Principles of Appropriate Technology

The appropriate technique depends on the specific situation . So, none of these are absolutes — they are just common characteristics that make technology “fit” for a world where many people lack basic necessities, lack money, lack equipment, and lack technical expertise.

• Small (as in “small is beautiful” ) – Small usually means affordable and adaptable, and puts control in the hands of the user. Small also means localized, which provides benefits in terms of resilience . This will put more power in the hands of the grassroots and users. However, sometimes the most appropriate technology is at scale.
• Few moving parts - less likely to go wrong (similar to the KISS principle, and the "durable, efficient, and tough" principle).
• Can be built locally
• Made from locally available materials
• Easy to repair – repaired by local people using locally available equipment.
• Affordable
• Appropriately disposable - no pollution caused by local disposal or recycling

Low cost, low use of fossil fuels and use of locally available resources are advantages of sustainable development . As a result, advocates of sustainable development and alternative technologies sometimes use and promote these technologies. They are also technologies that are gentle on the environment.

The origin of the technology is not important. What matters more is whether it is appropriate. While the origin of technology is sometimes an issue in international discussions of development technology, technology from anywhere can be absorbed and have an impact, as mobile phones demonstrate.

More generally, appropriate technology is appropriate to the context , including the environmental, ethical, cultural , social, political, and economic context. A technique that works in one situation may not work in another. Appropriate technologies are also sustainable , requiring fewer natural resources and producing less pollution than mainstream technologies, which often cause waste and environmental pollution. ^[1] In addition, or when envisioning future phases of AT, proponents may claim that their approach makes life (energy) more meaningful, more balanced, or in harmony with nature. A happier, more fulfilling, more meaningful or purposeful way of living.

In practice

Some additional practical considerations are:

• Using parts in your design that are already produced in large quantities and are widely used around the world can significantly reduce costs. For example, tires that have been manufactured for cars are often used as planters in permaculture designs,...
• It is also useful to reduce the amount of materials required. Sizing metal parts to the thickness required for structural rigidity allows more parts to be produced, thus reducing costs.
• Whenever possible, use multiple similar devices design. This allows you to combine the best of multiple fields to improve your design.

The design should also consider how it will be built. That is, was it built by people who actually understood how the object they were building worked, or did they not fully understand it? Designing something from scratch (bottom-up approach) is much more difficult than just snapping a set of parts together (top-down approach). An example of a top-down approach is what William Kamkwamba did when building his wind turbines (he used commercial parts). In practice, however, it often produces machines/objects that are very inefficient. The only benefit (besides not being too hard to do) is that it is also less labour intensive and generally cheaper (i.e. parts can be obtained from local scrapyards (i.e. dumps, city dumps, ...). Each component is specifically designed to ensure optimal efficiency (i.e. in the wind turbine paradigm, the generator/alternator needs to be sized to the bladed rotor).

An approach in between is to use a kit or a manual. Kits are a top-down approach (using pre-made components), but can still produce efficient designs because the components are pre-made specifically for the design (rather than coming from different equipment).

See also

• Background on appropriate technology
• Design principles

refer to