P01 Introduction Flashcards
Products have an impact on the environment during their life-cycle-phases (cradle to grave).
Name these phases
- use of raw materials and natural resources
- manufacturing
- packaging
- transport
- disposal
- recycling
When are the environmental impacts of products and services determined?
More than 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined in the early design stage!
Who has the most potential to slow environmental Degradation?
Product Design Teams actually have more potential to slow environmental degradation than economists, politicians and environmentalist. Their power is catalytic.
What can Product Design Teams do?
Product Design Teams are considered to be problem solvers.
To develop ECO-friendly products and create sustainable design, they first need to understand the cause of it by understanding the life cycle of the product, service or process.
What is a resource?
A resource is a source or supply from which benefit is produced in an economic process.
Typically resources are materials, services, staff (human resources), or other assets that are transformed to produce benefit and in the process may be consumed or made unavailable.
How are resources divided?
Resources may be of material or immaterial origin and material resources may be of natural origin or man-made.
A resources of immaterial origin isfor example an idea (intellectual property), a design, a website, an hour of work in the design office and much more.
What are Man-made resources?
Man-made resources are items or substances that have value to human lives that do not occur in the natural world.
Examples of man-made resources include plastic, paper, soda, sheet metal, rubber and brass. These contrast with natural resources, such as water, crops, sunlight, crude oil, wood and gold.
What are natural resources?
From a human perspective a natural resource is anything obtained from the environment to satisfy human needs and wants.
Water Phosphorus Air
Oil Other Minerals CoalI
Soil Natural gas Timber
Which categories of natural resources exist?
•Renewable resources
Renewable resources can be replenished or reproduced relatively quickly. The highest rate at which a resource can be used sustainably is the sustainable yield.
•Non-renewable resources
Non-renewable resources are formed over very long geological periods. Minerals and fossils are included in this category.
What is the Earth Overshoot Day?
It is the date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year.
Mission Statement for Product Developers?
Product developers need to design new products in a way, that these products do not waste resources during all phases of their existence.
Name the best-known health Impacts!
- Ambient air Pollution
- Poor water Quality
- Insufficient sanitation
What is Eco-Design?
A systematic approach to design environmentally friendly sustainable products in an economical manner.
What is Design?
Designis the process by which the needs of the “internal” or “external” customer or of the marketplace are transformed into a product satisfying these needs.
Which phases of the product-lifecycle are considerd in Eco-Design?
ECO Design considers the entire life cycle of a product –from the extraction of raw materials to production, distribution and utilization, all the way to recycling and disposal.
