Adapted technology

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An adapted technology is understood as the knowledge of ways to an adapted technical problem solution , which opens up new possibilities for maneuver to cope with a certain technical task efficiently as far as possible by providing new technical goods and tools which, on the one hand, are Environment precisely adapted, helping to satisfy essential needs and, in connection with this, possibly also giving rise to economic activity, on the other hand enabling technology transfer or technological advancement without destroying local subsistent economic structures or ecological livelihoods . On the technical level, problem solving relates to production know-how for the manufacture of the goods and tools envisaged for the respective project; on the human level, it relates to the embedding of the use of these goods and tools in a socio-economic and cultural context .

In essence, adapted technology can have the following conceptual dimensions of meaning:

Meaning in the strict sense

As a concept in the theory of “ development economics ” - this is the economic theory of the developing countries - the above general linguistic meaning experiences a more precise delimitation and specification. Here, adapted technology, in contrast to a capital-intensive and labor-saving import (high) technology, describes a technology "adapted" to the technological needs and capabilities of developing countries , which primarily takes into account the core problems of lack of capital , unemployment and little technical and scientific know-how . If production is switched over to supplying the local population with simple consumer goods, production can be more labor-intensive, marginality reduced, purchasing power built up and technical and technological knowledge acquired and learned. The concept of adapted technology is based on the abundant and unused production factor labor . Since most of the national economies of the developing countries are not isolated from the influences of the world economy , the concept of adapted technology cannot be implemented without limits and at will. Rather, market conditions must be thoroughly incorporated into project planning (see the following chapter).

In accordance with this narrower meaning, the concept of adapted technology is used in development cooperation. In academic and university circles, the more narrowly defined variant of the meaning is usually the decisive one when speaking of "adapted technology".

In the past, adapted technologies have gained a certain importance in development aid projects. Such projects are mostly carried out by non-governmental organizations , grassroots movements or religious or ideological action groups. In development aid projects, it is not uncommon for state or private institutions in the respective developing countries to be involved in the project. Governments from the industrialized countries are partly also involved; As a result of the enforcement of the liberalization of the markets in the developing countries and because of their own strong industrial-economic orientation, however, the political institutions of the industrialized countries attach little chance of success to the use of adapted technologies.

The area of ​​application of the adapted technology is limited to environments that have the human and technical resources to use the technology successfully. Otherwise, the investments will not achieve their target amortization period . This criterion is particularly important for development aid projects (see the following chapter).

Development responsibility, technology adaptation and control

A general difficulty lies in the fact that in the course of the implementation of neoliberal capitalism, economic distribution problems are exacerbated and profits in resources are consequently distributed unilaterally. Engineers in all fields should be made aware of what causes the development of technology, what consequences are to be expected and that, in principle, there is a great responsibility to initiate and direct or influence development processes. If one looks at the economic framework conditions of the global economy, it cannot be overlooked that increasing economic pressure can lead engineers, scientists, technicians and managers to focus solely on profit and to push sustainability issues aside.

Engineers have to clarify for whom, i.e. for which target group, a technology to be developed is intended, what benefits it brings with it, what significance it has and how it can be adapted to a specific purpose and a specific environment ... This is the subject of technology management .

There are adapted technologies that are specially tailored for use in developing countries, where care is taken to ensure that sustainable development goes hand in hand with their application. An adaptation for use in a special environment must be specially developed for this.

It becomes clear that in the context of ideological education and social action certain technologies must also be limited when one knows that certain technological products can develop such destructive forces that they endanger the continued existence of mankind, be it through the fact that these forces within a short time be unleashed, or perhaps by the fact that the effects are only fully developed over the course of decades. The above applies to nuclear weapons as well as to the greenhouse gases emitted by climate change resulting from anthropogenic technical processes . Limits are set primarily through political and technical control, but responsibility for this cannot be left to the politicians alone. Engineers, natural scientists, technicians and managers who are closer to the pulse of technical developments have to think and participate.

