Environmental Technology Management

Abstract

If one accepts the premise that there is little readiness to accept reductions in the standard of living in the democratic, industrial nations, and that a huge, unsatisfied demand for a ‘better life’ has built up in the developing and newly democratic countries, then it is clear that ‘sustainable development’ can only be achieved with the aid of production and consumption processes which are fundamentally different from those dominant today. This is most striking in the area of energy, where a shift must be effected from non-renewable, dirty sources of energy to renewable, environmentally friendly sources. However, since the main technologies currently in use were developed before environmental externality costs had begun to be internalized, significant changes can only be anticipated when price relationships develop which better reflect the scarcity of environmental resources. The price-competitiveness of sustainable technologies in the critical areas of electricity production, transportation, housing, agriculture and manufacturing will develop as a function of the rate and direction of innovation. This in turn depends on the management of R&D, as well as the resources and societal priority accorded innovation in sustainable technology.