Environmental technologies – from misleading interpretations to an operational categorisation & definition

Environmental technology (ET) has become a catchphrase during the past decades. Nevertheless an operational definition is not yet plain, allowing manufacturers and engineers to add to their technologies the supplement “environmental” whenever they feel it is appropriate – even for marketing purposes only. Key institutes for the transfer of ET in Germany and Japan for example base their attempts on misleading interpretations about ET. But an analysis of existing literature allows the separation of ET into four categories, including Zero Impacts or Zero Emissions Technologies – the paradigm for ET. This moves towards a first attempt of an operational definition of ET.