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).
Example
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
Analogy: Patching vs. Rethinking the Whole System
- Green Design = Upgrading a car to be more fuel-efficient đźš—
- 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.
Note
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
Analogy
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.
Analogy
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
- Switch to sustainable or renewable energy sources
Pollution and Waste
- Reduce negative impacts of manufacturing
- Consider end-of-life and design for sustainability
- Improve product durability
Green Design: Strategies
- We went through in the last subtopic the differences between incremental versus radical changes (backpack anyone?)
- Various Green Design strategies can be put into these two buckets across a variety of areas within the design process
Different areas to consider
- Materials
- Incremental: Switching from plastic to biodegradable or recycled materials.
- Radical: Creating fully compostable packaging or self-healing materials that repair themselves.
- Manufacturing Process
- Incremental: Using renewable energy (e.g., solar/wind) in factories.
- Radical: Switching from mass production to 3D printing, eliminating traditional manufacturing waste.
- Energy
- Incremental: Improving energy efficiency in production (e.g., using LED lights, better insulation).
- Radical: Developing net-zero energy factories or fully renewable-powered supply chains.
- Waste Reduction
- Incremental: Minimizing production waste by using standardized parts.
- Radical: Designing a circular economy model where all products are fully reusable or recyclable (e.g., Cradle-to-Cradle design).
- Product Engineering
- Incremental: Making products easier to repair (e.g., modular smartphones with replaceable batteries).
- Radical: Creating a completely new product that eliminates the need for repair (e.g., AI-driven self-repairing tech).
Note
- Designers choose a plan to follow when creating a product.
- They think about rules and limits that guide their design.
- They also check their product to see how it can be better for the environment. This includes:
- What materials are used and how much
- How much packaging is needed
- Whether harmful chemicals are used
- How much energy the product takes to make and use
- How the product is made and if the process is eco-friendly
- The waste and pollution caused during production, use, and disposal
Green Design is driven mostly from 2 factors
- Legislation (Laws)
- Consumer Pressure (what customers want)
Legislation (Laws) – When the Government Steps In
- Governments make rules to ensure companies follow environmentally friendly practices.
- Think of it like a teacher setting rules in class—students have to follow them, or there are consequences.
Example
Examples of Legislation
- Car Emission Limits
- Imagine your school bus releasing black smoke into the air. The government doesn’t allow that, so car makers install special filters (catalytic converters) to reduce pollution.
- Banning Harmful Chemicals (CFCs)
- Long ago, people used spray cans and refrigerators with chemicals called CFCs, which hurt the Earth's ozone layer. Imagine spraying sunscreen that burns a hole in your umbrella—not good!
- Governments banned CFCs, so companies had to find safer ingredients.
- Green Building Rules
- Houses and buildings use a lot of energy.
- Governments encourage energy-efficient homes, like using solar panels instead of only using electricity from power plants.
- Think of it like a school rewarding students for recycling—it motivates people to be greener!
- Plastic Recycling Labels
- Ever notice the triangle with a number on plastic bottles? Governments require this so plastics can be sorted properly for recycling.
- Without labels, recycling different types of plastic is like mixing different puzzle pieces together—it won’t work!
Consumer Pressure – When People Demand Change
- People can also push companies to be more eco-friendly
- Think of it like students choosing which cafeteria food to buy—if everyone avoids unhealthy snacks, the school may stop selling them.
Example
Examples of How Consumers Influence Companies
- Voting with Their Wallets
- If shoppers stop buying products with too much plastic, companies will switch to less wasteful packaging to keep customers happy.
- Avoiding Polluters
- If a clothing brand pollutes rivers, people may stop buying from them. It’s like students avoiding a cafeteria meal they heard was expired—bad reputation means fewer buyers!
- Preferring Responsible Companies:
- A study found 91% of people expect businesses to care about the environment, not just profits. So, companies try to be greener to attract customers.
- Boycotts Work
- 90% of consumers would stop buying from a company if they found out it was harming the planet. Imagine if students refused to buy plastic-wrapped snacks—the school might switch to paper packaging instead.
Case study
(You don't need to memorize this, but check it out to understand this stuff better. There's loads of memes floating around about this lol)
The Bottle Cap Rule in the EU – Simple Explanation
- In the European Union (EU), there’s a new rule about bottle caps—they must stay attached to plastic bottles instead of being separate.
- Why is this happening?
- Think of it like this:
- Imagine you're drinking juice, and you take off the cap. Instead of throwing it in the trash, you accidentally drop it on the ground.
- This happens millions of times across the world, and plastic caps end up littering streets, beaches, and oceans.
- The EU made a law that bottle caps must stay connected to the bottle to reduce plastic waste.
- This way:
- Fewer caps get lost or thrown away.
- More caps get recycled with the bottle instead of being littered.
- Think of it like this:
Self Review
Self review
- What are the key differences between green design and eco-design?
- How do incremental and radical changes differ in terms of risk and impact?
- Why is consumer pressure a significant driver for green design?
