Green Design
Green Design
- Focus: Making small changes to reduce environmental impact.
- How?:
- Switching to recyclable materials.
- Reducing energy use in manufacturing.
- Making products more durable.
- Key Features:
- Short timescale (quick to implement).
- Low risk (small adjustments).
- Incremental changes (step-by-step improvements).
A company switching from plastic to biodegradable packaging.
Green Design vs. Eco-Design
- Green design
- Making relatively small changes to reduce environmental impact.
- Focuses on re-engineering a product to reduce its environmental impact and increase sustainability.
- How?:
- Switching to recyclable materials.
- Reducing energy use in manufacturing.
- Making products more durable.
- Key Features:
- Short timescale (quick to implement).
- Low risk (small adjustments).
- Incremental changes (step-by-step improvement)
- Making relatively small changes to reduce environmental impact.
- Eco-design
- More complex approach that considers the entire lifecycle of a product and its impacts.
- Designing products as part of a larger system (sustainability across the entire product lifecycle)
- More complex approach that considers the entire lifecycle of a product and its impacts.
| Aspect | Green Design | Eco-Design |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | One or two environmental objectives | Entire lifecycle and system integration |
| Timescale | Short | Long |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Risk | Low | High |
Analogy: Patching vs. Rethinking the Whole System
- Green Design = Upgrading a car to be more fuel-efficient 🚗
- Example: Installing better tires for fuel savings or switching to LED headlights to use less energy.
- Analogy: Like replacing a leaky water bottle cap instead of buying a reusable bottle.
- Focus: Small, incremental improvements to reduce impact.
- Eco-Design = Redesigning transportation itself 🚆
- Example: Instead of improving a gasoline car, designing a fully electric car with recyclable materials.
- Analogy: Like switching from disposable bottles to a water filtration system that eliminates plastic use entirely.
- Focus: A system-wide rethink for long-term sustainability.
Bottom line
- Green Design = Tweaking what exists to be greener (low risk, short-term).
- Eco-Design = Reimagining how things work for sustainability (high risk, long-term).
2 Main Principles that Guide Designers
- Prevention principle: Avoid or minimize waste from the very beginning (designing to produce less waste)
- Precautionary principle: Think ahead and anticipate problems before they happen, then design to avoid them
Prevention Principle
- Analogy:
- Like using a refillable water bottle instead of buying plastic bottles—you prevent waste before it happens.
- Like designing a house with solar panels from the start instead of trying to make it eco-friendly later.
- Example:
- A company using biodegradable packaging instead of plastic from the start.
Precautionary Principle
- Analogy:
- Like wearing a seatbelt before an accident happens—you take precautions even if you’re not sure they’ll be needed.
- Like checking the weather before going hiking so you don’t get caught in the rain.
- Example:
- A manufacturer testing materials for toxicity before releasing a new product to make sure it’s safe for the environment.
Green Design: Objectives for Materials, Energy, Pollution & Waste
Materials
- Increase efficiency use by reducing quantity
- Select non-toxic and environmentally friendly materials
- Minimize the number of different materials used
- Label materials for easy recycling and disposal
Energy
- Reduce energy required for manufacturing or use
