28 Priorities (Continued) ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN MEETING Problem. As a result of the widening gap between family incomes and the cost of housing, substantial segments of the population cannot afford to buy a home. A substantial body of research exists to support the contention that only a major shift toward capital-intensive processes can bring the costs of housing back to levels middle-income families can afford, and that these technological innovations could have other benefits relating to land acquisition patterns, finance costs, and operating and maintenance costs. However, many contend that the regulation of the building industry through antiquated, capricious, and voluminous building codes is discouraging the needed technological innovation that could help control costs. The traditional role of the Federal Government has been as guarantor of loans and provider of subsidies, leaving the construction of houses to private industry except in the cases of the very poor, the aged, and the military. The support of research within the Department of Housing and Urban Development has largely been targeted away from technology-related research. OTA Role. The proposed study would focus on those technologies most likely to contribute to improved future performance of the housing industry. These include the creation of new materials and composites; the use of minicomputers in housing design, engineering, and management; new rehabilitation technologies; advanced computational techniques for risk analysis and new design; and increasing knowledge of human responses to housing. Other related issues would include: • The need to reduce the cost of housing and all of its subsystems: land acquisition, land development, financing, and maintenance. • The need to reduce overall energy consumption and dependence on fossil fuels. • The need to remove unnecessary regulations that discourage innovation. • The need for new training programs to redress the continuing lack of skilled labor. 29 Priorities (Continued) OCEAN WASTE DISPOSAL Problem. Nobody really knows how waste affects the ocean. Some experts think current volumes of pollution are very dangerous. Other specialists disagree, claiming that the seas are robust and elastic enough to absorb large amounts of discharge. Given proper handling, the ocean may be the most reasonable respository for some types of wastes. But we still need to know which wastes the ocean could accommodate and in what amounts. Also, the least destructive disposal methods should be identified. Waste reaches the sea in many ways. For example, some cities and private companies barge material out into the Atlantic. Others pump waste to the sea via long outfall pipes. The ocean receives chemical pollution through natural runoff from farmlands. Sewage pumped into waterways finds its way into the ocean. Waste is also generated every time a channel is deepened. Spoil, from dredging operations, is the most voluminous of waste materials and probably the most benign. Industrial waste consists of anything left over after a manufacturing or agricultural process. Federal laws have substantially reduced the deliberate discharge of much of this, but accidents still occur. Municipal waste, probably the most important source of ocean pollution, is a mixture of raw city sewage, treated sewage and residual sludge. OTA Role. An OTA study of the use and abuse of the oceans through waste disposal would examine such questions as: • What are the gaps in present knowledge? How and when might those gaps be closed? • Are we running out of safe disposal sites? OTA would attempt an estimate of total "holding capacity" of both the ocean and land to gauge whether or when we might face a crisis. • Should any or all methods of ocean waste disposal be eliminated? We would assess the competing technologies and their relative costs. • What further action should Congress consider? OTA would identify areas that might benefit from further congressional review, analyze technologies most likely to relieve ocean pollution, and identify the 30. Priorities (Continued) TECHNOLOGY AND THE HANDICAPPED Problem. Within the last decade, several developments suggest major changes in national policy toward the handicapped and new life-enhancing roles for technology to play in implementing that policy. Understanding of the origins of handicaps and the scope of the situation is increasing. Improved standards of public health and data collection reveal problems whose scope we were unaware of. According to one estimate, 8 percent of school children are handicapped. Another estimate is that 2.5 percent of the U.S. population are severely disabled. With the steady increase in average lifespan, the impairments of aging will be a growing social concern. Developments in medicine, health, epidemiology, electronics, and materials are creating a new base of knowledge which should have a major effect in enhancing the quality of the lives of the handicapped by preventing, correcting, relieving, or stopping the worsening of their conditions. There is an extremely limited private sector market base for developing new technologies for the handicapped, and public institutions have been conspicuously unsuccessful in developing an effective, well-structured program for dealing with this constellation of social needs and major human opportunities. Yet this problem area offers a major opportunity for technology to lift a burden from a large sector of our society. The handicapped are increasingly active in civil and equal rights movements. Recent legislation, notably Public Law 94-142, is creating widesweeping, public obligations for the education of handicapped children. In addition, there are major issues involving transportation, health care delivery, architecture, design, housing—all areas of major governmental action and expenditures. These developments will undoubtedly generate a great demand for preventive, corrective, and rehabilitative social and health care measures. The movement towards bringing the handicapped into the mainstream of public education will ultimately lead to similar "mainstreaming" in occupational sectors. The movement of the handicapped into the work force will also be facilitated by the growth of telecommunications technology and the expansion of information industries. OTA Role. The proposed project would first determine the present and future scope of the demography of the handicapped, the nature and severity of their limitations, and the scientific and technological potential for preventing, alleviating, or correcting handicapping conditions. The study would then explore and assess the broad impacts on and implications for society of the technologies required to serve the handicapped-including the impacts on the life Analysis of Laws Governing Access Across Federal Management of Fuel and Nonfuel Minerals on Federal Land Conservation of Metals to Reduce Losses in the Materials Cycle ... Federal Coal Development Rights Oil Shale-A Case Study of Recovery of Minerals From Opportunities and Vulnerabilities of U.S. Dependence on Health and Life Sciences Cost-Effectiveness of Medical Technologies Pneumococcal Vaccine. ... Computer Technology and the Quality of Physician Services.... Health Data Systems ... Drugs and Chemicals in Livestock Feeding. Open Shelf-Life-Dating of Food... Pest Management Strategies Environmental Contaminants in Food Impacts of Applied Genetics..... Science, Information, and Transportation ... ... ... ... Disposal of Nuclear Waste ... Technology for Local Development 33 33 33 34 39 ... Technological Innovation and Health, Safety, and 45 32 Assessments in Progress (Continued) The National Laboratories Assessment... The Future Use and Characteristics of the Automobile Transportation System..... Impact of Advanced Air Transport Technology Impact of Advanced Group Rapid Transit Technology Approaches to Risk Assessment Measures of Quality of Life as a Basis for Assessing Non-Ionizing Radiation Hazards Page 45 45 45 46 46 47 47 47 48 48 49 |