These barriers were once show stoppers in brownfield redevelopment generally, which in turn slowed the market for brownfield cleanup technologies to a glacial pace. However, in the past few years, financial obstacles to brownfield redevelopment and cleanup have been reduced significantly. This progress, in turn, increases demand for new and better approaches to cleanup. However, financial barriers still present significant obstacles to both technology development and technology adoption in any field. Businesses whose product line consists of new technology often go many years before turning any profit.
New technologies offer advantages in cost, time, or effectiveness.
Yet in the early stages of adoption, many cost-saving technologies are anything but. New technologies typically enter the market at prices much higher than their alternatives, or at prices that only a few users can afford. For other users, however, even much-improved effectiveness may be neutralized by high initial costs or bugs. Financial risks pose a significant barrier to the use of innovative technologies in brownfield assessment and cleanup. That risk stems partly from the technical uncertainties, and partly from time and liability.