Clean Technology: Meaning, Types, Objectives and Obstacles to Clean Technology!
Meaning of Clean Technology:
Clean technology or sometimes called cleaner technology avoids the environmental damage at source. On the other hand, clean-up technology is defined as reducing environmental damages by retrofitting, modifying, or adding end-of-pipe pollution abatement measures to an established plant or process.
Clean technology is the practical application of knowledge, method and means within the needs of man to provide the most rational use of natural resources, energy and to protect the environmental quality.
It has three objectives:
(i) To be economically viable,
(ii) To improve the quality of life, and
(iii) To have positive impacts on the environment.
Types of Clean Technology:
The producer can influence the choice of technique depending on economic and environmental considerations.
There are three possibilities:
1. Mature Technology:
Mature technology which is relatively cheap, does not call for much technical assistance. It is in operation more quickly, but is less competitive. Its environmental impacts are usually greater.
2. Developing Technology:
Developing technology is more costly. It remains competitive during the equipment’s life but calls for greater technical assistance and local know-how. Its environmental impacts are fewer.
3. State of Art Technology:
The latest state of art technology is expensive. It calls for high-level, local technical ability and is very competitive in output capacity. Its environmental impacts vary, but are serious in case of accidents.
Objectives of Clean Technology:
The objectives of clean technology of production are as follows:
(a) To reduce levels of polluting emission and waste generation thereby protecting or improving the environmental quality.
(b) To use raw materials and energy more efficiently.
(c) To enourage utilization of residues, recyclable waste and local materials as raw materials for conversion processes.
(d) To provide local employment.
(e) To enhance the quality of life.
Case for Clean Technology:
Clean technologies of production, whether imported or developed locally, will increase productivity and prolong the use of natural resources. In the past environmental policy and practice have emphasized pollution control rather than pollution prevention. Old style environmental technologies generally treat waste by converting it to a comparatively less harmful form of pollution. But the emerging transformation is towards cleaner technologies of production that reduce environmental damage at source.
Clean technology helps to analyse the pollution prevention opportunities, such as product and process changes and on-site recycling and recovery before the pollutants are generated. Industrialists are now realising that it is less expensive and thus more profitable to change the process technologies to make them less polluting rather than finding cheaper ways of waste disposal.
Clean technology of production is the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes and products to reduce risk to human beings and the environment. For production processes, it includes conserving raw materials and energy eliminating toxic raw materials, and reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes before they leave a process.
Industrial policies should encourage cleaner production and products. They should also promote an economically efficient and competitive private sector that is responsive to consumer preferences while preserving the environment and resource base for the future.
When price signals reflect proper social and environmental cost technologies for cleaner production, products have been demonstrated to be the most cost effective means to reduce consumption of raw materials and energy as well as the pollution burden.
The technologies that protect the environment are less polluting, use all resources in a more sustainable manner, recycle more of their wastes and products. Moreover, these handle residual wastes in a more acceptable manner than technologies for which they are substitutes.
UNEP Report states that appropriate technological improvements, which result in more effective use of natural sources, less waste, and fewer pollutant by-products are required in all economic sectors. Further, truly global and application of best available and appropriate technology and production processes need to be ensured through the exchange and dissemination of knowhow, skills and technology and through appropriate finance mechanisms for sustainable industrialization.
The history of industrialization shows that initially people ignore wastes and pollutants simply emitting them into waterways or the air. This dilution approach always proves to overwhelm nature’s assimilative capacity.
Countless clean technologies of production have been developed and used especially by industrialized countries of the world. These technologies encourage more efficient use of energy to control hazardous emissions into the atmosphere and to reduce wastes.
Obstacles to Clean Technology:
There are three obstacles to clean technology of production:
First, many industries remain to be convinced that introducing clean technologies of production really cut production costs.
Second, there is a lack of information. In fairness, it is true that practical data about new technologies to prevent pollution are not always available and what is at hand too often stresses end-of-pipe rather than innovative solutions.
Third, transfer of technologies for clean production is hindered primarily by weak or inadequately enforced environmental regulations in some countries.
Clean Technology of Production for Small-Scale Industries:
E.F. Schumacher considers appropriate clean technology which is labour intensive, energy saving, producing little pollution and also employment generating. His views are concerned with economic development and equity which promote the right kind of economic progress and factors of production which improve local employment. Therefore, production from local resources for local needs is the most rational way of economic life.
