ABSTRACT
Technology assessment has been employed to describe policy-related studies which examine a wide range of societal consequences deriving from the introduction of a new technology or the use or extension of existing technologies in innovative ways. This chapter presents an alternative approach to technology assessment that has different underlying assumptions and methods. The Southern Tier Central Region project was administered through a regional planning commission; Kent, Ohio, through the city government; Richmond, Kentucky, through a local university, and Franklin County, Massachusetts, through an appropriate technology corporation. Thus, the local institutional setting was allowed to become part of the local application of the alternative technology assessment model. Fundamental questions were raised regarding the detail of analysis required to understand community energy use in the context of a community based technology assessment. Work to date in applying the alternative paradigm of citizen or community-based technology assessment has largely been exploratory.
