Appropriate Technology

October 28, 2011 by Taylor Studios in Professional & Industry Tips

Those inventions I mentioned in my last ? They all fit under the canopy of Appropriate Technology. So descriptive, so minimal. The term covers a lot of territory, as I found out once I Googled it. One of the descriptions I like the best so far is “.” Turns out, it isn’t limited to the Third World, but that’s another article altogether. What I’m talking about is technology that “requires fewer resources, are easier to maintain, and have less of an impact on the environment compared to techniques from mainstream technology.” That last part is from the , a wiki all about Appropriate Technology, or AT as it is abbreviated.

This is an exciting field, and once I knew what it was called, I found info all over the place. One of the big hurdles is getting these designs off the drawing board and into production. They have to be tested by the people who they are intended for, where they will be used. That’s the appropriate part. A person can’t use an iPod if they don’t have steady electricity or computer access. But what about the , which creates more heat with less fuel and makes less smoke than traditional cooking stoves in the Third World? And it’s not the product that is crucial, here, it’s the concept. A Rocket Stove can be built in a myriad of ways from whatever materials are at hand, as long as the basic design elements are included.

Another idea that has made a difference is the water roller, one example being the . This invention allows women, tasked with getting water every day from community wells, to avoid carrying it on their heads for miles. They roll the water instead, and can move more than they could before with less effort and physical stress.

How simple of an idea are we talking about? Maybe you’ve heard about the , which is just a pop bottle filled with water and inserted through a tin roof. Brings daylight into a dark shack in a slum. A slum where thousands of people live in darkness, or where they use light bulbs running off of dangerous electrical “wiring” that causes fires. That is simple, ingenious, and making a difference!