2.5

Green Design

Green Design

Green Design

The designing of products to have a reduced environmental impact throughout its life.

Design objectives for green products

Materials, Energy and Pollution/Waste.

Design objectives for green products

• Materials

• Ensuring that the packaging and instructions encourage efficient and environmentally friendly use (this can fall under pollution category as well) materials.

  • Minimizing the number of different materials used in a product.

  • Labelling of materials so they can be identified for recycling.

  • Increasing efficiency in the use of materials and resources.

Design objectives for green products

• Energy

• Increasing efficiency in utilizing energy.

Design objectives for green products

• Pollution and waste

• Ensuring that the planned life of the product is most appropriate in environmental terms and that the product functions efficiently for its full life.

• Analysing and minimizing potential safety hazards (not sure where this goes).

• Reducing to a minimum any long-term harm caused by use of the product.

• Reducing or negating environmental damage or pollution from the  materials selected.

• Reducing or negating noise or smell pollution.

• Consider the effects of the disposal of the end of life of the product.

Drivers for green design

Consumer pressure

Legislation

Consumer pressure

Collections of individuals who hold a similar viewpoint on a particular topic, for example the environment, who take action to promote positive change to meet their goals.

• The public have become aware of environmental issues through media focus on issues such as the destructive effect of chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone layer; acid rain in Northern European forests and the nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

• Increased public awareness has put pressure on corporations and governments through voting and purchasing power.

• The consumer will seek out products that are energy efficient which will be cheaper to run this providing savings for the consumer.

Legislation

Laws considered collectively to address a certain topic.

• Environmental legislation has encouraged the design of greener products that tackle specific environmental issues, for example, eliminating the use of certain materials or energy efficiency.

• Raised awareness of environmental issues is increasing legislation in many countries. This can lead to financial penalties on companies who do not demonstrate environmental responsibility. Many people will not behave responsibly unless forced to do so, therefore, legislation forces the issue.

Green legislation

Are laws and regulations that are based on conservation and sustainability principles, followed by designers and manufacturers when creating green products.

Green legislation encourages incremental rather than radical changes:

• for example, legislation requiring car manufacturers to install catalytic converters for cars (end-of-pipe technology) which tackles the environmental issue of car emissions.

The Designer’s Role

The environmental impact of the production, use and disposal of a product can be modified by the designer through careful consideration at the design stage.

List two strategies for green design

• Incremental

• Radical

Incremental Designing

Products which are improved and developed over time leading to new versions and generations.

Radical Designing

Where a completely new product is devised by going back to the roots of a problem and thinking about a solution in a different way.

List of Strategies for Designing green products

• When evaluating product sustainability, consider the following:

• Raw materials used

  • dematerialization.

  • low environmental impact materials (eg bio plastics, recycled paper, etc).

  • use of recycled or recyclable materials.

• Packaging:

  • same as above on ‘raw materials used’.

• Reduce incorporation of toxic materials or VoCs:

• End-of-life disposal issues:

  • make it last – reduce obsolescence

  • enhance recyclability – design for disassembly

• Energy in production and use (see next point):

  • Production methods:

    • Clean production.

    • energy efficiency.

  • Atmospheric pollutants such as VoC’s:

Timescale to implement green design

• A reasonable timescale, generally a short 5 years, is implemented for incremental much longer for radical.

• This allows for manufacturers to plan and develop design objectives

• It is more cost-effective.

The prevention principle

The avoidance or minimization of producing waste in relation to the production, use and disposal of a product.

The precautionary principle

The anticipation of potential problems in relation to the environmental impact of the production, use and disposal of a product.