Embedded Files
Essential idea:
Essential idea:
Clean technology seeks to reduce waste/pollution from production processes through radical or incremental development of a production system.
Clean technology seeks to reduce waste/pollution from production processes through radical or incremental development of a production system.
Nature and Aims of Design
Nature and Aims of Design
Nature of design:
Nature of design:
Clean technology is found in a broad range of industries, including water, energy, manufacturing, advanced materials and transportation. As our Earth’s resources are slowly depleted, demand for energy worldwide should be on every designer’s mind when generating products, systems and services. The convergence of environmental, technological, economic and social factors will produce more energy-efficient technologies that will be less reliant on obsolete, polluting technologies. (1.11, 1.16, 2.10)
Aims:
Aims:
Aim 5: The legislation for reducing pollution often focuses on the output and, therefore, end-of-pipe technologies. By implementing ideas from the circular economy, pollution is negated and waste eliminated.
Guidance
Guidance
As DP Design Technology student you should:
As DP Design Technology student you should:
Understand that legislation can provide impetus for manufacturers to clean up manufacturing processes
Identify the Advantages and disadvantages of incremental and radical solutions
Understand that manufacturers react to legislation
How legislation can be monitoring and policing
Identify drivers for clean technology and understand how these influence manufacturers
Concepts and principles
Concepts and principles
Incremental and radical solutions
Incremental and radical solutions
Incremental Solutions
Incremental Solutions
Radical Solutions
Radical Solutions
Advantages for manufacturers
Able to exploit existing technologies; no need to develop new solutions
Minimal changes to manufacturing processes and technologies.
Respond to some aspects of legislation quickly and efficiently
Low risk
Improvement to competitiveness
Opportunity to innovate with associated benefits (patents, first to market, fewer competitors)
High potential for market growth
Innovative approaches can develop new technologies
Disadvantages for manufacturers
Small changes need to be made frequently in order to comply with new or evolving regulations.
Low potential for market growth as the marketplace is crowded with competitors offering similar solutions.
Research and development (R&D) can be costly and lengthy
High level of risk
Clean technology is a broad term that describes products and processes that reduce waste and use as little non-renewable materials and energy as possible. This can encompass a range of technologies and strategies, all with the goal of minimizing environmental impact.
Designer's perspective
Designer's perspective
Clean technology is focused on sustainable production. Concepts and strategies such as cradle-to-cradle, circular economy, life cycle analysis (LCA), lightweighting, use of recycled materials, etc, play a role in clean technology to meet the goal of sustainable, non-polluting production.
As the world's non-resources continue to be consumed, and the associated environmental, economic, and social pressures grow, designers can play an important role in designing for a sustainable future.
Drivers for cleaning up manufacturing
Drivers for cleaning up manufacturing
Manufacturers may choose to implement clean technology for a variety of reasons.
promoting positive impacts of the company's products or services.
ensuring neutral impact or minimizing negative impacts through conserving natural resources:
reducing pollution and use of energy
reducing wastage of energy and resources: installing solar panels to power manufacturing
Factors that influence how and why a company may implement clean technologies can include:
Social: Consumer groups, public pressure, and public perception could influence a company to implement clean technologies.
Economic: A company may identify financial benefits for using clean technologies such as lower material and energy costs. Government incentives and subsidies could make the switch more attractive. Conversely, taxes surcharges, and penalties might make not switching costly.
Political: Legislation or laws may require a company to make changes. If they don't make the switch they are breaking they law or unable to trade or sell their product.
International legislation and targets for reducing pollution and waste
International legislation and targets for reducing pollution and waste
Various international targets have been set for reducing pollution and waste.
For designers, it is important to understand that these are just another driver that would influence a company's decision to incorporate green/clean technologies into its manufacturing process.
Resources:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: Wide range of infographics and resources
End-of-pipe technologies
End-of-pipe technologies
End-of-pipe (EOP) technologies are focused on reducing or eliminating pollutants at the last step of the manufacturing phase.
EOP technologies do not eliminate the production of a harmful substance; rather, the goal is to prevent or minimize the release of the substance into the natural environment.
While EOP technologies do minimize environmental impact, from a sustainability point of view they may not be the best choice. Designers and manufacturers should focus on a more wholistic approach to design which eliminates the need for the production of hazardous or harmful substances in the first place. In this regard, cradle-to-cradle approaches to design are more sustainable.
From our perspective as socially and environmentally conscious designers, EOP technologies are really a last choice--our focus should be on engineering or designing out processes, materials, and waste that are harmful, benefits can be reached.
Comparison of End-Of-Pipe and Clean Manufacturing
Passive: the pollution is ignored
Reactive: pollution is still produced and released into the environment, just less.
Constructive: End-of-Pipe technologies are used to reduce the impact of the pollution; However, production methods have not changed and pollution is still produced and treated
Proactive: Production methods are changed to reduce waste and pollution before it is produced.
Resources:
Resources:
System level solutions
System level solutions
System level solutions refer to solutions that address the whole system, not just the components. These solutions are regulator in manner (taxes, tax benefits, legislation, etc.) that aim to reduce consumption of raw materials, decrease pollution and waste throughout the manufacturing process, and increase the use of sustainable energy, materials and practices.
System level solutions, like cradle-to-cradle design and circular economy solutions, are complex and require participation from a range of stakeholders, some of who may have opposing interests.
Resources:
Resources:
Two articles from the Harvard Business Review with interesting perspectives on "going green":
The Challenge of Going Green. Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, 1 Aug. 2014, hbr.org/1994/07/the-challenge-of-going-green.
Why Sustainability Is Now the Key Driver of Innovation. Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, 1 Aug. 2014,
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse