Technology per se

A smart garbage can that can carry five times its normal load, thanks to a compactor, it is among Bigbelly Solar’s inventions. Powered by the sun, some 2000 units have been sold. Now the company plans to add a wireless system that tells waste-removal crews when the cans are full and need to be emptied. The text messages go via an online Google map.

This is all about reducing the amount of time, money, and fuel, say the company. Garbage truck trips can be cut by 80 percent, saving enough fuel to pay for the $3,000 to $3,900 units within a year or two.

Not exactly what we need here in India, where there is always garbage overflowing!

Elsewhere, Intel has unveiled a new generation of tiny sensors that continuously analyze air quality in an effort to further understand and combat air pollution. The corporation is also developing devices that can tap energy from sunlight, body heat and television signals and store small amounts of energy. When the energy build-up is high, they can be used to run a built-in data transmitter!

Can these be up-scaled?? Are these mere flights of fantasy?

Meanwhile, street sweepers in San Francisco have already been outfitted with the chip-sized sensors that continuously monitor and relay air pollution information. The sensors are linked to GPS enabled Nokia N95 cellphones and allow scientists to access air quality readings worldwide in real time. (Needless to say, our sweepers could do with a pair of gloves and footwear!)

These are all examples of what one may call loosely as grassroots technology that directly impact people, whether garbage or air pollution.

But sometimes, one wonders if we are witnessing meaningless deployment of technology anywhere and everywhere. Using technology for the sake of technology? Could we end up with a waste problem here when the sensors run out of their lifetime?

True, they draw power from renewables but still they make us more energy dependent, right? It is ‘free energy’, ok but they tie us down, more than they free us.

As one of our blog visitors commented, 'we do not need more technology' that enslaves us.

Should we look at lifecycle assessments before deploying new technologies?