How Do Infrastructures Shape Cultures of Consumption - Essay Example

How do Infrastructures shape cultures of consumption ID 19714 Order No. 267393 13 January 2008 Acknowledgements Table of Contents: Introduction: The Government of a country, in collaboration with Private sectors, deploy & manage Electricity, Water Supplies, Transport System and other Public Infrastructure Services for the well being of the citizens. The usage of Infrastructure services, however pose a number of challenges pertaining to neighbourhood cleanliness, preservation of natural resources, environmental issues (like heating & pollution), etc that need to be dealt by the Government, Special Interest Groups, Communities of Society and above all, the end users. In order to mitigate the risks arising from the usage of infrastructure services, it is important for the municipality & other governing bodies to study the system by which the utilities are linked to the users and the consumption pattern of the users. The utilization pattern of energy (like vehicle fuel) has more implications at a global level leading to the current challenges like oil cost & global warming. However, the consumption pattern of water leads to environmental challenges that are more local in nature because the extraction, drainage and recycling system are all linked to local ecosystem whereby the primary supply may be a local river or lake but the secondary sources (like water tanks, reservoirs, rain water harvesting plants, etc.) & the subsequent infrastructure may constitute of a complex, well engineered clean water distribution system as well as the waste water drainage system. The way these infrastructure services are shaped up and communicated to the end consumers influence the cultures of consumption of the resources. This paper critically examines the design & delivery of infrastructure services and the related methodologies to control the consumption culture with special emphasis to reduction of water wastage. Literature Review: First and foremost, natural resources cannot be guaranteed to be available forever. They are bound to be drained one day even if they appear to be unlimited today. The foresight required for their preservation cannot be limited to the current generation of consumers but for a number of subsequent generations whereby no one can really predict the day when the resources would be dried off. Hence, the best strategy is to conserve as much possible today to protect the tomorrow. Hence, while the primary vision is to meet the needs for today and protect the needs of tomorrow the focus of infrastructure services need to be in shaping the culture of consumption by users in order to conserve as much as possible without affecting their day to day lifestyle. The accountability lies with both the service providers and the consumers. In addition to conservation of natural resources, the major challenge is to protect the environment from adverse aftermaths if the consumption culture is not environment friendly. In nutshell, energy, water & waste are major environment issues and hence the infrastructure services & the consumers need to collectively conceptualize conservation as a part of consumption culture. The services comprising of natural resources like water should not be sold or marketed as product of a profit center. This is because it is not about affordability of the product such that if the buyer is able to pay the cost, he/she is free to use the product as per personal choice. On the other hand, the cost of these natural resources cannot be kept beyond the reach of the unprivileged or "not so privileged" class of the society. Hence, the key to success is in promoting awareness rather than making the resources expensive. With the vision to conserve natural resources like water it is not only the accountability of the consumer but also of the service provider to reduce the consumption bills to as much as possible without compromising the quality of life. This can be achieved by reducing wastage but not by asking consumers to drink less or bath less, which again is not that easy phenomenon. The challenge is that the final outcome would depend upon the actions & decisions of the end users in terms of choice of products & services that help in the conservation process. The usage of water is mediated by a range of products like bath tubs, wash basins, flush, WCs, manual taps, infrared taps, etc. The choices of such products by consumers affect the wastage control to a large extent. Intentionally, no-one wants to waste water but also no-one wants to use less than desired. Hence, systems offering more efficiencies & lesser wastage should be pushed in the markets keeping in mind the consumer friendly factors like lesser failures, ease of use, comfort levels, ergonomics, etc. It is the accountability of the researchers to find out what works best for the consumers and still ensures adequate conservation such that policy-makers can design incentive packages with targets to achieve desired behavioural change in reducing waste. The packages should first begin with education of waste reduction explaining the bigger picture in simple, easy to understand sentences and then the financial benefits should be extended to attract the consumers. Example, the manufacturers that produce products supporting waste reduction (example, dual button flush tanks) can be extended the benefits of Tax/VAT waivers such that they can offer the products at cheaper price compared to those consuming more water. Such products should however be packaged with a short knowledge manual that can be used to educate the consumer about the larger implications of wastage of water. In addition, Government may plan to extend value added services (like free or discounted plumbing services) to those households that purchase products supporting waste reduction. Such promotion models are practiced based on an understanding that consumers can support the larger objective of reduction of wastage if they are imparted the essential knowledge along with some small but attractive benefits. In nutshell, they should not see such offers as merely opportunities of cost reduction but also to understand & appreciate the bigger picture and contribute to it effectively. Overall, in the model controlling reduction of waste through change in consumer behaviour the consumers act as "switches' in the overall environmental system whereby if they are successfully turned in positive direction, the overall metabolism is conserved but if turned in the negative direction the same is