Today's Significant Role of Appropriate Technology and Its Revitalization

Abstract

Since the concept of “intermediate technology” was launched by E.F. Schumacher in the mid 1960's, “appropriate technology” as a term for replacing the “intermediate technology” has been defined, discussed and implemented in various way by both organizations and individuals. There have been two different contexts in which this concept is applied, that is, the context of development and that of alternatives to modern technologies. Reviewing existing discussions and activities of appropriate technology so far, the author has proposed a way to use this word as a media for expressing technologies most suitable or appropriate to given conditions with explanation of the meaning of the appropriateness.

After that, concrete examples of appropriate technologies in the field of wastewater treatment, agriculture and biomass energy are introduced.

Although the appropriate technology became to be paid less attention after the mid 1980's, the author maintains the revitalization of the technology in today's world conditions in which problems such as global warming and global inequality is becoming very serious. Technologies required in these conditions are ones that alleviate various kinds of poverty of the ordinary people in developing countries without resulting problems such as environmental ones, shortage of natural resources and dehumanization. That is nothing but the appropriate technology in the sense of integration of said two contexts, that is the context of development and the context of alternatives to modern technologies.