In common engineering educations, the idea of technological appropriateness is only learned in as part of a specific learning subject, which results in a siloed understanding. On the other hand, liberal arts deliver unique ways to learn something through subjects that have an indirect or almost no relationship with it. It gives an opportunity in which the abstract meanings of appropriateness might be learned based on interconnected understandings. This article aims to discover the opportunity to learn Appropriate Technology from the perspective of liberal arts. It would be useful for engineering educators to deliver a wider coverage in understanding technological appropriateness without giving excessive numbers of specific subjects to students.
environment
The Obituary of Prof. Naya
The world of Indonesian environmentalists is mourning. One of its biggest activists, political endorsers, practitioners, and academia has gone. Prof Surna Tjahja Djajadiningrat, a.k.a. Prof Naya, has died at age 69. Prof. Naya is one of my strongest mentors, and the God has planned to tie me to him since the beginning of my journey in this world. May Allah give him blessings and grant him peace. May the God make him among the inhabitants of jannah and may He spare him from the punishments jahanam and the grave. Even though you didn’t know Prof. Naya, please, take the time to make a sincere due for him. May the God make both dunia and akhirat easy for us and help us through hard times. Aamiin.
Eco-burden in pavement maintenance: Effects from excess traffic growth and overload
Road pavement is designed to support certain usage conditions. However, many abnormal usages above regulated level often happen. Excess traffic growth is considered as a factor influencing road life-performance. Overload phenomenon has also long been recognized as an unexpected force causing extreme decrease of road performance. This study investigates the eco-burden effect of road construction in its maintenance phase along with the influence of above factors in shortening road life-cycle. Because of that, life-cycle assessment (LCA) is used to calculate the eco-burden impact. Furthermore, there are two different options taken for pavement materials: hot-mix and recycled asphalt. They are compared in order to provide comprehensive investigation results for decision makers. Eco-Indicator 99 is used as the impact database in order to standardize calculation processes. Seven sections of Pantura (Pantai Utara – North Beach) road, Indonesia, are picked up to be the case studies as a basis in understanding correlation between all factors to eco-burden impact in road maintenance. This study concludes that each of excess traffic growth and overload is positively correlated with the increase of eco-burden impact. The more extreme shortening of road life-cycle, the more eco-burden will be produced, and it will increase faster in polynomial functions. By looking at previous studies which tend to focus on eco-burden in ideal condition of road life-cycle, this study throws new light on the effects of abnormal phenomena on road usage which shorten pavement life-performance as well as increase eco-burden impacts.
Interdependency of cleaner production and cleaner application: Towards an integrated assessment on Appropriate Technology
Resources localization is one of the unique concerns of Appropriate Technology (AT) development. It has become a thought-provoking driver to related studies, meaning that there are wide-ranging opportunities to conduct researches, including ones on materials-related issues. Also, following the global concerns on environmental issues, assessment on environmental impacts imposed in AT life-cycle is interesting to be studied. Particularly, this study attempts to investigate potential impacts imposed by materials usage in AT. It is conducted by comparing and contrasting common approach in doing cleaner production to the implication of AT in providing cleaner application. This study aims to provide an integrated assessment framework for calculating environmental impacts from materials usage by incorporating the characteristics of AT life-cycle into account. The first finding points out the interdependency of cleaner production and cleaner application, meaning that there is a need of cleaner production in the manufacturing and construction process of any material/component/assembling in an AT; besides, the AT has to be designed to perform cleaner application, yet without reducing its performance and intention in localizing materials. Furthermore, the second finding pushes the first finding forward through an integrated environmental assessment diagram that covers materials production and application until the end of AT life-cycle, including disposal phase and predicted degradability of materials. By looking at common approaches that focused on the assessment of only cleaner production, this study is moving toward an integrated environmental assessment on an AT by covering both cleaner production and application to form a complete AT life-cycle assessment.
Environmental forensics on Appropriate-Technology-enhanced supply chain of rural commodities
Rural commodities have become important in any kind of rural development. Considering the common difficulties happen in rural areas, and by looking at common uneven distribution of profit margin in many long supply chains of rural commodities, rural governance have begun to apply Appropriate Technology (AT) to pull such distribution back to rural communities as the producers of rural commodities. Such applications become more interesting in term of environmental forensics. Due to the different characteristics between environmental forensics on supply chain and AT, this study aims to integrate such characteristics into a single map of forensics. Characteristics of each kind of forensics are completely taken to deliver a holistic framework. Previous approaches in each forensics are explored to discover the potential integration. Based on such exploration, the cross-sections between forensics are carefully explained to avoid inaccuracy of assessment. The result provides an integrated framework to assess environmental impacts imposed both through supply chain and AT. By looking at previous researches, this study significantly contributes to the common understanding of environmental forensics on supply chain. Then, this study will be expanded by including cost-based approach to evaluate the unit emission per unit distributed value added throughout a supply chain due to AT application.
Environmental impacts of Appropriate Technology: The system boundary
In rural development, health becomes a critical issue. As a means to improve their quality of life, rural people have applied technological solutions; however, many technologies impose high environmental impacts, meaning that rural health would be affected both in near and far futures. Due to local limited circumstance in rural communities, Appropriate Technology (AT) emerges as a comprehensive solution with less environmental impacts. Thus, research on environmental impacts of AT has become an emerging field of study. In such kind of research, positioning is taken into two different focuses: impacts imposed in AT usage, and complete overview throughout life-cycle. Both are founded on the understanding to put AT for having less environmental impacts by design. Therefore, the system boundaries incorporate all phases of AT life-cycle. There are three groups of observation, each with different observed phenomena. General overview is provided to understand each phenomenon. The positioning become foundation of observation, and the system boundaries act as the precise basis of calculation.
Seven pillars of survivability: Appropriate Technology with a human face
There were evidence for the inappropriateness of just three pillars of sustainability when engineers have attempted to construct appropriate technology for underdeveloped communities. Engineers from developed countries have tended to conduct technological adaptations by treating communities as objects, rather than engaging them as subjects of development. As objects, communities could not decide what they wanted to be and were even forced into systematic development that was more likely to benefit the developed countries. However, as subjects, communities can determine their own sustainability and achieve survivability. In this study, seven pillars of survivability are outlined: technical, economic, environmental, social, cultural, judicial, and political. The first three are tangible aspects, and the last three are intangible. The social aspect is the intermediary, the bridge to emerging technological appropriateness. Tangible aspects can be measured numerically, whereas the intangible ones cannot. The tangible and intermediate aspects are what engineers must address, and both the intermediate and the intangible ones are what they must address specifically to diffuse appropriate technology into local daily routines. Tiers of technological appropriateness are also provided to understand the position of a designed appropriate technology in terms of survivability levels. A holistic approach that takes these pillars into account will empower communities to reach self-survivability beyond sustainability.
Appropriate decision making for Appropriate Technology
Engineering design is used in almost design processes. In decision making on several alternative models of products to get a final model, the assessment aspects have converged into two major categories, namely technical and economic aspects. While the technical aspect is translated as the attainment level of the product to the needs technically, the economic aspect analyzes how good the financial resources are used in product making and maintenance. In their application in the field of appropriate technology, sometimes these two aspects have not been able to accommodate several things which are more social. This paper investigates the way how technical and economic aspects can produce a good decision if they include social indicators which are not appropriate if only translated as engineering or financial form. The results of this investigation are analyzed and then emerge a general formula which can measure and combine social things with the technical and economic aspects seamlessly, so the decisions result can be closer to the society’s need. Decision which is made through the formula will describe the real meaning of appropriate technology.