Undoubtedly, neither gentle high technologies in the industrialized countries nor adapted technologies in the developing countries and in underdeveloped regions can limit the undesirable developments in dealing with technology that has been produced and used in conventional (capitalist) economic methods, which are favored by market constraints, but with the conception At least one alternative countered those technologies of the slow change of direction and reorientation of the recent past . Due to their sustainable character (in the sense of a long-lasting effect), gentle high-tech and adapted technologies are moving the needs of people back into the focus of development requirements. However, they must be able to develop the necessary effect in an economically harsh environment.

Use in developing countries or in underdeveloped regions

Developed concepts

The "appropriate technology" (English. Appropriate technology ) is an advanced form of the so-called "intermediate technology" (English. Intermediate technology ), a concept that the economist E. F. Schumacher for the economies of developing countries first designed in the 1960s and later, in 1973 , in a book with the title "Small is beautiful" (German translation and T .: "The return to human measure") processed. Schumacher criticized the fact that the development aid projects carried out up to this time had not solved the major problems of developing countries such as poverty , underemployment and rural exodus and that they had been burdened with foreign exchange deprivation and major environmental problems with capital-intensive technologies. Schumacher therefore called for an "intermediate technology", in German, an intermediate technology that should be far superior to traditional technology, but at the same time be simpler, cheaper and freer than the high technology of the industrialized countries . Schumacher demanded that the new intermediate technology should be labor-intensive and humane; she should lie between rake and tractor, between machete and combine harvester. He described the products of the new intermediate technology as small technology (motto: Small is beautiful). With his demands he triggered a debate about suitable technology concepts for developing countries.

The core content of its concept has been summarized in four technological features:

  • smallness
  • Simplicity
  • low capital costs (capital-cheapness)
  • Gentleness (non-violence).

The debate that was initiated led to a large number of publications dealing with this topic. Institutions and professionals began to deal with Schumacher's considerations. Developing country politicians initially refused to embrace the concept of "intermediate technology," arguing that they should accept a secondary technology. With the mediation of the United Nations , an agreement was finally reached in the early 1970s on the term "appropriate technology", which Schumacher himself then adopted. Countless definitions and catalogs of criteria were created in the professional world: Schumacher's original concept was modified.

The authors of the Brace Research Institute's Handbook of Appropriate Technology have developed a detailed catalog of criteria for appropriate technology:

  • Adapted technology should be in harmony with local, cultural and economic conditions, i. H. with the human, material and cultural resources of the community.
  • The machines and production processes should be maintained and controlled by the population.
  • Adapted technology should use locally available resources wherever possible.
  • If imported resources and technology are used, the community should have some control over them.
  • Adapted technology should, wherever possible, use locally available energy sources.
  • It should be environmentally friendly.
  • It should minimize cultural disruptions.
  • It should be flexible so that the community does not put itself into systems that later turn out to be ineffective and unsuitable.
  • Research and performance activities should, wherever possible, be integrated and carried out locally to ensure the relevance of the research to the welfare of the local population, the maximization of local creativity, the involvement of local people in technological developments and the synchronization of research with field activities becomes.

The new considerations that came into focus, which move the concept of adapted technology away from Schumacher's original concept, are essentially the additional embedding of the technology application in a social and cultural context, the fact that adapted technology does not have a claim to exclusivity, but rather as a transitory stage and is to be understood as an interim solution for developing economies, which exists as a partial solution alongside higher technologies, the fact that the use of adapted technology interacts with other areas of social life, such as with the finance of banks in developing countries with their financing models and financial products ( microcredits, etc. .), furthermore with the research activities of the institutions. The draft of the concept of the adapted technology also takes into account small or medium-sized companies producibility, as well as the fact that not only the provision of machines and production technology, but also know-how , organizational knowledge , technical training and production experience are important for the success of the projects.

Practical use of adapted technologies: case studies

Wood-saving stoves in Guatemala

In general, in developing countries, outdoor cooking on open fires is widespread. This form of cooking offers the population some advantages, but it also has disadvantages. The advantages here are: the reduction of the risk of fire, improved communication with the environment and the warming of the water by the sun, which can significantly shorten the preparation time. The disadvantage of this type of cooking is that a lot of energy is lost through the open fireplace . This means that with the amount of energy used, you could cook longer with a closed fireplace. For this reason, the population has to consume more firewood than is necessary. The women and children are often busy for a few hours a day collecting firewood, covering miles of distance.

