TOPIC: END PHASE, END USE CYCLES.
“The well being of today’s generation is not increased at the expense of future generations. Each generation should ensure it passes on to the next stock of assets no less than that which it inherited.”
(Green design)
FACT: plastic bags used up only a third of the energy of the paper bag and caused less pollution in its processing. The manufacture of 50.000 paper bags produced up to 230kg of sulphur dioxide emissions, compared with 17 for plastic. Paper bag production also resulted in greater carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions. Finally, plastic bags were more likely to be reused but the consumer than paper bags. (green design)
Plastic has such a poor environmental image because of the durableness of plastic litter. It floats in water, blows in the wind, and wraps itself around trees. This is where biodegradable plastics happened.
Recycled materials, recycling reduces waste (green design)
“Complete life form cradle to grave” construction and destruction.
e.g. BMW has a facility for disassembling old vehicles and reclaiming parts and materials for recycling.
Updating products without throwing them away.
Products that have reached the end of their useful life will contain components still useable. If the product has been properly designed with a concern to minimize environmental damage, the units should be removable and used for re manufacture and re use.
Products using re use components become inexpensive.
As purchasers become aware of the lifetime costs and components become more valuable, re manufacture and reuse will increase.
Once the prime use has ended, can the product have a useful second purpose?
Design for natural processes of like decomposition and nutrient cycles.
DESIGNER’S, make it a main point of my essay.
The life cycle and the theory
How designers input has changed over time
Taking the greening of their industry seriously without making huge and expensive changes.
(Green design)
Have a crucial role to play in achieving a more sustainable economic and social order. The complexity and importance of the role is highlighted by a second principle that those concerned about the environment set alongside that of sustainability. This is the need for a holistic approach to solutions.
It is no use greening a part of a process if the whole is still unnecessarily damaging.
Designers must ensure that by providing solutions to one set of environmental problems they are not creating or increasing others. (green design)
The concept is vital to designers, who often have a critical influence over every aspect of a products life, from the manufacture and use to repair and disposal and from the choice of materials and the efficiency with which energy is used to the longevity of the products life and the effects of its eventual disposal.
(Green design)
The designer can no longer develop a product in isolation from the effects that the materials and the production processes may have on the environment, or without thinking through the implications of eventual disposal.
The designer has more responsibility it is up to them to find out the facts and make sensible judgments having considered the overall benefits and different alternatives.
There first priority should be designing products or equipment that is more efficient or use alternative energy sources.
Spotting opportunities and foreseeing threats are vital in a strategic plan and are vital to designer’s role.
The designer should always look to see if the choice of energy source in inevitable or if a better alternative is available. Hydroelectric, taking energy from slow moving rivers, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal sources. (Green design)
· Bigger responsibility the big industries and popular usage, such as lighting. Product designers are vital because they can make changes that will affect the 15% of electricity that goes on lighting in the UK.
· Designer’s role has changed to make things that work sellable. Make them attractive. For example the most modern compact fluorescent use only a fifth of the electricity, give excellent color rendering, don’t flicker, repairable and save 4 times as much money. Yet these benefits are unknown to consumers because there a very few attractive looking ones.
· Need to fit to the new materials. Such a s recycled paper or recycled plastics. They have different qualities than the virgin material it requires special treatment form the designer. Using plastic the designer needs to devise products that can be made successfully from low-grade materials with a limited colour choice.
· Designers have a key role in minimizing the harm caused to the environment by a product which is no longer useful. Consideration for the products life. Avoid failure before the end.
· Design for ease of maintenance and repair. E.g. only needing a new fuse yet they are thrown away.
Use less materials, it conserves resources, reduces energy and pollution through manufacture and use and minimizes problems at disposal. (Green design)
Consider the needs of the re manufactures needs from the beginnings of a new product
A new understanding of the interaction of materials in the recycling process. Using materials to facilitate recycling. The design needs to compromise. For example the recycling industry would like products to be made of one kind of plastic and in a single colour.
Another example is rubbish bins. To help the public collect their waste in a way that best assists recycling. The need to identify, separate and store different wastes presents new issues for rubbish bin designers.
Positive role in promoting environmentally sympathetic behavior.
Creativity of designers is needed to persuade and help people minimize damage but improve quality of life.
Act in the best interest of the ecology and the environment. But have own ethical decisions to make.
Make the right design decisions and integrate them in just the right way, we may achieve a sustainable society in which nature and human culture coexist.
Try to make a theoretical argument about my evidence.
If designers do X then Y will happen.
Use evidence that I have
If all designers did these things world would be green and sparkly.Best case scenario we reduce waste, people gain more knowledge and change their ways, our fuel etc last longer, wont burn out as fast.
Could talk about it being a cycle. Where it can be broken and is made as a whole form individuals.
Find specific areas where CONCEPTS OF SUSTAINABILITY have changed and why.
Look at: Batteries, fridges, washing machines, cars, petrol, CFC filled aerosols, detergents, nappies, packaging, paper food packaging, computers, photocopiers, lighting.
“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” green design
Plastics have n advantage when used for purposes where weigh is critical to efficiency.
Plastics perform well on energy efficiency in general, despite their anti environment image among many of the green groups .
