american solar network
A. C. Rich is an entrepreneurial inventor who invented and patented a new form of solar water heater that, he claims, will significantly reduce home heating costs and is aesthetically pleasing.
This case asks students to evaluate Rich's design in terms of its cost, performance, marketability, and in terms of a set of ethical and environmental criteria set up by the "Notes on Moral Reasoning and Environmental Sustainability." In particular, they are asked to decide whether Rich ought to move to a state where people can get subsidies to use his system.
Even though Rich does move and get the subsidies, he still cannot create a market for his technology. Questions that students should consider: Does he fail because of flaws in his design? Flaws in his market plan? Or is he simply a victim of a system that ought to subsidize engineers who want to create ethical technologies?