Green Technologies for Sustainable Development

One of the buzz words in international development circles is that of 'appropriate technology'. It is the idea that technology is designed with consideration for the environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political and economical aspects of the community for which it is intended; technological development with a hefty side of sustainable development. The idea on its face is simple: you don't go into a community without a geophysicist, and dig a well that requires a geophysicist to maintain.

Yet at the same time it's a lot more nuanced - one could argue that the plastic bags which tumble down the streets of many developing nations, a modern ecosystem destroying version of the tumble weed, is distinctly inappropriate technology for nations without consolidated waste management. Paper bags, at least, would degrade in that situation.

The technological graveyard is littered with technology transfers that failed to stick because they were inappropriate for the communities in which they were introduced. Let us be clear - this is not a developing world problem. In the west, many technologies, from the Beta recording system to OS/2, to the deep water horizon, illustrate that technological failures in the west often do occur, sometimes to disastrous results. The larger problem in a developing world context is that these technological transfers often consume a large percentage of aid budgets leaving those they intended to serve no better off, and often worse off; the exact opposite of sustainable development.

That said there are some interesting/promising ideas out there that are worthy of discussion, if not necessarily aid dollars. For example, the Connecticut based company, The Essential Element, has recently unveiled the HYDRA - a solar-powered hydrogen fuel-cell powered mobile water purification system. It's manufacturers say that it can filter purify 20,000 gallons of water in a day, effectively store electricity and even manufacture medical grade oxygen without a touch of the diesel fuel, which the handful of existing mobile purifiers currently run on. The manufacturers say the benefit of this technology would be to help the running of small regional clinics, provide clean water in regions without clean water, with lower operating costs (because no additional future) and while maintaining that water supplies remain clean - the irony of diesel systems is that any fuel which spills while running the machines may pollute the very water they're trying to clean.

30-year-old Mountain View California based inventor, Shawn Frayne designed Windbelt, a small-scale wind power generator design to power meet the modest electrical needs of families in third-world countries, eliminating the need for dirtier technologies such as kerosene and at a lower cost than solar panels.

Finally, the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) helps individuals and communities get affordable and environmentally sound access to electricity, sanitation and clean water through a combination of business incubation, education and outreach to get people the technologies that will better their health and improve their lives. Their successful technologies include biodigesters which produce biogas by breaking down household waste, reducing pathogens, the cost associated with household fuel purchase while also producing usable fertilizer. AIDG also has projects involving hydroelectric power, such as small scale hydro-electricity, and clean drinking water such as slow sand water filtration systems. Throughout it all, in what could be called a focus on truly sustainable development, their focus is on technology suited for the community/region within which they are working.