Transcript for EO403 - Introduction to Design for the Environment.PDF

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X Introduction to Design for the Environment In this video, we're going to look at the concept of design for the environment. Design for the environment is an approach to sustainable product development. It provid...

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X Introduction to Design for the Environment In this video, we're going to look at the concept of design for the environment. Design for the environment is an approach to sustainable product development. It provides organisations with a very practical method to minimise the impact that a product would have in order to create a more sustainable society. Design for the environment works on the premise that every product has an environmental impact of some sort and that design for the environment can improve product quality and cost if used effectively. Deliberate decisions can be made about material use, efficiency, and waste avoidance. And this should always take place at the early stages of the product development process, not at the end. We find more often than not that it takes an interdisciplinary approach to design for the environment calling in experts and consultants to give us the best advice and guidance on particular aspects of the product development process. So let us break down design for the environment and look at its different stages from raw materials to manufacture to use to end of life. Products begin with a raw material, and it's about looking at how we can minimise the amount of materials that we use and also looking at materials that may have low environmental impacts. In terms of the manufacturing stage, what we're looking at is using fewer resources again but also looking at reducing the amount of waste that we create and that can we reuse some of the waste in other processes. We also want to minimise and reduce any distribution impact on the environment as well, CO2 emissions and so on. The third stage of design for the environment is when the user is interacting with the product. It's when the product is in use. And as a designer, we want to build into the design process, the possibility of reduced resources. Can we design a product which consumes less resources in use? Can we look at a product that is going to optimise functionality and, perhaps, extend life. And can we also look at a product to produce less pollution and to thereby have a minimal impact on the environment. And now we're going to look at the end of life of a product, something which has been considered more and more in today's current climate. What we are looking at is to reduce the impact of the product's disposal and also can we give the product or parts of the product another life or recycle it. There are a number of goals to design for the environment, the first one being reducing material impact. Can we design by making something more lightweight? Can we reduce the amount of material that we put into products? Can we remove any of the hazardous or toxic materials that might be required or at least reduce them? Can we look at renewable sources of energy for powering up products? Can we make parts recyclable and use them in other instances? Can we be more sustainable, Page 1/3 organic, and can we even look at biodegradable materials that will deteriorate over a period of shorter time. We want to be able to reduce the manufacturing impact. So in other words, we want to be able to produce low waste processes, processes which have minimal amounts of waste. We want to look for processes in the manufacturing stage that will require less energy. We want to remove, again, things like hazards and toxins and wherever possible in the manufacturing can we use fewer components, fewer parts, and so on. Distribution of products materials, and so on also have a big environmental impact. As designers, we should be thinking about how we might reduce this impact. Can we reduce the number of deliveries? Can we reduce the volume, the weight? Can we design the product such that it stacks more compactly and when being distributed? And how can we reduce the impact during use of the product? Can we design the products such that we make it more reliable that it reduces the amount of consumables that the product would use, for example, a coffee machine, a tea machine, and so on. Can we make the product last longer, and can we make it be repaired easily? And finally, looking at the end of life impact, can we use the user as a person to disassemble the product and dispose of it responsibly? Can we reduce the number of fasteners on it? Can we reduce the labelling, the packaging, and so on? In other words, can we reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill, and can we therefore reduce the cost? Can we also avoid the inclusion of any hazardous materials and look for more environmentally friendly substitutes? So the key thing about the design for environment process is that we set some agenda, that we list what our drivers might be, what our goals are in terms of product development. And we can include all stakeholders, the consumer, the customer, the manufacturer, and so on. And we need to identify upfront what the potential environmental impacts might be. Therefore, we can reduce some, or at least go some way to doing that. So the process for design for the environment includes selecting the design for environment guidelines that might apply to you, and we will look at those in a minute. You then want to apply the design for environment guidelines to the initial product design, and then you want to assess the environmental impact. This is then an opportunity to change the design and refine it and to reduce aspects or eliminate any environmental impact. It gives an opportunity for you to reflect on the design for environment processes, see what the results might be in order to achieve an acceptable environmental impact. There are numerous design for the environment guidelines, but not all will apply to product redesign at the same time. They fall neatly into a number of categories, materials, production, distribution, use, and recovery. I won't go through them all, but they're very useful to use as prompts when addressing environmental impact and trying to reduce the impact a product has on the environment. Looking at the design for the environment concepts and methods, there are several criticisms of them. Many researchers have argued that design for the environment and life cycle analysis can be over reductionist, too simple and over conventional. Thus some researchers have argued for some more imaginative thinking. Over the years, we have seen a rise in the number of design for the environment concepts that have developed, for example, cradle to cradle or biomimicry with products trying to imitate natural systems more. There are many texts and books written on this particular area designed for the environment, but one useful text is Design and the Environment-A Global Guide to Designing Greener Goods. This is an excellent overview for design for the environment and also focuses well on lifecycle analysis. Page 2/3 Page 3/3