A New Methodology for the Development of Appropriate Technology: A Case Study for the Development of a Wood Solar Dryer

Luis Bernardo López-Sosa, José Núñez-González, Alberto Beltrán, Mario Morales-Máximo, Mario Morales-Sánchez, Montserrat Serrano-Medrano and Carlos A. García
Additional contact information
Luis Bernardo López-Sosa: Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia C.P. 58190, Mexico
José Núñez-González: Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia C.P. 58190, Mexico
Alberto Beltrán: Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales, Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia C.P. 58190, Mexico
Mario Morales-Máximo: Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia C.P. 58190, Mexico
Mario Morales-Sánchez: Grupo de Artesanos Organizados, Comunidad Indígena de San Francisco Pichátaro, San Francisco Pichátaro C.P. 60291, Mexico
Montserrat Serrano-Medrano: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia C.P. 58190, Mexico
Carlos A. García: Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia C.P. 58190, Mexico

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 20, 1-20

Abstract: This paper introduces a new methodology for the development of appropriate technology that allows satisfying energy needs in rural communities. The methodology integrates the technological development, taking particularly into account the assessment of environmental impacts as well as evaluation of the functionality of the technology. Therefore, it is implemented as a case study in the development of a solar wood-dryer in an artisan community in Mexico. Relevant issues were identified for the success of the methodology, which includes identifying key participants in the community, as well as the use of specialized simulation- and computer-based design tools, and a prior evaluation of the potential environmental impacts through Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the solar wood-dryer. Three geometries of a solar wood-dryer prototype were proposed and analyzed with computer-based simulations, which showed better interior heat transfer than the traditional wood brick-dryer. LCA revealed that the new solar wood-dryer prototype has environmental impacts in all analyzed categories that are 5% or smaller than those of the traditional dryer. Therefore, it was demonstrated that the solar wood-dryer developed with our introduced methodology leads to less environmental impacts compared to those of the traditional wood brick-dryer previously used by the rural community.

Keywords: sustainable energy technologies; life cycle assessment; rural community engagement; developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5620/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5620/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:20:p:5620-:d:275748

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().