Appropriate technology and characteristics of technology

Appropriate technology

Appropriate technology is technology that suits the economic, social, cultural and environmental conditions of the people who use it: low-cost, small-scale, labour-intensive, based on local materials and skills, simple to operate and repair, and environmentally friendly. Examples: micro-hydro, biogas, improved cooking stove.

Characteristics of technology

1. Application of knowledge: technology is the practical use of science. Example: knowledge of electromagnetic induction is used in generators of hydropower plants.
2. Purposeful (problem solving): it is developed to satisfy a human need. Example: water filters solve the problem of unsafe drinking water.
3. Has four components: technique (tools/machines), knowledge, organisation and product. Example: a hydropower plant needs turbines (technique), engineers' know-how (knowledge), a company to run it (organisation) and electricity (product).
4. Dynamic and cumulative: it keeps changing and builds on earlier inventions. Example: telegraph → telephone → mobile phone → smartphone.
5. Irreversible: once adopted, society cannot go back. Example: nobody returns from electric light to oil lamps.
6. Transferable: it can be transferred from one place or country to another, though it must be adapted. Example: biogas technology adapted from China and India to Nepal.
7. Value-neutral but value-laden in use: the same technology can help or harm. Example: nuclear energy for power or bombs.
8. Has social and environmental impacts: it changes culture, employment and nature. Example: mobile phones changed communication and family life; vehicles cause air pollution.
9. Interdisciplinary and systemic: needs many fields and support systems. Example: an electric vehicle needs batteries, charging stations, a grid and trained mechanics.
10. Context-dependent (appropriateness): a technology good for one place may not suit another. Example: combine harvesters suit large flat farms but not small terraced hill farms of Nepal.
11. Creates dependency and specialisation: users depend on suppliers and experts. Example: imported machines need imported spare parts.
12. Economic dimension: it has costs, increases productivity and can create or remove jobs. Example: ATMs reduced bank counter jobs but created IT jobs.

These characteristics show why technology must be chosen carefully to match local needs and resources, which is the core idea of appropriate technology.