JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

14, 2006, 1291-1298R e ine K a r l s so n , C o nr a d Lu t t ro pp

EcoDesign: What’s happening? An overview of the subject area of EcoDesign

and of the papers in this special issue

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Outline

1. Introduction2. The EcoDesign concept3. EcoProducts4. Sustainable product development5. EcoDesign in business management systems6. EcoDesign tools7. Education for sustainable development8. EcoDesign as a catalyst in the enhancement of the value of

resources9. EcoDesign, as seen from the driver’s seat10. Conclusions…”How Do We Make It Happen”?

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1. Introduction

EcoDesign – Integrates multifaceted aspects.Objective – To create sustainable solutions.Charter and Tischner have defined:“Sustainable solutions are products, services, hybrids or system changes that minimize negative and maximize positive sustainability impacts – economic, environmental, social and ethical – throughout and beyond the life-cycle of existing products or solutions, while fulfilling acceptable societal demands/needs.” EcoDesign is about Design in and for a sustainable development

context.

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1. Introduction

A doctoral course: EcoDesign: Product Design for SustainabilityThe ambition was to present leading research on ‘‘How to

make it happen’’, but evolving into “What’s happening?”This special issue contains papers about

How this can be achieved, and what the organizational prerequisites are, for

sustainable product development, education and economy.

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2. The EcoDesign concept

External– Environmental priorities can be introduced by means

of laws and rules.Internal–

For use as guidance and a method to develop smarter, more effective product system solutions.

Ecodesign methodology should Promote a more effective learning spiral, and Be interconnected to the development of scientifically related

knowledge.

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2. The EcoDesign concept

EcoDesign should be based in design and engineering integrated with environmental sciences.

Design has one foundation in engineering and is more focused upon function, aesthetics (美學 ), image, and brand name.

Design is synthesis (綜合 ) driven by prospective vision, guided by analysis, and governed by intuition.

Engineering is goal-oriented synthesis, guided by intuition, and governed by analysis.

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2. The EcoDesign concept

EcoDesign also ought to have a relation to concepts such as sustainable consumption, which highlights a need to reduce the volume of consumption and also to reduce the volume of ‘‘desire’’.

Maybe EcoDesign ought to promote development of sustainable kinds of desires.

EcoDesign aims to enable enhanced human satisfaction in concert with a positive role in a sustainable development.

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3. EcoProducts

A product can be non-material, a service or anything brings into being.

EcoDesign aims to combine business oriented design goals and environmental considerations.

Most forms: reduce environmental loads and increase product eco-efficiency.

EcoDesign situation varies between business areas and product categories.

It is important to develop specific guidelines and checklists per product typology, as tools to make eco-efficient design become a reality more rapidly and effectively.

Marketing of green products has so far had limited success.

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3. EcoProducts

The key design issue for a product is to make it attractive, otherwise it will not sell.

Companies providing products to a marketplace have to face this challenge—A large group of customers have environmental

performance as a low priority issue.EcoDesign can play a strategic role in a change towards

more refined products that can also contribute to the societal shift to sustainable consumption and sustainable production.

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4. Sustainable product development

Success things in common: organizational structure to facilitate translation of environmental information (DfE).

There are many aspects of sustainable product development, but the question that has received most interest is recycling and reuse.

Design considerations to enable : Recycling, Reuse and Remanufacturing.

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4. Sustainable product development

To reduce the quantities of waste and also reduce resource consumption is product take-back.

EcoDesign with a primary focus on take-back tends to increase the product’s end-of-life value.

Perceived to decrease the benefit to the producing company.

The obsolete products should be completely worthless for everybody except for the take-back organization, in order to profitably get a high percentage back.

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4. Sustainable product development

The objective of remanufacturing is to reuse considerable portions of a product in a number of successive product generations.

Each company is responsible for its own products (WEEE).Design for disassemblyClassifying various products into profiles with different

types of remanufacturing characteristics. That is,To integrate remanufacturing constraints throughout the

design process, mainly in the earliest phases.

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5. EcoDesign in business management systems

In current markets, companies are dependent on multifaceted interrelations in large complex business systems.

The product development processes, are dependent on multifaceted interrelations to a large number of both internal and external processes, suppliers, actors and stakeholders.

A growing number of companies are integrating environmental aspects as part of a sustainability management that also deals with social considerations, health and safety and ethics.

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5. EcoDesign in business management systems

Communication and cooperation are key issues to make EcoDesign happen.

Conventional business aspects such as customization, organization and commitment.

Supply chain management is a difficult subject with many factors to consider.

benefits : Improved corporate image; reduced liability risks;

improved business continuity; and also reduction of direct operational costs now becomes clearer.

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Paper Review

Kathleen Donnelly et al. “Eco-Design Implemented Through a Product-Based Environmental Management System.”