At this point, reference is made to the example of Burkina Faso . In this country, which overlaps the southern edge of the Sahel in the north of its territory , there are only sparse forests, and to make matters worse, they are decreasing to a gigantic extent every year. To the capital Ouagadougou , the heating energy has to be transported over distances of 100 km with enormous energy expenditure. One can imagine that the energy costs for the population are unnecessarily high. Due to the intensity of the gathering of firewood, the areas near the settlement are becoming increasingly poor in wood and the distances that have to be covered are getting longer. The fuels obtained are unproductive sources of energy; their extraction takes a long time if they are extracted from fields and forests. The clearing of forest land for firewood encourages soil leaching and erosion; and the use of dung removes the already scarce fertilizer from the land. Since the ecological danger of this type of cooking is to be assessed relatively high, and one expects a worsening shortage of wood in the future due to the constantly increasing demand for wood , the development of wood-saving stoves began .

Initially, this concept was implemented in Guatemala ; it should then be transferred to parts of the Sahel zone including Burkina Faso in a further step.

It should be mentioned, however, that in Guatemala cooking is done on open fireplaces, but these are not outdoors. In this case it was particularly important that these ovens were relatively cheap to manufacture, that they could offer the housewives a certain level of cooking convenience and that the huts could be kept smoke-free. The shape of the oven specially developed for Guatemala is called the “Lorena oven”. The name is made up of lodo (clay) and arena (sand). This stove could easily be built by yourself under supervision and adapted to the needs of the respective family, for example to the size of the pots and in height. The use of local, well-known resources such as clay , laterite and metals has become an inevitable result. For the women it was now possible to cook standing up instead of bending over. Aside from the comfort gained, this led to a decrease in back pain among Guatemalan women. The Lorena oven was a great success in Guatemala.

Inspired by this success, it was decided to use this furnace in other developing countries as well. Among other things, it was also planned to use this stove in the Sahel zone, which was particularly hard hit by the firewood crisis. However, unexpected difficulties arose here: The scarcity of wood was not a decisive factor for the use of the stove. Collecting wood is traditionally not considered a job there, and for this reason there is no desire to change this situation. Furthermore, the cooking habits in the Sahel are very different from those in Guatemala. In the highlands of Guatemala, cooking is done indoors, while in the Sahel region, cooking is done outdoors. This fact is certainly also due to climatic differences. The Lorena oven could not hold its own in the Sahel zone, as the huts there often do not offer enough space for an oven and the heat would be unbearable in the huts. In addition, the fireplace in Africa is often associated with a certain symbolism. In many places the newly wed couple are given three stones for the open fireplace when they start a family.

The spread of the Lorena oven in Indonesia was also planned. It was found that avoiding the smoke in the huts, which had just contributed to the particular success in Guatemala, turned out to be the crux of the matter in Indonesia: Due to the climatic conditions in Indonesia, the smoke is desirable to remove insects from those in the house Keep away from stored food. Using the example of the Lorena furnace, it can be seen very well that a supposedly adapted technology can turn out to be really adapted in a certain case and that it can encounter unexpected obstacles when it is transferred to another culture . This means that a technical product has to be assembled in a suitable variant for each constellation, if there is one, so that it can find acceptance.

The “adapted stove” must take into account the socio-economic conditions. The manufacture of these ovens encourages low-cost, small-scale production; and jobs are created. In addition, there are income savings through lower energy consumption ; other important purchases can then be made for this money, which lead to an increase in demand in the local economy. You are also independent of foreign experts. By using this adapted technology, an important first step has been taken to put a stop to forest dieback in developing countries. When it comes to acceptance of the new ovens, the savings effect does not always have the same effect as one would expect. On the part of the women in Guatemala who were responsible for purchasing the stove, the reduced risk of injury to the children was often cited as the main reason for purchasing a stove.