Schumacher emphasizes on the need of small scale units being assigned a definite role in the development process of underdeveloped countries to achieve both long term and short-term goals of industrialization. He considers Buddhist economics as a source of adoption to the ecological challenges.
Schumacher’s views can be explained in terms of Figure 25. 1, where quantities of environmental input are taken on horizontal axis and quantity of labour input on the vertical axis. A technique is more or less pollution intensive according to the size of the ratio of the environmental input to labour input.
The straight lines from the origin P1, P2 and P3 represent production processes. For example, if process P1 is employed, output Q1 can be produced by using input OE1 of environment and OL1 of labour.
A switch from process P1 to process P2 presents the adoption of a more labour intensive and less pollution intensive (i.e., OL2 > OL1 and OE2 < OE1). Similar is the case with the process P3.
Arguments for Appropriate Clean Technology:
The following are the arguments for an appropriate clean technology:
1. Equity and Employment:
A characteristic feature of underdeveloped and developing countries is the abundance of idle manpower particularly in rural areas. The objective of clean technology is to increase the input of labour into production process to avoid unemployment and to maintain clean environment in the economy.
2. Less Pollution and Waste:
Another argument in favour of clean technology is that it decreases the pollution level and is less wasteful.
3. Less Risky:
Clean technology is less risky in terms of health problems faced by workers in the industry.
4. Efficient Use:
Clean technology increases efficiency in the industry by reduction in pollution level, savings in raw material energy, decrease in waste management costs, reduction in workers’ health risks, and increase in productivity.
There is a general misapprehension that clean technology would invariably raise the average cost of production. This is not necessarily true in all cases.
Transfer of Technology:
Sustainable development is a larger issue which incorporates protection of environment and efficient use of world’s resources. This necessitates development and use of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) in production processes all over the world.
However, many developing countries lack scientific know-how and face resource constraints. Moreover, the development of technologies on their own may take many years and in the meantime using obsolete technology may further lead to environmental disasters on their part.
In this situation, transfer of environmentally sound technologies from developed to developing countries becomes an essential part of their strategy for sustainable development. Further, transfer of technologies from developed to developing countries can take place mainly through two mechanisms.
First, technologies can be imported from developed countries through agreements involving onetime payment or royalty over a period of time or both. The agreement could be in the form of licensing, subcontracting, franchising or management contracts etc.
Second, ESTs can be acquired through foreign direct investment which may occur in the form of joint ventures or turnkey contracts.
The issue of transfer of technology involves the question of access by all countries to environmentally sound technology on an equitable and affordable basis. Many developing countries have little ability to manage technological change. In any country, the introduction of new technology will succeed only if it is compatible with existing human resources, institutions and finances. There needs to be an indigenous demand if technology is to be transferred successfully.
In most of the cases, the developed industrialized countries have already set their own environmentally oriented products and processing standards. V. Jha and A. Paola have pointed out that the use of standards for products will not only encourage sustainable production but also enhance trade and improve international competitiveness of the developing countries.
Notwithstanding all these concerns, the actual situation is far from that in debates. The ground reality is that underdeveloped countries have limited access to environmentally sound technologies (ESTs). Their access to the markets of industrialized developed countries continues to be seriously threatened by trade barriers.
Moreover, many industrialized countries are indulging in shifting their dirty industries to the relatively less developed countries. The dirty industries are shifting because of tight regulations in their own countries.
The question arises, who will pay for the transfer of technology to developing countries? Most developing countries who have been the principal polluters to date, and who have benefitted from the unfettered use of the earth’s natural resources should accept most of the financial responsibility for restoring and sustaining the global environment.
Pulled down by the burden of external debt and unfavourable terms of trade, the developing countries say that they cannot afford to absorb the cost of transfer of technology. In many cases, new technologies are developed and owned by the private sector and the questions of patents and intellectual property rights become crucial in the issue of transfer of technology.
Intellectual property rights are rights to the ownership of ideas and patents are the rights to produce particular products. Patents for environmentally sound technologies are usually owned by the private sector and governments are not usually able to dictate the transfer of patented technologies.
Some developed countries argue that ingenuity is a natural resource for which the holder of the intellectual property rights should be fairly compensated in relation to the problem of transfer of technology to other countries.
Moreover, the reward for the invention of new technologies must be given to the inventors of host countries and their moral intellectual property rights must be protected. The end result is that new environmentally sound technology is not being made available to other countries because of suspicion that the recipient will fail to honour the patent and will produce imitations for sale to other countries in the world.