Describe a product-based environmental management system (PBEMS).

Business and environmental processes are utilized together in order to integrate product strategy with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

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Paper Review

Glenn Johansson and Thomas Magnusson, ‘‘Organizing for environmental considerations in complex product development projects: Implications from introducing a green sub-project.’’

Concentrates on the organizational platform for EcoDesign projects.

Show how the environmental issue can be organized as a sub-project in the project organization and thereby, raise the awareness and priority of environmental performance requirements.

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Paper Review

Johan Tingstro¨m et al. “Sustainability Management of Product Development Projects - The ABB Experience.”

The article presents and evaluates a positive product example of how sustainability considerations have been included.

Each project leader has the full responsibility to take sustainability actions in his project, and

the supporting organization assists with relevant tools and competence.

Such flexibility and trust may be a way to make EcoDesign happen.

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6. EcoDesign tools

Vicky Lofthouse, “Ecodesign tools for Designers: Defining the Requirements.”

New EcoDesign tool ‘Information/Inspiration’, claimed to be the first EcoDesign tool specifically aimed at the needs of industrial designers.

Combines a more traditionally informative view and a more innovatively oriented visualization and description of various EcoProducts and EcoSolutions.

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6. EcoDesign tools

Within the environmental management arena, many topical areas are influenced by or have influence upon the supply chain:

1. Life-cycle analysis 2. product stewardship 3. product take-back 4. industrial ecology 5. design for the environment All intertwine with the way organizations manage their supply

chains.Research is needed to assess what works, what doesn’t work

and how to improve greening of the chain thru new tools and theoretical advances.

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6. EcoDesign tools

The process of design, environmental considerations are often taken too early, or too late.

– Early, means that the product will be regarded as an ecological product and as a life-style marker for people with special interests.

– Life-style element, rather than function– SMART-car = fun-car, another car for longer trips– Late, means that the product will be attached with eco-

features like eco-labeling or using more ecologically sound materials etc.

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6. EcoDesign tools

A growing number of sound, green products have been designed and produced.

However, more expensive, get limited attentionIt is difficult to cover the costs for investments in changes

to greener products;Company incentives to do ‘‘green’’ design are vague.Most EcoDesign tools focus on the design phase that

starts from the product specification. Hardly any EcoDesign tools are suitable for the early

product development phase when specifications are established.

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6. EcoDesign tools

Generic design rules as base to make situation-specific guidelines and checklists, adapted for various design tasks, product types and persons.

Environmental information has to be activated within the development process.

Very often in EcoDesign one has to make selections between alternatives, which seem nearly equivalent.

There is hardly ever a single best answer. The tools that are reviewed can help the product design team

to sort through the options in a more effective manner.

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7. Education for sustainable development

The ability to really get started with EcoDesign is dependent on competence development both for EcoDesign practitioners and also for numerous other persons in the diverse areas within which the EcoDesigners’ must cooperate.

Promote a holistic and renewal oriented learning processLearning for and through EcoDesign is an example of

education for sustainable development.2005-2015 is The UN Decade of Education for SD

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8. EcoDesign as a catalyst in the enhancement of thevalue of resources

The values of resources have both material bases and immaterial bases.

Immaterial aspects are created by human transformationsMost explicit objective in EcoDesign is to reduce env.

Loads and reduce consumption of resourcesSo far, it is less clear if and/or how Eco-Design relates to

beautification of the environment and utility enhancing resource developments that improve the sustainability potential for human quality of life.

Design can take a clearer role as a driver for making more materials more useful.

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Attractive hardwood products

Design of attractive hardwood products could catalyze higher interests for customers and the land-owners.

Market-based mechanisms are better for biodiversity and sustainable forestry than the limited conservation approach to protect the scarce species.

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8. EcoDesign as a catalyst in the enhancement of thevalue of resources

One noted foundation in sustainable development is that there are needs for a process of change, transformation, renewal or quantum jumps.

We should not get caught up in recycling but get ahead to reusing and rethinking.

EcoDesign may also be interpreted as a tool for the mental training that is needed to develop a sufficient ability to rethink what we are doing.

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9. EcoDesign, as seen from the driver’s seat

Environmental knowledge has to be made available in a readily understandable form. Examining the various aspects that obstruct the

implementation suggesting guidelines aimed at making the environmental perspective readily understandable

Focusing on the relation between environmental information and the industrial designers perspective

Dialogues within product development processes Suggesting methods for integration of environmental

considerations in management systems Environmental economics, Considerable interest in internalization of externalities

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10. Conclusions…”How Do We Make It Happen”?

Main challenges: Design has to work in concert with market priorities; Life-style preferences and immaterial aspects are

fundamental; EcoEfficiency is not sufficient; we have to aim for

EcoEffective products; The present scope mainly focuses on reduction of

environmental loads; WHY we do this is more basic than HOW.