In this context, another adapted technology should be pointed out. This is the so-called "witch's kitchen", which is mainly used in the cities of Latin America . Most of the time people cook with kerosene in the cities . Although kerosene is mostly subsidized by the state there, it is still unaffordable for many poor families. For this reason, an “old technique” was used that was known from Europe. For this purpose, a particularly well insulated cooking box was designed into which the pot is placed after cooking. Since the cooking box has extremely good insulation, the contents of the pot continue to cook without any additional energy supply. This results in an energy saving of approx. 30-40% simply because the energy supply is limited slightly. This technology can also be made to measure.

Biogas plants in Cameroon

In order to increase agricultural production in Cameroon , biogas plants were used , above all against the background of the constantly increasing prices for mineral fertilizers. An intensification of animal husbandry was one of the plans. The livestock in large enterprises represented a new feature, by which time the animals were kept free and so often the resulting manure was lost as an energy source. By building biogas plants, an attempt was made to use appropriate technology for the manure that arises.

The biogas plants are a sensible technology for Cameroon, as organic waste is generated everywhere and is a cheap raw material to be used. In addition, the prevailing tropical climate there has a particularly favorable effect on this technology. The methane bacteria required for this process work at temperatures between 4 and 60 ° C. However, a slight drop in temperature of 2 ° C already leads to a noticeable decrease in gas production. At a constant temperature of approx. 20 ° C, more methane gas is produced than with minor fluctuations. The methane gas is created through a decomposition process with bacteria in the absence of air. Animal and human faeces as well as leaves, kitchen and garden waste are suitable for filling these biogas plants. Most of the biogas plants built in Cameroon have a volume of approx. 5 to 7 m³. Even with modest livestock farming, the gas requirements for cooking for a large family can already be met. In this way, from 1 m³ of manure in 24 hours at a temperature of approx. 10 ° C, approx. 30 liters of methane gas are produced. At a temperature of around 40 ° C, around 2000 liters of methane gas are produced. Daily delivery is a prerequisite for ensuring the functionality of a corresponding system. The resulting gas can be used in many ways. It can be used to cook, and it can still be used to generate electricity and as fuel for engines.

The digested sludge, which is suitable as a high-quality fertilizer, can be obtained for the first time just 42 days after the system has been commissioned. The biogas plant solves the farmers' dilemma as to whether they should use the manure as fuel or as fertilizer for the fields. A kilogram of wet manure processed in a gas plant generates eight or nine times more useful heat than if it were dried and then burned. In addition, the same amount of manure makes 43% more manure than if it were simply thrown on the manure heap. However, the construction of such systems only makes sense if there is sufficient organic waste. The construction of these systems is not associated with major difficulties, the gas dome can be made of scrap metal, for example. Local companies take over the production, which results in employment effects.

The result of the project in Cameroon was that those who had enough animals and were able to give the biogas plants the necessary input could benefit above all. The very poor part of the population was excluded from using the biogas plants. The employment effects achieved were moderate.

Sugar production in India

To produce white granulated sugar , a total of twelve work steps have to be carried out, which are listed below: Weighing and unloading the sugar cane, crushing and grinding, followed by cleaning and filtering . The resulting juice is then later evaporated and boiled, further work steps are crystallization and centrifugal separation , and at a later point in time the sugar is dried and sunk.

Sugar production takes place in two different types of sugar factories. The form referred to below as "OPS operation" represents the so-called open pan sulfitation process , the adapted technology. There is also another form of simplified production. The chemical process is simplified here; In this context one speaks of vacuum crucible sulfitation . In the OPS factories, all processes must be constantly monitored by individuals; In the VTS production facilities, on the other hand, central control is possible. The adapted technology also requires human labor, as no electric pumps are used there and so the sugar juice still has to be stirred by hand in certain processes. So it is not surprising that the unskilled workers in the OPS factories are used for purposes other than cleaning. From what has been said it is clear that such factories employ far more workers than high-tech factories.

