Appropriate technology

Summary

Appropriate technology is a movement (and its manifestations) encompassing technological choice and application that is small-scale, affordable by locals, decentralized, labor-intensive, energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable, and locally autonomous. It was originally articulated as intermediate technology by the economist Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher in his work Small Is Beautiful. Both Schumacher and many modern-day proponents of appropriate technology also emphasize the technology as people-centered. Appropriate technology has been used to address issues in a wide range of fields. Well-known examples of appropriate technology applications include: bike- and hand-powered water pumps (and other self-powered equipment), the bicycle, the universal nut sheller, self-contained solar lamps and streetlights, and passive solar building designs. Today appropriate technology is often developed using open source principles, which have led to open-source appropriate technology (OS

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology

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EPFL1997

Gravitational radiation in Horava gravity

Diego Blas Temino, Hillary Sanctuary

We study the radiation of gravitational waves by self-gravitating binary systems in the low-energy limit of Horava gravity. We find that the predictions for the energy-loss formula of general relativity are modified already for Newtonian sources: the quadrupole contribution is altered, in part due to the different speed of propagation of the tensor modes; furthermore, there is a monopole contribution stemming from an extra scalar degree of freedom. A dipole contribution only appears at higher post-Newtonian order. We use these findings to constrain the low-energy action of Horava gravity by comparing them with the radiation damping observed for binary pulsars. Even if this comparison is not completely appropriate-since compact objects cannot be described within the post-Newtonian approximation-it represents an order of magnitude estimate. In the limit where the post-Newtonian metric coincides with that of general relativity, our energy-loss formula provides the strongest constraints for Horava gravity at low-energies.

2011

Capturing the hydrokinetic energy of the Rhone River

Giovanni De Cesare, Hanane Moukhliss, Anton Schleiss

In the current economic situation regarding electric generation and conservation of the environment, it is essential to develop sustainable technologies. From this point of view, hydropower is an excellent resource with a consequently high value. The system presented herein aims to optimize the use of this energy while bringing a solution both economic and respectful of the environment. The studied submerged flow current turbines, consist of an assembly of two turbines immersed which converts the kinetic energy of the flow current into electric power without needing any weir structure, contrary to the traditional exploitation of the potential energy in a run-off-river plant. The designer chose Switzerland and more particularly the Rhone River as pilot project site for the first feasibility study in Europe. The study confirms the technical feasibility of the system.

2006