Considering User Attitude in Early Development of Environmentally Friendly Technology: A Case Study of NoMix Toilets

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• 作者：Judit Lienert ; Tove A. Larsen
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2006
• 出版时间：August 15, 2006
• 年：2006
• 卷：40
• 期：16
• 页码：4838 - 4844
• 全文大小：179K
• 年卷期：v.40,no.16(August 15, 2006)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

Urine source separation (NoMix technology) has beenproposed as a sustainable alternative to centralizedwastewater treatment systems. Radical changes necessitatean early inclusion of sociological expertise, thus offeringa real chance for transdisciplinary collaboration. The practicalaim of our survey is to find out how users accept anduse existing NoMix toilets and how this could be encouraged.We collected 1249 questionnaires from 2002 to 2004 inone Swiss school and one Swiss research institute. Thetechnological immaturity of NoMix toilets was noted by many.Nevertheless, acceptance was high: 72% liked the ideaand 86% would move into apartments with NoMix toilets.Moreover, most users found that NoMix toilets equalconventional toilets with respect to design (78%), hygiene(84%), and smell (78%). Like many other innovations, theNoMix technology only functions properly if it is usedadequately, which we demonstrate for water saving andsitting to urinate. Many users adopted this behavior, e.g.,72% sat. Because perception and use of NoMix toilets issubjective, it can be influenced with certain measures suchas good information and cleaning, or discussions withpeers. We discuss the importance of social psychologyfor understanding the factors that influence the acceptanceof environmentally friendly innovations.