Small-scale sugar production results in advantages. In this way, a significant number of jobs can be created in rural areas. This additional occupation occurs in the time between tilling the fields and harvesting. In 1971/72, a large sugar factory in Bardoli employed 350 seasonal workers for 200 days each, in addition to permanent workers. Furthermore, there is an advantage through the sugar factories, as they pay a price 25–40% higher for the sugar cane than other customers. If the sugar factories are fairly evenly distributed across the country, the result is a reduction in transport costs, since the average distance that has to be covered is no longer that long. A comparison of the two types of factories comes to the conclusion that the adapted technology has a much more positive effect on the employment situation than the modern variant. The results from India are also confirmed by results from Ghana . While the modern factory in Ghana only needed 476 permanent and 219 seasonal workers, the factory with the adapted technology could employ 700 permanent and 3000 seasonal workers. However, it should also be mentioned that the modern factories are superior to the adapted technology in terms of the unit production cost during a long season. However, with a short season it is exactly the opposite.

Water heating by solar energy in Turkey

The method of heating water by solar energy has been used for years mainly in the Aegean Sea, on the Mediterranean coast and in some areas of Central Anatolia, even in the villages in these areas. The method is simple: a water tank that is well insulated and resembles the shape of a thermos flask is placed on the roof of the house with 100 to 500 liters, as required. A plate-shaped thermal solar collector is attached to the sunny side of the roof, which uses solar energy to heat the water in the tank. Because of the good insulation of the water tank, the water is pleasantly warm even in the morning. Since the tank is placed on the roof, especially in private apartments, the water simply flows down through a pipe, so you don't need an extra pump to pump the water down. This method has been used, especially in the villages on the Mediterranean coast and in some villages in Central Anatolia, not so much because it is environmentally friendly, inasmuch as this procedure makes wood or fossil fuels superfluous and saves a lot of work and time, but for the simple reason because most of the villages had no electricity. Up until about a decade ago, electricity outages were not uncommon in the villages that had access to electricity, so that solar thermal water heating was attractive for them too. Apart from what has just been said, most households still use coal-fired tubs to heat their water. Of course, this is also more labor-intensive, as coal must first be brought in and the furnace must be heated. It takes about 20-25 minutes for the water to warm up. For these reasons, a solar-powered water heater is of course a good thing in view of time, economy, comfort and, of course, not least from the point of view of environmental friendliness.

With regard to the employment effects of solar-powered water heaters, it would be too euphoric to claim that this technology has created major employment effects in Turkey ; conversely, it would also be unjust to disqualify the jobs created as being completely insignificant. In the Aegean and Mediterranean regions in particular, there are now one or two workshops in almost every small town that specialize in the field of solar energy. Solar energy is not only used to heat water, but also to generate energy and to warm greenhouses.

According to estimates, there are eleven large and small specialist providers in and around Mersin (a city on the Mediterranean coast) alone . About 77 people are employed by these providers (as of 1997). Overall, this relatively young technology, which is very popular among the population of the region mentioned, has only had moderate, direct and indirect positive employment effects, but has made people's lives considerably easier and also made an important contribution to more environmental friendliness.

criticism

Criticism of the implementation of development aid projects with adapted technologies comes from Dr. Helmut Zell, who had the opportunity to deal with the realities there during a two-year stay in Tanzania. Zell criticizes the fact that, although the responsible institutions in Tanzania were able to present a long list of prototypes, a commercial launch of products of the adapted technology took place only very rarely, if at all, as these were almost never ready for the market. In most cases, they were developed at random, without prior economic calculations or market studies. They often had functional deficiencies and were characterized by a poor price-performance ratio. In addition, they often had to compete with higher quality imported goods from abroad. Zell states that the (labor market-friendly) labor-intensive production method is in principle contradicting the achievement of a good price-performance ratio. Zell also notes that the institutions responsible there hardly worked properly with the domestic industry and that their development of the prototypes was not aimed at reaching production maturity, but rather was guided by self-preservation interests. A single product of the adapted technology was able to identify Zell as competitive there.

Important representatives

In addition to Ernst Friedrich Schumacher , important representatives of the concept and practitioners of adapted technologies include Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi , Buckminster Fuller , William Moyer, Amory Lovins , Sanoussi Diakité , Albert Bates , Victor Papanek , Giorgio Ceragioli , Frithjof Bergmann , Arne Næss , Mansur Hoda and Laurie Baker .

