensation pits can be an appropriate technology to get water, yet yields are low and are (for the amount of water obtained), labour intensive. Still, it may be a good (very cheap) solution for certain desperate communities.

• The hippo water roller allows more water to be carried, with less effort and could thus be a good alternative for ethnic communities who do not wish to give up water gathering from remote locations, assuming low topographic relief.

• The roundabout playpump, developed and used in southern Africa, harnesses the energy of children at play to pump water.

Transportation

A man uses a bicycle to cargo goods in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (2007)

Human powered-vehicles include the bicycle, which provides general-purpose, human-powered transportation at a lower cost of ownership than motorized vehicles, with many gains over simply walking, and the whirlwind wheelchair, which provides mobility for disabled people who cannot afford the expensive wheelchairs used in developed countries. Animal powered vehicles/transport may also be another appropriate technology. Certain zero-emissions vehicles may be considered appropriate transportation technology, including compressed air cars, liquid nitrogen and hydrogen-powered vehicles. Also, vehicles with internal combustion engines may be converted to hydrogen or oxyhydrogen combustion.

Bicycles can also be applied to commercial transport of goods to and from remote areas. An example of this is Karaba, a free-trade coffee co-op in Rwanda, which uses 400 modified bicycles to carry hundreds of pounds of coffee beans for processing. Other projects for developing countries include the redesign of cycle rickshaws to convert them to electric power.

Sanitation

Further information: Greywater treatment

Further information: Water purification

A clivus Multrum composting toilet
A. Second floor, B. First floor, C. Ground floor, 1. Humus compartment, 2. Ventilation pipe, 3. Water closet.

As of 2006, waterborne diseases are estimated to cause 1.8 million deaths each year, marking the importance of proper sanitation systems. It is clear that the developing world is heavily lacking in proper public sanitation and that solutions as sewerages (or alternatively small-scale treatment systems) need to be provided.

Ecological sanitation can be viewed as a three-step process dealing with human excreta: (1) Containment, (2) Sanitization, (3) Recycling. The objective is to protect human health and the environment while limiting the use of water in sanitation systems for hand (and anal) washing only and recycling nutrients to help reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers in agriculture.

Small scale systems include:

• Composting toilets are the most environmental form of excrement disposal systems. In addition, the toilets design allows the nutrients to be reused (e.g. for fertilising food crops). Also, DIY composting toilets can be build at a very low cost.

• BiPu is a portable system suitable for disaster management, while other forms of latrine provide safe means of disposing of human waste at a low cost. The Orangi Pilot Project was designed based on an urban slum's sanitation crisis. Kamal Kar has documented the latrines developed by Bangladeshi villagers once they became aware of the health problems with open defecation.

• Treatment ponds and constructed wetlands can help to purify sewage and greywater. They consist mostly of plants (e.g. reed, ...) and therefore require only little power, and are hugely self-sufficient.

• Certain other options as Slow sand filters, UV filters, ... may also be employed

Lighting

LED Lamp with GU10 twist lock fitting, intended to replace halogen reflector lamps.

• White LEDs and a source of renewable energy (such as solar cells) are used by the Light Up the World Foundation to provide lighting to poor people in remote areas, and provide significant benefits compared to the kerosene lamps which they replace. Certain other companies as Powerplus also have LED-flashlights with imbedded solar cells.

• Organic LEDs made by roll-to-roll production are another source of cheap light that will be commercially available at low cost by 2015.

• Compact fluorescent lamps (as well as regular fluorescent lamps and LED-lightbulbs) can also be used as appropriate technology. Although they are less environmentally friendly then LED-lights, they are cheaper and still feature relative high efficiency (compared to incandescent lamps).

• The Safe bottle lamp is a safer kerosene lamp designed in Sri Lanka. Lamps as these allow relative long, mobile, lighting. The safety comes from a secure screw-on metal lid, and two flat sides which prevent it from rolling if knocked over. An alternative to fuel or oil-based lanterns is the Uday lantern, developed by Philips as part of its Lighting Africa project (sponsored by the World Bank Group).

• The Faraday flashlight is a LED flashlight which operates on a capacitor. Recharging can be done by manual winching or by shaking, hereby avoiding the need of any supplementary electrical system.

• HID-lamps finally can be used for lighting operations where regular LED-lighting or other lamps will not suffice. Examples are car headlights. Due to their high efficiency, they are quite environmental, yet costly, and they still require polluting materials in their production process.

Food production

Further information: Grow house

Food production has often been included in autonomous building/community projects to provide security^{[citation needed]}. Skilled, intensive gardening can support an adult from as little as 15 square meters of land^{[citation needed]}. Some proven intensive, low-effort food-production systems include urban gardening (indoors and outdoors). Indoor cultivation may be set-up using hydroponics with Grow lights, while outdoor cultivation may be done using permaculture, forest gardening, no-till farming, Do Nothing Farming, etc. In order to better control the irrigation outdoors, special irrigation systems may be created as well (although this increases costs, and may again open the door to cultivating non-indigenous plants; something which is best avoided). One such system for the developing world is discussed here.

