What are these?

“Fog collectors”• In the region of El Tofo, these are used to provide water to a small

community called Chungungo

• Based on the fact that water can be collected from fog under the right climatic conditions

• Most applicable in mountainous regions that are very difficult to service with traditional piped water systems

• Project initiated by FogQuest, a Canadian NGO

• The technology has since been adopted in 25 different countries including Yemen, Chile, Guatemala, Haiti and Nepal

El Tofo Mountain – Chile

Fog Collector Site

Water dribbles down

Collected in a storage tank

Storage tank 2

Inside Storage Tank

Filtration System

Chungungo – (1990: population 300)

• the prototype: – 94 mesh collectors – 15,000 litres of water per day

• this project was seen as being – cheap to build,– required no power, – have potential to alleviate water shortages

In 2002, only 9 of the 94 mesh collectors were still hanging

What led to this result?

Appropriate Technology and Technology Transfer

• The relationship between society and technology becomes very clear when “successful” (often Western) technologies are applied in other societies

• What may seem “appropriate” at first, may not be “appropriate” given the context – Physical context might be different– The culture may be different– The organizational context might be different

What do we mean by appropriate?

One definition:

“Appropriate technology seeks to aid and support the human ability to understand, operate and sustain technological systems to the benefit of humans while having the least negative societal and environmental impact on communities and the planet”

(Wicklein and Kashmar, 2001)

At different points in history, “appropriate” meant different things.

e.g. Robert Owen – New Lanark

Beginning of the Industrial Revolution

Technology – cotton mills

Appropriate - “liberty and equity”

Robert Owen(1771-1858)

Influence of Environmentalism

• Appropriate technologies have a low impact on the natural environment– Do not use large quantities of natural resources– Do not cause pollution/ destroy habitat– Do not risk large scale disaster (e.g. nuclear)

Questions about the appropriate scale of technology

• Industrial model of growth – Economies of scale lead to profit

– “bigger is better”

• Schumacher critiques the “idolatry of giantism” and suggests:– “An entirely new system of thought is needed, a system

based on attention to people, an not primarily attention to goods” (Schumacher – Small is Beautiful)

What is it that we really require from the scientists and technologists?

• Schumacher answers:

We need methods and equipment that are:– Cheap enough so that they are accessible to almost everyone

– Suitable for small scale application

– Compatible with man’s need for creativity

(Small is Beautiful 1973)

Philosophical Foundation for Appropriate Technology (Wicklein and Kashmar, 2001)

Appropriate Technology

European Socialism

Entrepreneurial Capitalism

First Century Christianity

Non-violent peace movement

Freedom and Equality

Decentralized Marxism

Feminist Movement

Breaking of the Technopoly

African Communalism

Environmentalism

International Labour Movement

Working together for the common good

Failure of Western aid projects

Non-authoritative collective support

Encouraging women through self help

Loosing hold of technology on humans

Supportive of local cultures and customs

Considering the planets ability to sustain life

Empowering the common person

Supply and demand

The Golden Rule

Working for change in peaceful ways

In each of these paradigms

the central condition of empowering people to develop to the best of their abilities and to have freedom to succeed or fail based on their own efforts is critical

Criteria of Appropriateness• Compatible with local cultural and economic conditions, i.e. the human, material

and cultural resources of the community • Tools and processes should be under maintenance and operational control of

population • Use of locally available resources • If imported, control made available to locals • Use local energy sources• Ecologically and environmentally sound • Minimize cultural disruptions • Not lock a community into systems which later prove inefficient and unsuitable • Research and policy action should be integrated and locally operated whenever

possible in order to ensure the relevance of the research to the welfare of the local population, the maximization of local creativity, the participation of the local inhabitants in technological developments and the synchronization of research with field activities

Why did the El Tofo project not succeed?

• T - technical deficiencies

• U - Unintended / unforseen consequences

• O - Organizational problems (i.e. which institutions control the technology?)

• P - Problems with public participation / community motivation

• C - Reasons that are cultural / value based

Ideas for a more “appropriate”project design

ResourcesSchumacher, E.F. 1973. Small is Beautiful. Economics as if People Mattered.

New York: Harper Perrenial a Division of Harper Collins Publishers.

Wicklein, R. C. and C. J. Kachmar. 2001. Philosophical Rationale for Appropriate Technology. In Appropriate Technology for Sustainable Living. 50th yearbook. Wicklein, R (ed.) Glencoe, McGraw-Hill.

“Robert Owen (1771-1858)” www.robert-owen.com (accessed March 25, 2004)

El Tofo Case Study from Engineering Without Borders Website: http://www.ewb.ca/content/en/chapters/chapterresources.shtml

(Accessed March 25, 2004)

Dale, Stephen. 2003. Collecting Fog on El Tofo. Engineering Without Borders Website http://www.ewb.ca/content/en/chapters/chapterresources.shtml

(Accessed March 25, 2004)