The starting point for many green products is to improve an existing product by redesigning aspects of it to address environmental objectives. The iterative development of these products can be incremental or radical depending on how effectively new technologies can address the environmental objectives. When newer technologies are developed, the product can re-enter the development phase for further improvement.
The purpose of green design is to ensure a sustainable future for all.
Term: Green design is the designing of products to have a reduced environmental impact throughout its life.
Sustainable products provide social and economic benefits while protecting public health, welfare and the environment throughout their life cycle—from the extraction of raw materials to final disposal (cradle to the grave).
Design objectives for green products
Design objectives for green products fall into three categories, materials, energy and pollution/waste.
Materials
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- 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.
Energy
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- Increasing efficiency in the use of energy.
Pollution and waste
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- 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 and legislation)
Drivers for green design include consumer pressure and legislation, among others.
Consumer pressure
Term: 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
Term: 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.
Examples of legislation:
- One problem in relation to the recycling of plastics is knowing what the plastic actually is. Government legislation requires labelling plastic products with the plastic type can help overcome this issue.
- CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, are harmful greenhouse gases that erode the ozone layer, allowing UV rays to be absorbed and trapped into the Earth and causing global warming. CFCs could be found in Styrofoam, air conditioning coolants, and aerosol cans.
- In response (both consumer and government), McDonald chains in several MEDCs (more economically developed countries) were banned from using Styrofoam containers that contained CFCs and were forced to find alternatives to their old packaging. See news article
- Green/High-Performance Building Legislation in the States
Green legislation
Term: 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.
- Green legislation is effective as it involves incremental changes (refer to Topic 2.4).
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.
In developing the product brief, formulating the product design specification and choosing the material and manufacturing process, the potential environmental impact of the product is assessed with the specific objective of reducing this impact and minimising it over the longer term.
Strategies for green design (incremental and radical)
Most strategies for green design often involve a focus on one or two
environmental objectives when designing or re-designing products. For example bioplastics in place of traditional plastics like in the PlantBottle from Coca Cola.
There are many other examples of this, such as:
- To choose non-toxic, sustainable-produced or recycled materials which don’t need as much energy to process.
- To manufacture and produce products using less energy.
- To produce products that are long lasting and better functioning so there is less replacement and use of products.
- Design products using the concept of being able to recycle it when its use is done.
Incremental:
Term: Products which are improved and developed over time leading to new versions and generations.
- Are small changes to the design of the product over a period of time.
- This may include changes to:
- Materials
- use recycled or recyclable materials. Composite materials can be difficult, expensive or cant be recycled.
- material optimisation.
- limit the number of materials. A tetra pak has multiple layers of materials which, in the past, made it difficult to recycle.
- Manufacturing techniques – using clean technology such as end-of-pipe.
- Introduce design for disassembly.
- Materials
Term: 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.
- This may include
- making big and courageous whole changes to the design of a product or service.
- complete overhaul of the manufacturing process.
- using radical clean technology systems
Strategies for designing green products
Most strategies for green design involve focusing on one or two environmental objectives when designing or re-designing a product, for example, the use of recyclable materials.
- When evaluating product sustainability consider the following:
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- 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:
- Raw materials used:
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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.
Principles Of Environmental Law
The prevention principle
Term: The avoidance or minimization of producing waste in relation to the production, use and disposal of a product.
- Actions should be taken before damage occurs.
- This is usually based on a past catastrophe or prior scientific data/research.
The precautionary principle
Term: The anticipation of potential problems in relation to the environmental impact of the production, use and disposal of a product.
- Actions should be taken so that the risk of damage is avoided.
- There maybe an uncertainty (scientific evidence but perhaps not conclusive) about the risk of environmental harm.
- This allows protective measures to be taken without having to wait until the damage materialises.
- Fir example, we know that air pollution can cause respiratory illness but how much air pollution is acceptable.
International Mindedness:
The ability and will of different countries to enact environmental legislation varies greatly.
Theory of Knowledge:
Green issues are an area where experts sometimes disagree. On what basis might we decide between the judgments of experts if they disagree?
Something Extra …
Design Sustainable Products webpage