Crop production tools are best kept simple (reduces operating difficulty, cost, replacement difficulties and pollution, when compared to motorized equipment). Tools can include scythes, animal-pulled plows (although no-till farming should be preferred), dibbers, wheeled augers (for planting large trees), kirpis, hoes, ...

Greenhouses are also sometimes included (see Earthship Biotincture). Sometimes they are also fitted with irrigation systems, and/or heat sink-systems which can respectively irrigate the plants or help to store energy from the sun and redistribute it at night (when the greenhouse starts to cool down).

Food preparation

According to proponents, Appropriate Technologies can greatly reduce the labor required to prepare food, compared to traditional methods, while being much simpler and cheaper than the processing used in Western countries. This reflects E.F. Schumacher's concept of "intermediate technology," i.e. technology which is significantly more effective and expensive than traditional methods, but still an order of magnitude (10 times) cheaper than developed world technology. Key examples are:

• the Malian peanut sheller
• the fonio husking machine
• the screenless hammer mill
• the ISF corn mill
• the ISF rice huller
• all other types of electrical or hand-operated kitchen equipment (grinders, cutters, ...) Special multifunctional kitchen robots that are able to perform several functions (e.g. grinding, cutting, and even vacuum cleaning and polishing) are able to reduce costs even more. Examples of these devices were e.g. the (now discontinued) Piccolo household appliance from Hammelmann Werke (previously based in Bad Kissingen.) It was equipped with a flexible axis, allowing a variety of aids to be screwed on.

Cooking

In Ghana, Zouzugu villagers use solar cookers for preparing their meals

• Solar cookers are appropriate to some settings, depending on climate and cooking style. They are emission-less and very low-cost. Hybrid variants also exist that incorporate a second heating source such as electrical heating or wood-based.
• Hot plates are 100% electrical, fairly low cost (around 20€) and are mobile. They do however require an electrical system to be present in the area of operation.

• Rocket stoves and certain other woodstoves (e.g. Philips Woodstove) improve fuel efficiency, and reduce harmful indoor air pollution. The stoves however still make use of wood. However, briquette makers can now turn organic waste into fuel, saving money and/or collection time, and preserving forests.

Refrigeration

• Solar, special Einstein refrigerators and thermal mass refrigerators reduce the amount of electricity required. Also, solar and special Einstein refrigerators do not use haloalkanes (which play a key role in ozone depletion), but use heat pumps or mirrors instead. Solar refrigerators have been built for developing nations by Sopology.
• The pot-in-pot refrigerator is an African invention which keeps things cool without electricity. It provides a way to keep food and produce fresh for much longer than would otherwise be possible. This can be a great benefit to the families who use the device. For example, it is claimed that girls who had to regularly sell fresh produce in the market can now go to school instead, as there is less urgency to sell the produce before it loses freshness.

Ventilation and air conditioning

Chunche, naturally ventilated sheds for drying raisins in Xinjiang

• Natural ventilation can be created by providing vents in the upper level of a building to allow warm air to rise by convection and escape to the outside, while cooler air is drawn in through vents at the lower level.

• Electrical powered fans (e.g. ceiling fans) allow efficient cooling, at a far lower electricity consumption as airconditioning systems.

• A solar chimney often referred to as thermal chimney improves this natural ventilation by using convection of air heated by passive solar energy. To further maximize the cooling effect, the incoming air may be led through underground ducts before it is allowed to enter the building.

• A windcatcher (Badgir; بادگیر) is a traditional Persian architectural device used for many centuries to create natural ventilation in buildings. It is not known who first invented the windcatcher, but it still can be seen in many countries today. Windcatchers come in various designs, such as the uni-directional, bi-directional, and multi-directional.

• A passive down-draft cooltower may be used in a hot, arid climate to provide a sustainable way to provide air conditioning. Water is allowed to evaporate at the top of a tower, either by using evaporative cooling pads or by spraying water. Evaporation cools the incoming air, causing a downdraft of cool air that will bring down the temperature inside the building.

Health care

According to the Global Health Council, rather than the use of professionally schooled doctors, the training of villagers to remedy most maladies in towns in the developing world is most appropriate. Trained villagers are able to eliminate 80% of the health problems. Small (low-cost) hospitals - based on the model of the Jamkhed hospital – can remedy another 15%, while only 5% will need to go to a larger (more expensive) hospital.

• Before being able to determine the cause of the disease or malady, accurate diagnosis is required. This may be done manually (through observation, inquiries) and by specialised tools.

• Herbalist medicines (e.g. tinctures, tisanes, decoctions, ...) are appropriate medicines, as they can be freely made at home and are almost as effective as their chemical counterparts. A previous program that made use of herbal medicine was the Barefoot doctor program.

