Lecture6 Flashcards
What is the key idea of ‘Design for Sustainability’?
Key idea: The entire life cycle and supply chain of the product are considered, incorporating environmental, social, and socio-economic factors into product development.
Identify a systematic way!
What does the concept of ‘Design for Sustainability’ encompass?
- A system of connected services, products, and companies
- Considers impacts on the wider system, not just the product
- Includes company objectives, management processes, sustainability strategy, and stakeholder interests.
What are the five steps of ‘Design for Sustainability’?
- Impact assessment
- Idea generation and selection
- Concept development
- Evaluation
- Implementation and follow-up
What is the goal of Step 1: Impact assessment?
Goal: Assess the product’s life cycle using Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) to identify main impacts and resource consumption across environmental, (social, and economic indicators must be added)
What are the findings from the simplified LCA of a vacuum cleaner?
- indicators (GWP, ODP, HTP)
- Electricity consumption during use has the highest impact on global warming (=GWPotential)
- Raw materials have the highest impact on human toxicity
- Manufacturing contributes to ozone layer depletion (=ODPotential)
- HTP = human toxicity potential
- Transportation has minimal impact
- End-of-life disposal has a positive overall impact due to recycling.
What is the goal of Step 2: Idea generation and selection?
Goal: Define improvement options (strategies) based on areas of highest impact identified in the LCA.
What strategies can improve the sustainability footprint of vacuum cleaner? (x4)
First strategy: consider impacts identified in LCA
Obvious strategy is to decarbonize electricity BUT Outside of company
control
o Hence, companies should improve vacuum cleaner’s efficiency in
consumption
o Raw materials also very impacting
o Companies can reduce the amount of material required by minimizing waste
in manufacturing
Second strategy: extend lifetime of product
o Reduces number of required vacuum cleaners
o Reduces total sustainability footprint
Third strategy: business model change
o Allow for sharing of vacuum cleaners
o Reduces number needed
o Provides incentive for producer to improve vacuum cleaner and make it ready for recycling
Fourth strategy: system change
o Definition: System change refers to reducing the demand for the service
behind the product
o Does not deal with product but with the demand
o Users do not want a vacuum cleaner, rather a clean living space
o It is a more radical strategy
o Companies can deliver same service – a clean house – with a different, more
sustainable product (e.g. brooms)
What is the goal of Step 3: Concept development? (implementation)
Goal: Address feasibility uncertainties and develop a holistic approach considering supplier availability and implementation challenges.
Some solutions cannot be developed at same time.
What is the goal of Step 4: Evaluation?
(implementation)
Goal: Compare improvement potential with the costs incurred by the new product.
What is the goal of Step 5: Implementation and follow-up?
(implementation)
Goal: Integrate sustainability into prototype production, testing, manufacturing, and marketing.
Name 6 strategies to improve sustainability footprint
+ examples
1) Extending lifetime
Example: Offering repair services for smartphones or household appliances to increase their usability period instead of encouraging replacement.
2) Reducing number of products
Example: Implementing minimalism in product design, such as creating multi-functional tools (e.g., a tablet that functions as a laptop with an attachable keyboard).
3) Business model change
Example: Transitioning from selling products to offering services, such as leasing cars or office equipment instead of selling them outright (e.g., car-sharing services).
4) Replacing products to deliver same service
Example: Substituting physical books with e-books or replacing disposable plastic bags with reusable cloth bags.
5) System change
Example: Transitioning to renewable energy sources in production systems, such as using solar or wind power for manufacturing instead of fossil fuels.
6) Impact across LCA phases
Example: Reducing environmental impact by sourcing raw materials sustainably, optimizing energy usage during production, and promoting recycling at the end-of-life stage (e.g., using recycled aluminum in manufacturing instead of mining new resources).
Attention Step 2
Once various ideas are generated, you need to prioritize them not only concerning their
improvement potential for the sustainability footprint, but also concerning their feasibility
and potential combinations.
