Transcript for EO403 - What is Sustainable Development.PDF

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X What is Sustainable Development In this video, we will look at what is sustainable development. A common definition for sustainable development comes from the Brundtland Report. It is development that meets the...

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X What is Sustainable Development In this video, we will look at what is sustainable development. A common definition for sustainable development comes from the Brundtland Report. It is development that meets the needs of the present population without compromising any ability of future generations to meet the needs that they would have. Today's sustainable development movement is much broader and far reaching than this. It considers aspects such as the social, the economical, and the environmental implications of products. It goes further than this. And it is the idea that any development should be a balance of all these three areas. These three issues-social, economical, and environmental issues-are not isolated. Rather, they are interdependent on one another. So environmental issues are highly dependent on social and economic issues. And these are three key drivers for sustainability. So what are the controversies that surround sustainable development? Is it about saving the earth and saving our planet? Or are environmental impacts a recent phenomenon? For example, climate change-since the beginning of the 20th century, around 1900, temperatures across the globe have been rising rapidly. The 11 warmest years have all been since 1980s. And 1995 was the warmest year recorded in history. So over the last 5,000 years, if we look at the recordings of global temperature, the temperature has risen roughly between 4 and 7 degrees centigrade. But if we look at the past century alone, the temperature has risen by 0.7 degrees Celsius. Perhaps we could look at environmental impacts as an older phenomenon, as well as a more recent one. Environmental impact has been happening from as early as 6,000 BC-for example, the removal of the ancient forests over 8,000 years ago. And what effect has cultural transitions had with the emergence of the developed industrial society. In the 1700s, we had the Enlightenment with reason, science, discovery, and so on. And in the mid 1700s to 1830s, we're looking at the Industrial Revolution with technology, economic growth, work, power, energy, production of steam, production of pollutants, et cetera. So what effect would these have had on any development? Perhaps the most important document written about the economics of climate change was The Stern Review back in 2006. This document notes that climate change is perhaps the most far-reaching and greatest challenge that we are about to face. It's the biggest economic failure that we could be facing. Sustainability is now a primary long-term macroeconomic issue Page 1/2 within the UK. The report also recommended that taxation and legislation come into place in order to help curb and the issues surrounding sustainable development. So taking a sustainable approach, how would we go about this? Well, firstly, when companies are developing a new product, they consider a reduction of time, reduction of cost. And they would consider improving quality and functionality of the product. Now, a secondary priority is about improving ecology. So we are now looking at a model which includes reducing time, reducing cost, improving quality of product development, but also improving the ecology. And this has been brought about both by the public, general population, and also politicians. Sustainable development can be a fundamental component of any company's research and development strategy. And very often, companies nowadays will be asked for requests for information relating to environmental and social aspects of product development in terms of how a product or a company might be addressing global warming, climate change, carbon footprint, and so on. New legislation has also been brought in, for example, the waste of electronic and electrical equipment-also the restriction of hazardous substances and how these are disposed of. And finally, taking a sustainable approach can often identify big cost savings for companies. So there are many reasons to take a sustainable approach to product development. One such company, Dyson, has a very sustainable approach to the way they manage product development. They have a very strong brand image. They work to the WEEE directive. They have introduced a reduction in the amount of packaging they have to distribute their products. They promote electronic recycling in numerous ways by reusing parts. They also have in some countries a take-back scheme. For example, in Australia, you can take back your old vacuum cleaner, and you can receive cash. In the UK, they have a free pick-up disposal system, where some companies charge to have white goods taken away. They will offer the service for free. So Dyson is very much taking a sustainable approach to how they manage the whole of the lifecycle process of the development of any of their new products. Now, think about how you can take a more sustainable approach to any development of products. Page 2/2