The Hindu Business Line : Sustainable design: Trade-offs and benefits

All products have the potential to be designed with sustainability in mind. Although there may always be trade-offs when evaluating the details of sustainable designs, the long-term benefits are undeniable.

Ved Narayan

Sustainable design is a wholesome approach to building products and systems that are environmentally benign, socially equitable, and economically viable: Environmentally, such that the design offers obvious or measurable environmental benefits; socially, so that it fills the needs of everyone involved in its production, use and disposal or reuse; and, economically, so that the design is competitive in the marketplace.

Fuel-efficient cars, solar-heated buildings and clean-burning power plants, are shining examples of products that help balance consumer needs with good environmental stewardship. Yet, realistically, all products have the potential to be designed with sustainability in mind.

Implementing the practical aspects of sustainable design involves the following considerations:

Minimal material use: Can you change the wall thickness of a part from half an inch to three-eighths of an inch without compromising its functionality? (housing for a wide-screen TV)

Improved material choices: Is there a plastic that was not available ten years ago, to make this part easier to produce, recycle, or transport, at the same cost? (specify recyclable high-density polyethylene (HDPE) instead of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS))

Design for ease of disassembly: Can the product be designed to be taken apart, for repair or selective recycling? (use tabs to connect parts, rather than glue)

Product reuse or recycling at end of life: Can the product be designed in a modular fashion, so that one part can be replaced to upgrade its function? (rethink throwaway cell phones by selling a consumer-replaceable slide-in memory/function board)

Minimal energy consumption: Is there a different method or machine for building or operating the system that uses less energy to run? (redesign oxygen-flow mask so it uses lower-pressure, less expensive pump-system at the consumer end)

Manufacture without producing hazardous waste (the successful elimination of lead-based solder)

Use of clean technologies as a fundamental mindset (hybrid automotive engines)

But why is a new way of thinking so economically important? Because the demand for natural resources is growing faster than the available supply, driving up their costs, while simultaneously meeting new environmental directives. Fortunately, small design changes — based on optimised amounts of carefully chosen, modern materials, manufactured with minimal energy/resource usage — generate large ripple-effects in the overall sustainable life-cycle and offer the extra benefit of an improved competitive edge in the global market.

Consequently, companies that prioritise finding tangible, methodical ways to reduce material costs and improve processes will be leaders in maintaining profit margins.

Sustainable Goals, Directives and Tactics

Although Europe, with its more limited land and resources, leads the way in suggesting and enacting programmes aimed at sustainability, American manufacturers aiming for those markets are taking heed and comply.

A number of EU regulations already in place will radically impact the way products are designed and marketed, from cell phones to sports cars.

For example, the Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directives are both based on the principle of extended producer responsibility. WEEE requires that circuit boards must not only be manufactured through non-hazardous processes but also designed for disassembly, sorting and safe recycling/disposal.

And the ELV states that, starting January 2007, automobiles designated for the European market (25 EU states) must be designed with the same tasks in mind, with producers paying “all or a significant part” of the costs of treating negative/nil-value vehicles at treatment facilities.

Legally, these rules mean manufacturers must meet the costs of take-back and recycling of their own products. Economically and environmentally, those manufacturers who are smart about designing their products for ease of reclamation should actually reap financial benefits from doing so. Other directives aimed at reducing energy consumption during both manufacturing and usages are in the early stages of adoption.

A Lifecycle Approach to Product Design

Human nature believes it is easier to keep things as they are, even against persuasive arguments to the contrary. Often, new products merely reflect a progression of incremental changes based on legacy designs and procedures.

Challenge drives innovation; thus, every car manufacturer is now thinking differently about every piece of plastic that goes into its vehicles. They’re asking themselves:

What do the raw materials cost? How environmentally benign is the processing and handling? What energy does it take to use this material?

Is there a material that costs the same but is easier to recycle? Is there a new material that is so strong we can now use less of it to make an existing part with the same durability?

Different industry and government groups have developed numerical methods to evaluate the relative environmental impact of different material, processing, and transport choices. Universities too are starting up whole new departments that combine different disciplines for sustainable development.

Lifecycle Analysis and Planning

Looking at the big picture is a great way to identify specific product design tasks to lessen their contributions to the overall environmental impact.

Dozens of savvy, worldwide companies have already put years of efforts into incorporating some or all of these design elements in industries ranging from furniture and flooring to telecommunications and tools. For example:

IKEA has made a science of the design of its assemble-it-yourself furniture such that the packaging for most pieces comprises flat boxes that stack efficiently in delivery trucks for minimum trip/fuel expenses.

IBM has started implementing a formal, ISO-4001 environmental management system across all of the company’s global manufacturing and hardware development operations and all its business units more than ten years ago, building on previous efforts to ensure environmental considerations are a routine part of all business decisions.

Whirlpool has been named ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year seven times, and has been internationally recognised for its commitment to environmental packaging, production and design.

BMW’s recycling centre takes new car models and dismantles them, testing the effectiveness of the disassembly process, as some parts are designed for re-use and others for recycling. The group feeds information back to the design centre.

Specific Product Design Efforts

Apple Power Mac G4 Desktop Computer

A case study in 2000 of the Apple Power Mac G4 Desktop Computer described the company’s systematic approach to sustainable product design.

Here are just a few of the improvements achieved by making changes in the following design attributes:

Energy conservation — reduced thermal profile allows fans to turn off during sleep; sleep-mode power usage is less than 5 watts (just 17 per cent of the ENERGY STAR® 30-watt requirement).

Materials conservation — compared to previous products, the Mac G4 used 50 per cent fewer components on the universal motherboard; eliminated sliders and skids for attaching zip drives and CD ROMs to chassis.

Hazardous constituents — lithium battery contains no heavy metals; no chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) or other ozone-depleting compounds used in manufacture.

Design robustness — continued use of standard modular components across different products; also incorporated industry-standard components.

Ease of service, repair and upgradeability — all components accessible via swing-open enclosure side door; processor easily removable, replaceable and upgradeable; key components changeable in one minute.

Ease of disassembly/recycling — screw count reduced from eleven to two for mounting motherboard to chassis (reduces time and cost); metal chassis and polycarbonate plastic skin enclosure easily separated for recycling.

Lasting Benefits

Although there may always be tradeoffs when evaluating the details of sustainable designs, the long-term benefits (and we must look long term) are undeniable:

Reduced impact on the environment;

Use of clean technologies for everyday living, construction, and manufacturing;

Reduced water treatment costs;

Less waste going to landfills;

Soil, air and water pollution prevention;

Preservation of forests and biodiversity;

Reduced climate change;

Product reuse or recycling at end of life.

Software that enables sustainable design processes at all stages of a product’s life-cycle is a critical tool for successfully operating in today’s design environment.

(The author is Vice-President, Asia- Pacific, SolidWorks Corporation.)

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