Protecting our environment for our own near future as well as for the distant future is a necessity for our present lives as well as for visions and hopes for the future. Among the many requirements for achieving this goal we need technologies which show high performance in two respects.
They must be feasible and economical technologies which at the same time prevent present and future environmental problems. This work has been a case study assessment of some developing technologies in Austria which promise high feasibility and economic potential as well as prevention of environmental problems (e.g. through prevention of wastes & emissions at source, reduction or elimination of risks to environment,...).
We have chosen potential technologies for assessment with the help of a group of relevant experts. The feasibility analysis and market research of the assessed technologies aimed to indicate barriers to the development and diffusion of these technologies. The investigation aimed at encouraging and improving environmental technologies which consider both present and future environmental protection.
Interdisciplinary and participatory assessment strategies should have been used to improve the assessment quality and compensate as far as possible for the uncertainties and insufficiency of data and information about developing technologies:
The project was commissioned by the Austrian Ministry of Environment.
10/1999 - 06/2000