potentially endangered. Consumers that turn in the positive direction and thus saving the overall metabolism of the society can be referred to as Green Consumers. Overall, the policy makers should adequately focus on ecological modernization supporting reduced wastage whereby the actors are the producers that manufacture products supporting resource conservation (without affecting the basic needs of the consumers) and the consumers that happily accept products & services leading to optimum conservation thus resulting in reduced wastage. The challenge is to help consumers in discovering ecologically rational ways of leading life such that the goals of the day to day life are met without any compromise in their green commitments. The systems of provision again drive the consumer behaviour towards waste reduction and also protection of the larger goal of water conservation. Normally, energy, water & waste management are carried out by centralized monopolies governed by the Government because they need to be run more as organizations promoting conservation rather than profit centres. In fact their key result area would be to ensure as minimum "revenues" as possible. However, if the same is privatized, the focus of the companies would be to promote as much consumption as possible to generate high revenues. Although the privatization may have been allowed by the government with an agreement of supporting conservation, the overall objective gets diluted because from the perspective of the private infrastructure services organizations, conservation is in direct conflict with their interest which is the revenues. Hence in such a model, the consumers would also not bother about any green commitments to ecological balance as such. [Van Vliet B., Chappells H. and Shove, E. 2005] S Hills and R Birks carried out a detailed survey on the user's perceptions of waste reducing water appliances in households. They conducted their surveys on user perceptions about a variety of washroom appliances that are claimed by their manufacturers as water efficient. However, the actual usage patterns, after the appliances are put to use, may substantially affect the water efficiencies claimed by their respective manufacturers. The researchers carried out surveys on the usage patterns of a range of water efficient appliances like infrared controlled taps, waterless urinals and dual flush toilets. The research highlighted differences in the manufacturer's claims and the actual usage whereby significant differences were observed between the likings of males & females. In fact, the researchers discovered that relevant signage & labelling cause more positive effects in changing user behaviours. The researchers interviewed a total of 1055 visitors using the washrooms at Millennium Dome that were used for the purpose of this survey. It was observed that the infrared water taps (which are supposed to be more water efficient) were causing more wastage of water than the normal taps. The users tend to use it multiple times and children were found to be playing with them. Water was clearly found to be wasted as the tap continues to dispense water even if the hands are taken off the tap. When asked for opinion, users didn't give positive response about the system stating that it is not user friendly. Tuning of soap dispensers also was found to be a major factor contributing to increased water consumption. If the soap dispensers are tuned to eject more soap than required, then the user would naturally consume more water to clean the soap off the hands while the same may not be contributing effectively to the primary purpose. The users were happy with the dual button flush systems - which gives a choice to control the amount of water to be used for flushing. In fact, users were found to respond more positively to signage or short instructions rather than the appliance itself. In nutshell, the researchers arrived at the conclusion that ease of usage is the primary criteria and users shall respond better to signage/short instructions rather than automated controls which may eventually lead to more wastage. The focus of washroom designers should be to provide manual modes choices for the users to conserve water with the help of efficient, ergonomic & user-friendly appliances associated with appropriate instructions for saving water. Automated options often do not work. These small considerations while designing a washroom system can result in major commitments to the ecological balance supporting water conservation. These practices can be promoted by government, environmentalists, special interest groups as well as communities of practices to support the overall bigger cause. [Hills S. and Birks R. 2004] Conclusion: The government of a country provides Infrastructure Services like Transport, Water & Electricity to promote well being of the citizens and hence will be committed to subsidize the cost to the consumers in order to make them reachable to the most unprivileged in the society. However, it needs to be clearly communicated that Infrastructure Services resulting in consumption of natural resources (like water) that is of utmost environmental importance should not be treated as a product which can be availed as per personal choice without any commitment to the larger community & the environment. The consumers would have to be educated on the bigger picture such that they assume larger accountabilities of preservation of the natural resources thus helping in reducing wastage. This can be done by promoting products & services that help in waste reduction without compromising on the day to day lifestyle goals of the individuals. Moreover the services are allowed to be controlled by non-profit organizations such that the cause of environment protection is higher on agenda than the revenues from services. The design of end user utility services in large buildings & households should be done in such a way that manual avenues of saving natural resources (like water) should be provided along with signage or short instructions rather than controlling wastage through automatic means. Human behaviour would override the automatic systems more often thus resulting in more wastage than conservation. Reference List: Hills S. and Birks R. (2004). Washroom behaviour and users' perceptions of "novel" water-efficient appliances. Water Sciences and Technology: Water Supply 4 (3) pp. 13-23. Van Vliet B., Chappells H. and Shove, E. (2005). Linking Utilities and Users, Chapter 2 in Infrastructures of Consumption London, Earthscan, pp. 13-27. Read More