Rugby School Thailand Design & Technology Senior School

5 Sustainable design

What is sustainable design?

The responsibilities of designers and manufacturers in ensuring products and packaging are made from sustainable materials and components.

Introduction

Designers have an ever-increasing responsibility to design products that have minimal environmental impact.

They not only have to consider how to conserve materials, but also how to conserve energy during product manufacture.

Sustainable development has three strands:

Designs of the future must consider all three strands when designing and manufacturing products.

The three strands are interlinked and involve decisions about material choice (cost, use, end of product life recycling), processing implications (energy use, pollution), and manufacturing (energy use and working conditions).

The 3 strands are:

Economic

2. social

3. Environmental

The circular economy

There's a world of opportunity to re-think and re-design the way we make things in a circular economy. 'Re-Thinking Progress' explores how through a change in perspective we can re-design the way our economy works - designing products that can be 'made to be made again' and powering the system with renewable energy . It questions whether with creativity and innovation we can build a restorative economy.

The starting point for many environmental decisions is the Six R’s of sustainability from Unit 1.11.

reduce

Cut down the amount of material and energy used to make and package the product.Example: use a refillable water bottle rather than single use.

reuse

At the end of the product’s life, reuse the product for the same or another purpose.Example: refilling a jar of coffee from a refill pack.

recycle

Convert waste products into new materials for new products. Example: used aluminium cans recycled into material to make new products

repair

When a product or component fails, fix it rather than throwing it away. Example:repairing a puncture on a bike tyre rather than throwing it away.

refuse

Exercise consumer choice as to whether to buy a product or not. Example: only buying A+++ rated appliances.

rethink

Rethink the way products are designed and manufactured so that they carry out the same function, but more efficiently.

Spotlight on Recycling. -

Recycling is a heavily overused term and is often misunderstood. When we look in more detail, recycling works in one of three ways:

primary recycling

the use of functioning second-hand products such as those found in charity shops. This could also be considered reuse.

secondary recycling

at the end of a products life, the materials are recycled to make different products. Boat sails can be recycled to make shopping bags and polymer bottles made into plant pots. Could also be considered rethink or the trendy term upcycling.

tertiary recycling

this is completely breaking down a product and reformulating via a chemical process. Vending machine cups can be turned into pencils and plastic bottles can be shred and spun into fibres to make fleece textile clothing.

Can you think of examples of products that exemplify each of the approaches of the 6 R's?

Can you think of products that could be improved by taking a more environmental approach to their design?

Using sustainable materials and components

The use of sustainable materials and components is an essential objective for any designer. The use of finite resources such as oil and metal ores cannot continue because there are not enough resources to meet future demand.

Trees also need to be replanted to help clean CO2 from the air and provide Oxygen as well as other benefits to the environment.

What other benefits do you think these may be?

Many companies will consider their carbon footprint and the subsequent impact on the environment.

The carbon footprint is measured as the total amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of the company.

Primary carbon footprint

measures direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels, including transport. Around 2.3kg of carbon is emitted for every one litre of petrol used.

Secondary carbon footprint

measures indirect CO2 from the products we use. The production of five polymer bags produces about 1kg of CO2.

Green design - example

Eco design improvements to a phone

The following is just a small list of improvements that can be made to mobile phones in order to reduce their impact on the environment;

use recycled materials for the casing
use recycled copper for the components
refuse to use aluminium in the casing as its expensive to produce
make the phone smaller to reduce materials needed
reduce the number of components needed (touch screens do this)

rethink energy and provide human or solar power to charge - solar glass technology
use recycled materials in the packaging
chargers that switch off when the battery is charged to reduce consumption
rethink classic styling so the phone does not ‘date’ too quickly
downloadable upgrades to ensure new features.
Refuse to upgrade the handset
rethink interchangeable casings to keep the phone attractive to the consumer
make the phone repairable
optimise the phone for ‘end of life’ so it can be dismantled easily for recycling.

Green Design Products

Examples of green design products include

clothing made from organically grown and naturally coloured cotton,
coffee machines with reusable filters,
sandals made from recycled denim,
folding bicycles to encourage commuters to conserve fuel,
condensing gas boilers (around 90% efficient),
pencils made from recycled cups,
biodegradable carrier bags.

The list is endless....

Manufacturers, retailers and consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with the impact that the products they make or use have on the environment.

For the manufacturer, laws may govern these decisions

For the consumer it is often an increasing awareness of the damage to the environment and a desire to improve the world.

Designers ultimately create the products that will be manufactured, and consumers can only buy products that are available.

There is a great deal of responsibility when designing to ensure products will meet current standards, appeal to consumers and help the environment while also being functional and attractive.

Green Design is an approach to design that will reduce the impact on the environment. It focuses on one or two areas such as conserving materials through recycling or the energy when using those products.
Ecodesign is an approach that goes further than green design. It seeks to reduce the impact of a product throughout its whole life cycle from material extraction to final disposal. See also Life Cycle Assessment.
Sustainable Design is where the main function of a product is analysed and a more environmentally sound method of performing the same function is sought. This may also have wider socio-economic benefits such as safety for workers producing the product, fair trade schemes etc.
Sustainable Innovation is a radical approach that goes beyond sustainable design to look for new ways of doing things using a mix of products and services. For example, instead of using a washing machine, a community based laundry service could be implemented at the same time as recycling your waste. Biodiesel powered vehicles would collect, then possibly return your clothes along with your weekly groceries.

Sustainable design

We are currently consuming the earths resources at an alarming rate. Oil and metal ores are slowly running out especially as the former is also a key source of fuel. Only timber can be replaced but not quickly enough to meet the current rate of consumption. Converting raw materials, manufacturing products then using them consumes a huge amount of energy. This in turn creates CO2 emissions which add to pollution and global warming. The Earth’s climate and weather is being affected as a result. Additionally, consumer waste is being sent to landfill which causes further environmental hazards.

Many consumers are already recycling packaging waste and making responsible decisions about the products they buy, and the energy consumed in using those products as well as their impact on the environment. It is the responsibility of designers and manufacturers to develop products that use materials responsibly and give the consumer the opportunity to contribute to helping the environment by using fewer materials and components, consume less energy or recover and reuse materials after disposal.

• Factors that are considered when designing products to have minimum impact on the environment:

– raw material extraction

– energy consumption

– ease of repair and maintenance

– disposal at the end of life.

Conservation of energy

Alternative energy sources (renewable)

the major advantage of renewable energy is that is it sustainable and should never run out.
renewable energy facilitates less maintenance than traditional generators
fuel derived form natural resources reduces operational costs
little or no waste, such as CO2, is produced meaning minimal environment impact.
social and economic benefits; a renewable energy project can bring benefits through
employments and use of local services to an area.

Disadvantages

it can be difficult to generate large quantities of electricity
renewable energy relies on the weather
renewable energy cannot be stored in large quantities for later use
renewable energy is currently more expensive than traditional fossil fuels

Product miles

Product miles are the total lifetime distance that a product is transported from its place of production to the place of use by the consumer. It is a concept widely used in the food industry (food miles) where there is a market push by consumers for locally sourced and produced foods.

A typical product might travel as follows:

raw material source to processing plant
processed material to manufacturing facility
manufacturing facility to distribution hub
distribution hub to retail outlet
retail outlet to user’s home
from home to recycling centre

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