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intermediate technology
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What is intermediate technology?
Intermediate technology refers to simple tools, machines, and engineering systems that people in economically disadvantaged communities can afford or build using local resources to improve their well-being. It focuses on people and the environment, harmonizing with traditional lifestyles.
British economist E.F. Schumacher developed the concept, suggesting that developing countries need technologies tailored to their unique needs that are not capital or energy intensive.
Intermediate technology can include basic devices made from recycled materials, as well as more advanced solutions such as solar-powered lightbulbs. It can also combine cutting-edge research with simple materials, like using cloth filters to purify water.
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Why is intermediate technology important for developing countries?
Intermediate technology is important for developing countries because it provides simple and practical tools, basic machines, and engineering systems that economically disadvantaged people can afford or construct using local resources to improve their well-being. It focuses on people rather than machines and is considered more harmonious with the environment and traditional ways of life.
Intermediate technology solutions can range from basic devices made from old machine parts to more advanced technologies like energy-efficient lightbulbs or solar-powered refrigerators. They can also combine cutting-edge research with simple materials, such as using cloth filters to collect water and reduce pathogens in areas where disinfectants are not readily available.
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How does intermediate technology differ from advanced technology?
Intermediate technology focuses on simple, sustainable tools and engineering systems that are accessible to economically disadvantaged communities. It contrasts with advanced technology, which often requires significant capital and can be energy-intensive.
Intermediate technology prioritizes people and the environment, often utilizing locally available resources and traditional practices. Examples range from basic devices made from recycled materials to more advanced solutions like solar-powered LED lights. The goal is to improve well-being and productivity in a way that is harmonious with local culture and resources, rather than imposing large-scale, resource-depleting technologies.
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What are some examples of intermediate technology?
Intermediate technology refers to simple and sustainable tools, machines, and engineering systems that can be purchased or made by people in economically disadvantaged communities using local resources to improve their lives.
Examples of intermediate technology:
* Cloth filters to collect water, which reduces pathogens and is useful in areas where fuel to boil water and disinfectants are not available.
* High-efficiency solar-powered LED lights used in remote areas replace kerosene lamps and wood fires, which pose a fire risk and emit pollutants.
* Modern industrial factories that press waste parts of banana plants and stalks of other harvested crops into fibreboard.
* Energy-efficient and solar-powered lightbulbs.
* Small adsorption pot-in-pot refrigerators.2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How does intermediate technology help local communities become more self-reliant?
Intermediate technology helps local communities become more self-reliant by providing simple, practical tools and basic machines that can be purchased or constructed from local resources. This approach focuses on empowering people and harmonizing with the environment and traditional ways of life.
Examples of intermediate technology include cloth filters for water purification, solar-powered LED lights, and machines that press harvested crops into fibreboard. While generally popular, the success of these technologies depends on their acceptance by local communities, who may prioritize social interactions over increased productivity.
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What are the challenges and benefits of using intermediate technology in development projects?
Intermediate technology utilizes simple tools and basic machines that are affordable and can be constructed locally by economically disadvantaged communities to improve their well-being. E.F. Schumacher advocated for this approach, believing it better suited to the unique needs of developing countries, and for conserving natural resources.
Benefits include improving productivity, reducing pollution, and mitigating fire risks through devices such as solar-powered LED lights, cloth filters, and modern industrial factories. Challenges arise when these technologies disrupt traditional social structures or fail to align with local values, as seen when Guatemalan women preferred hand shelling corn despite the availability of a faster tool.
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intermediate technology, simple and practical tools, basic machines, and engineering systems that economically disadvantaged farmers and other rural people can purchase or construct from resources that are available locally to improve their well-being. Designed to focus on people rather than machines, intermediate technology is considered to be more harmonious with the environment and with traditional ways of life.
German-born British economist E.F. Schumacher first conceived of the concept after a visit to Burma (now Myanmar) in 1955. He concluded that poor countries might realize progress in productivity by adopting advanced technologies but that those advances would do little to increase employment. What was needed, he maintained, was an intermediate technology adapted to the unique needs of each developing country. Moreover, he questioned the presumed necessity of ever-increasing growth, urging instead the development of a non-capital-intensive, non-energy-intensive society. In his book Small Is Beautiful (1973), he argued that capitalism brought higher living standards at the cost of deteriorating culture. His belief that natural resources should be conserved led him to conclude that bigness—in particular, large industries and large cities—would lead to the depletion of those resources.
Even though intermediate-technology solutions are generally associated with relatively basic devices often made out of old machine parts, cloth, or wood, more-advanced technologies—such as energy-efficient lightbulbs, solar-powered lightbulbs, or small adsorption pot-in-pot refrigerators—may also be used. Larger-scale, more-expensive solutions, such as modern industrial factories to press waste parts of banana plants and stalks of other harvested crops into fibreboard, may also be reasonable in some areas, since farmers whose stalks would otherwise have gone to waste could benefit by using the fibreboard.
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Intermediate-technology solutions may also combine cutting-edge research with simple materials. For example, medical research into the spread of cholera led to the use of cloth filters made out of old articles of clothing to collect water. Those filters substantially reduce pathogens, which is useful in poor villages where disinfectants and fuel for boiling water are not readily available. At the other end of the technological spectrum, high-efficiency solar-powered light-emitting diode (LED) lights are used in remote areas of Nepal, replacing kerosene lamps or wood fires that emitted pollutants and posed a fire risk.
Although intermediate-technology tools developed in conjunction with local residents are generally popular, there have been cases in which they failed to win over villagers. For example, engineers with a nongovernmental organization (NGO), Compatible Technology International, attempted to improve the lives of Guatemalan women who laboured many hours to hand shell corn. The engineers produced a corn sheller that consisted of a piece of wood with a hole in the middle. By pushing a cob of corn through the hole, the women could shave off the kernels far more quickly. The women preferred, however, to continue hand shelling corn, explaining to the engineers that they valued the time spent with one another more than the increase in productivity that the corn sheller provided.