Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost
Sustaining
innovation
A
B
C
1
New sustaining
technology
Future technology
(disrupting innovation)
Current existing
technology
C
C
2
P
1
P
2
Performance
Figure 24.1
The e
cient frontier for current and future technology contrasting sustaining
and disrupting innovation
rise to new performance-cost relationships as depicted in the second curve, shifted to the
right in Figure 24. 1. Third, a power system based on a di
erent concept of innovation (a
disrupting innovation) could be developed, represented by the 'future technology' curve,
depicted by the right-most curve. At some point, fuel-e
ff
cient engines can be developed
that provide the best old-engine e
ciency, but at a lower cost C
2
represented by point 'C' -
or better e
ciency can be achieved at the same cost C
1
,represented by point 'B'.
Anywhere in between on the future technology curve represents a 'win-win' situation over
the sustaining innovations on the dashed line.
Regulation's role in benefiting the economy and the environment
The ideology of
laissez-faire
suggests that government regulation is mostly unhelpful or
ine
cient, but there is increasingly persuasive evidence that regulation - properly
designed - is not only necessary to achieve sustainable economies; it can actually stimu-
late innovation leading to improved competitiveness, employment and to an improved
environment. Early MIT research stimulated more focused research into the e
ects of
government regulation in the USA. It was found in a number of MIT studies beginning
in 1979 that regulation could stimulate signi
ff
fi
cant fundamental changes in product and
process technology which bene
ted the industrial innovator, as well as improving
health, safety and the environment, provided the regulations were stringent, focused
and properly structured (Ashford, 1976; 2000; Ashford et al., 1985). This empirical
work was conducted 15 years earlier than the emergence of the so-called Porter hypoth-
esis, which argued that
fi
fi
rms at the cutting edge of
developing and implementing