See also

literature

  • Ernst Friedrich Schumacher: The return to the human dimension: Alternatives for economy and technology. With e. Contribution from George McRobie. Rowohlt, Reinbek b. Hamburg (first published 1977), reprint 1983, ISBN 3-498-06121-6
  • Ernst Friedrich Schumacher: Applied Technologies. In: Journal for Cultural Exchange ISSN  0044-2976 , 25th year, 1st year, 1975, p. 67ff.
  • Arghiri Emmanuel: Adapted Technology or Underdeveloped Technology? With contribution to the discussion. v. Celso Furtado et al. Hartmut Elsenhans. Campus, Frankfurt a. M. 1984, ISBN 3-593-33328-7
  • Adapted technology: a new way of dealing with technology. Proceedings of the symposium 18-22.1.1988. Michael Paula et al. (Eds.), Adapted Technology Group, Vienna University of Technology; Grat-Buch, Vienna 1988
  • Willy Bierter: Technology Practice "Adapted Technology": A status report. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1993, ISBN 3-528-02074-1
  • Barrett Hazeltine, Christopher Bull: Appropriate technology: tools, choices and implications. Academic Press, San Diego 1999, ISBN 0-12-335190-1
  • Ivan Illich : Self-limitation. A political critique of technology . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1975, ISBN 3-406-39267-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ H. Kane: The conversion to sustainable industries. In: Worldwatch Institute, Washington (ed.): On the State of the World - 1996: Data for the Survival of Our Planet. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1996, pp. 226-252.
  2. ↑ Frieder Meyer-Kramer: Sustainability and Innovation. In: Armin Grunwald (Hrsg.): Technology design for sustainable development: From conception to implementation. Edition Sigma, Berlin 2002, pp. 81-92
  3. ↑ Reinhard Coenen: Redirecting to sustainable technology paths. In: Armin Grunwald (Hrsg.): Technology design for sustainable development: From conception to implementation. Edition Sigma, Berlin 2002, pp. 389-405
  4. ↑ Erhard Louven: Technology transfer and adapted technologies. Diss. Ruhr-Univ. Bochum 1980, p. 67.
  5. ↑ Cf. John P. Dickenson: On the geography of the third world. Daedalus, Bielefeld 1985, p. 136
  6. ^ Frank Bliss, Jürgen M. Werobèl-LaRochelle: Adapted technologies from the third world. Political Working Group Schools (PAS), Bonn 1986, p. 62
  7. ↑ Urs Heierli: Development with adapted technology. Swiss Contact Point for Adapted Technology (SKAT), St. Gallen, undated, p. 9
  8. ↑ Interdisciplinary project group for Adapted Technology (IPAT): Interdisciplinary research projects at the TU Berlin. [Department of International Agricultural Development: 3, Series Research, Issue 3.4] TU Berlin, Berlin 1978, p. 403
  9. ↑ Paul Harrison: The Future of the Third World. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1984, p. 124
  10. ↑ Erhard Louven: Technology transfer and adapted technologies. Diss. Ruhr-Univ. Bochum 1980, p. 247
  11. ↑ Erhard Louven: Technology transfer and adapted technologies. Diss. Ruhr-Univ. Bochum 1980, p. 250
  12. ↑ See Ipek Osman: Günes enerjisinin Türkiye'de kullanimi. Doganhisar, Konya 1997, pp. 1f. (Turkish)
  13. ↑ See Ipek Osman: Günes enerjisinin Türkiye'de kullanimi. Doganhisar, Konya 1997, pp. 3f. (Turkish)
  14. ↑ Ahmet Güldes: Adapted Technology to Solve Employment Problems in Developing Countries - A Contradiction? Seminar paper. RWTH Aachen, Aachen 1998, chap. 6.1 to 6.4
  15. ↑ Helmut Zell: Adapted Technology: Development Opportunity or Dead End for the Third World? Experiences from Tanzania. In: iz3w - Blätter des Informationszentrum 3. Welt, Freiburg, ISSN  0933-7733 , No. 187, Febr. 1993, pp. 39-42