SUSTAINABILITY AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNOLOGY: THE CASE OF RWH AS SOURCE OF WATER SUPPLY IN GREATER ACCRA
| Autor: | Sigrid Damman, Frederick K. Amu-Mensah, Mavis Akuffobea, Roland Asare, Herman Helness, Masahudu Fuseini, Barnabas Amisigo, R. A. Banu, Portia Adade Williams, F. Y. Logah, Thor Bjørkvoll, Kamal Azrague, Kwadwo Ansong Asante, George Owusu Essegbey |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Regnvann
Economics and Econometrics Social construction of technology 0208 environmental biotechnology Geography Planning and Development Helhetlig tilnærming Water supply Context (language use) 02 engineering and technology 010501 environmental sciences Management Monitoring Policy and Law Environmental Science (miscellaneous) Development 01 natural sciences Teknologi: 500 [VDP] Rainwater harvesting Bærekraft Social construction Holistic approach 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Pilot implementation business.industry Technology: 500 [VDP] Stakeholder Environmental economics Social constructionism 020801 environmental engineering Sustainability Rainwater harvestin Rain water Business |
| Zdroj: | European Journal of Sustainable Development |
| ISSN: | 2239-6101 2239-5938 |
| DOI: | 10.14207/ejsd.2017.v6n4p41 |
| Popis: | The paper discusses the sustainability of roof rainwater harvesting (RWH) in Greater Accra, Ghana. We take a holistic approach, but focus especially on the social dimension. The discussion is grounded in a research and development project including a holistic sustainability assessment of selected RWH designs based on LCA, cost-benefit analysis and a KAP survey, as well as training of local artisans, stakeholder dialogue and pilot implementation of 21 RWH systems. The performance of the systems largely met the expectation. The households could expect long-term savings, and there were benefits in terms of convenience, hygiene and water sharing. On the other hand, high initial costs, limited awareness, and lack of capacity to implement supportive policies were impediments to wide-scale adoption. The sustainability of the solutions is discussed in further detail. A social construction of technology (SCOT) perspective is applied to throw light on how the stakeholders constructed drivers, barriers, and indeed the technical solutions themselves. We find that the technology was at a stage of low stabilization, meaning-wise, and this clearly affected its sustainability in the local context. The findings suggest that more attention should be paid to socialbconstruction in sustainability research and transition efforts. Keywords: Sustainability, holistic approach, social construction, rainwater harvesting |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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