• A phase-change incubator, developed in the late 1990s, is a low cost way for health workers to incubate microbial samples.

• Birth control is also seen as an appropriate technology, especially now, because of increasing population numbers (overpopulating certain areas), increasing food prices and poverty. It has been proposed to a certain degree by PATH (program for appropriate technology in health).

• Jaipur leg was developed by Dr. P. K. Sethi and Masterji Ram Chander in 1968 as an inexpensive prosthetic leg for victims of landmine explosions.

• Natural cleaning products can be used for personal hygiene and cleaning of clothing and eating utensils; in order to decrease illnesses/maladies (as they eliminate a great amount of pathogens).

Note that many Appropriate Technologies benefit public health, in particular by providing sanitation and safe drinking water. Refrigeration may also provide a health benefit. (These are discussed in the following paragraphs.) This was too found at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project and the Women Health Volunteers projects in countries as Iran, Iraq and Nepal.

Information and communication technology

See also: Information and Communication Technologies for Development

Netbooks as the Eee PC allow low cost information sharing and communication

• The OLPC XO, Simputer, Eee PC, and other low cost computers are computers aimed at developing countries. Besides the low price, other characteristics include resistance to dust, reliability and use of the target language.

• Eldis OnDisc and The Appropriate Technology Library are projects that use CDs and DVDs to give access to development information in areas without reliable and affordable internet access.

• The Wind-up radio and the computer and communication system planned by the Jhai Foundation are independent from power supply.

• There is also GrameenPhone, which fused mobile telephony with Grameen Bank's microfinance program to give Bangladeshi villagers access to communication.

• Mobile telephony is appropriate technology for many developing countries, as it greatly reduces the infrastructure required to achieve widespread coverage. However, mobile phone network may not always be available (it depends on the location) and may not always provide both voice and data services.

• Loband, a website developed by Aptivate, strips all the photographic and other bandwidth-intensive content from webpages and renders them as simple text, while otherwise allowing one to browse them normally. The site greatly increasing the speed of browsing, and is appropriate for use on low bandwidth connections as generally available in much of the developing world.

• An increasing number of activists provide free or very inexpensive web and email services using cooperative computer networks that run wireless ad hoc networks. Network service is provided by a cooperative of neighbors, each operating a router as a household appliance. These minimize wired infrastructure, and its costs and vulnerabilities. Private Internet protocol networks set up in this way can operate without the use of a commercial provider.

• Rural electrical grids can be wired with "optical phase cable", in which one or more of the steel armor wires are replaced with steel tubes containing fiber optics.

• Satellite Internet access can provide high speed connectivity to remote locations, however these are significantly more expensive than wire-based or terrestrial wireless systems. Wimax and forms of packet radio can also be used. Depending on the speed and latency of these networks they may be capable of relaying VoIP traffic, negating the need for separate telephony services. Finally, the Internet Radio Linking Project provides potential for blending older (cheap) local radio broadcasting with the increased range of the internet.

• satellite-based telephone systems can also be used, as either fixed installations or portable handsets and can be integrated into a PABX or local IP-based network.

Money lending and finance

Through financial systems envisioned especially for the poor/developed world, many companies have been able to get started with only limited capital. Often banks lend the money to people wishing to start a business (such as with microfinance). In other systems, people for a Rotating Savings and Credit Association or ROSCA to purchase costly material together (such as Tontines and Susu accounts). Organisations, communities, cities or individuals can provide loans to other communities/cities (such as with the approach followed by Kiva.org, MicroPlace and LETS). Finally, in certain communities (usually isolated communities such as small islands or oases) everything of value is shared. This is called gift economy.

See also

• Alternative propulsion
• Alternative technology
• Appropedia
• Community-based economics
• Cradle to Cradle
• Critique of technology
• Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT)
• Deindustrialization
• DIY culture
• Eco-village
• Green syndicalism
• Lifehacking
• List of environment topics
• Myth of Progress
• National Center for Appropriate Technology
• Permaculture
• Practical Action (charity formerly known as Intermediate Technology)
• Small is Beautiful
• Social entrepreneurship
• Source reduction
• Synthetic biology
• Technology and society
• Tools for Conviviality
• Zero emission

Further reading

• Basic Needs Approach, Appropriate Technology, and Institutionalism by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq

External links

• Appropedia - The Sustainability Wiki - World Wide Wiki of Sustainable Technology (Appropriate technology portal)
• International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering (IJSLE) - Peer-reviewed, semi-annual online journal, covering appropriate and sustainable technologies and related areas.
• GrAT - Center for Appropriate Technology - GrAT is a scientific association for research and development of Appropriate Technology in Vienna, Austria.
• AproveEcho - An environmental education center with a focus on living with appropriate technologies.

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