Plastics consume 4% of all crude oil used, with 13% going to petrol. The manufacture and processing of plastics is relatively energy efficient. (Green design)
Meet criteria of renewability, recyclability and non toxicity. Based on natural systems that are easy to understand and implement. Low impact chemical pathways, pollution prevention, and recycling in the computer industry, renewable energy systems and sustainable agricultural systems.
Seemingly unavoidable side effects of pollution, erosion, congestion and stress.
Backpacker theory: each object in their backpack is expertly designed to perform multiple functions. Nothing is wasted.
How can a service be supplied in a more elegant way to minimize unwanted side effects and optimize performance?
v Utility industry: traditionally thought of as a supplier of electricity, over the past decade has branched out to provide high efficiency lighting, windows, air conditioning, air-conditioning systems, etc. these demand side devices reduce energy consumption and avoid the high cost of. What they see is the absence of energy through efficiency Its not electricity that we want it is food preservation (the product to do its purpose). If we provide a larger percentage of the service with advanced refrigerator design rather than with electricity our food will still be cold and our bill much lower.
v It’s not mere style that determine the future of car design, it’s substantial qualities like aerodynamics, lightness, and strength of materials. New technologies such as hybrid engines. Cars that have more results without any sacrifice of the performance.
A change of concept is that we want our vehicle to be durable, easy to maintain, non toxic, efficient, easy to understand and operate, spacious, and comfortable. These qualities need to be cross indexed with qualities valuable to society such as ease of disassemble for recycling, aggregate fleet efficiency, and materials that don’t cause environmental damage during extraction and manufacture
Overall goal is total value. Quality improvement without more material and energy consumption. (Deep design)
v Soybean ink
75% of Americas large daily newspapers have switched from petroleum based ink to soybean ink. It has 3 to 15% VOC emissions, compared to petroleum which has 40%. It is cost effective, has fewer harmful emissions in the workplace, they also wanted biodegradability, low toxicity, dependable supply, the positive public reaction and waste reduction. It makes it easy for recycling, the colours are brighter and more in focus, and because it is non toxic the company didn’t have to pay a premium to haul hazardous waste ink. (Deep design)
Cost is not always the deciding factor.
v Waste water treatment
Water is a single cycle system, capable of purification if properly designed. Currently it is diverted to m
ajor waterways. We spend billions on concrete, excavation, chemicals and energy to channel a vital resource away from our communities, creating mountains of toxic sludge that we pay taxes to dispose of. We fail to value the nutrients of the water. The current system directs water to one place, the wrong place. Waste water should be treated locally so that it can be recycled in the community. The water can go back into the ground close where it originated, the nutrients can be used as fertilizer. Leaking sewage is also a problem. Instead of overflowing the treatment plant forcing the water into our rivers storm water should flow or be pumped into wetlands and swales where it can be filtered naturally by plant microorganisms.
These waste treating green house ecosystems don’t consume a lot of energy or chemicals, and don’t require a costly infrastructure, treatment is more efficient and less expensive. Overall. Developed by Susan Peterson and John Todd. “solar aquatics”
It functions like a marsh or wetland, solar aquatics converts nutrients into plants, fish, mollusks whit a small amount of residual sludge. Instead of acting generically to the challenge of waste water treatment, solar aquatics ask what does this particular waste stream need? Considering many variables.
1. Maintain awareness of impacts of our actions.
2. Focus on the future
3. Work with the cycles of sun, water, rain, rather than depleting finite resources.
4. Use the right tool, less waste = less clean up
5. Design to take maximum advantage of existing infrastructure.
(deep design)
v We help companies increase their competitive advantage, sales, and market share. We conduct Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for products. LCAs are required by U.S. and international law to support any "green", "environmentally preferable", or "sustainable" product communication. Such communications substantially increase product value, profits, sales, and market share.
| Cleaning |
Sustainable farming: using less power in machinery, recycled water, organic pesticides.
| |
http://www.greenshop.co.uk/
Real Goods started 30 years ago in 1978 and sold the world's first photovoltaic solar panel at retail, we never dreamed that solar would one day become mainstream, with the promise of millions of rooftops generating their own sustainable, clean, solar energy all over the world. mitigating global warming and providing energy efficient independence from fossil fuels for an age where oil is becoming increasingly expensive and scarce.
"Solar Living." It's a concept that encompasses 'sustainability,' 'regeneration,' 'green,' 'earth friendly,' and eco products' and all things environmental and energy smart. http://www.gaiam.com/realgoods/
v
industrial design Pollution, deforestation, species loss, and global warming are all side effects of the industries that provide consumers with the goods on the market today. Meanwhile, discerning designers and green-minded consumers are recognizing that while a product may look beautiful, it can't really become a classic if its manufacture endangers the environment or exploits the workers producing it. The Total Beauty of Sustainable Products reveals which companies are producing goods that achieve "total beauty" products that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but are environment- and worker-friendly as well. This unique guide examines everything from lipsticks to cars, and uses a simple scoring and icon system to assess their "sustainability" in today's marketplace. It also reveals the environmental implications of each stage of the design process.
The Total Beauty of Sustainable Products (Paperback)by Edwin Datschefski (Author)
