There are many definitions for sustainable development. One of the most common definitions comes from the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (also called as the Brundtland Commission). In their report, they defined sustainable development as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
There are 3 key pillars that comprise sustainable development:
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals put forward by the United Nations (UN) in the year 2015. The goals cover a wide variety of challenges we face in the context of sustainable development. The UN has set targets towards each goal to be achieved by the year 2030.
Activities
Read the following report by the UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS) on the Earth’s carrying capacity:
Activities
What is environmentally sustainable product design (ESPD)?
Based on the definition of environmental sustainability, we can define ESPD as designing products that meet our needs without exhausting our natural resources and avoiding the damage to natural ecosystems. However, this is an “ideal scenario” and is very hard to practically implement. Therefore, most companies which design and produce products focus on “minimizing” the harmful impact of the product on our environment (sometimes termed as environmental impact). Strategies for this can include,
Activities
How would you measure the environmental impact of a product?
Take the example of a smartphone and list down the different impacts (harm) it can cause to our environment? How would you try and “minimize” these environmental impacts?
To measure and mitigate the environmental impact of a product, it is often necessary to map out its entire lifecycle. A product’s lifecycle usually begins with extraction of raw materials from the earth’s crust or by cultivating natural resources. Next, the material’s are transported to industries where they are refined and manufactured into products. The product’s are packaged and distributed to consumers and they are used until they reach their end-of-life. After it is useful life, the product could be reused, remanufactured/upgraded, recycled, incinerated to produce energy, or disposed to a landfill. Each step in this lifecycle may consume energy and or other materials. It is also possible for a particular lifecycle step to dominate the overall environmental impact of the product.
Activities
List environmental impacts that you think are significant in each lifecycle stage (Resource Extraction, Manufacturing, Transportation, Use, and End of Life) for a typical smartphone.
Compare your list with this map: https://kumu.io/majava/smart-mobile-phone-lifecycle#risk-catalogue/3
Video: Re-thinking Progress: The Circular Economy
Definition
A circular economy decouples economic production with consumption of finite natural resources and minimizes production of waste. There are three main principles in such a model:
Activity
Redesign a smartphone based on circular economy principles
Bonus video: Why your old phones collect in a junk drawer of sadness
Activity
Use the LiDS wheel for comparing the ‘old smartphone’ and your ‘new smartphone design’ (from the previous DfE task). Try and answer the following questions
Fill out each category to make a spider chart. Note that:
1 is poor performance and 5 is better performance.
Activity
Go to the following weblink: http://pilot.ecodesign.at/pilot/ONLINE/ENGLISH/INFO/SITEMAP.HTM and go through topics under the “LEARN” category (Type A – Type E). Under each type, you will find detailed information about DfE principles to be applied for products depending on the lifecycle stage with high environmental impact (i.e., raw material intensive or disposal intensive).
Based on the topics you have learned about, revisit the ‘smartphone redesign’ task and think about any additional design changes that you would like to make.
Activity
Go through these smartphone company websites to learn about what they are doing with regards to environmentally sustainable product design
APPLE:
https://www.apple.com/lae/environment/
SAMSUNG:
https://www.samsung.com/uk/aboutsamsung/sustainability/environment/eco-conscious-products/
LG:
http://www.lg.com/global/sustainability/environment
Summarize what you found on these links and how they compare to your ideas of redesigning the smartphone.