I recently met Dr. Iain Sanders, the CEO of Sustainable Innovative Solutions Ltd. based here in Christchurch New Zealand. With an educational and professional background in sustainable development, Iain is focused on helping companies and geographical regions tap into the benefits of well-architectured and designed buildings, technologies and processes. He is currently offering consulting and training services in sustainable development and appropriate technology use, but his dream is to develop a center for sustainable / appropriate technologies linked up with micro-enterprises in developing economies that can build technologies appropriate for their local conditions as well as for the export market. He would love to build a country lodge based on sustainable ideas, and use it as a base for teaching about sustainable development and as an eco-tourism destination. Cash flow would come from bed and breakfast charges, and fees from seminars and conferences held at the lodge. “The center itself”, Iain explained, “would be a high-tech demonstration of energy producing and collecting devices. It can be done: for example, the Rocky Mountain Institute building in Colorado is a net zero-energy building.”

“Appropriate technology” means something to me in the context of choosing an appropriate collaboration technology, but Iain wasn’t using the term “technology” in that way. “Think about building design from a sustainable perspective”, he said. “The ability to tap into the local resources when designing and constructing a building is key to its sustainability. Site selection is important. An energy-efficient design from an architect is important. Eco-friendly landscaping is important. Using solar or wind power for pumping water, with a cyclic feedback loop for recycling water for irrigation and other uses are all important.” He continued with a list of additional concepts: phase-change materials, eg, ice that melts to supply coolth, or materials that become transparent when an electrical current is put through them. Roofs that double as solar collectors. Water that has its heat removed for recycling after it has gone down the drain. Crop rotation. Toilets that use compressed air to support the cleaning action. And more.

Iain is currently offering consulting and training on sustainable and appropriate technology, with inventor development, new product concept development, design for Six Sigma, stage-gate product development and more being skills and abilities that he brings to the table. One idea he talked about was developing appropriate technology intellectual property here in New Zealand, selling it to investors for commercialization, and then putting the funds raised into overseas community development and micro-enterprises. He can help organizations, for example, wanting to become ISO 14000 compliant, and brings tools, audits and practice to lead and direct organizations through the process.

If this is an area of interest and focus for you, please see the Wikipedia article on appropriate technology. And if you’d like an introduction to Iain, please drop me a line.