DesignBox is Envirowise’s new online designers's discussion board about eco-design, and where you can meet new contacts and ask the experts for tips on gaining cost savings through efficient design and improving your environmental impact.

Every first Thursday of the month, Envirowise will be inviting industry experts to join their chat sessions where you can ask your specific questions on sustainable design. The first chat session was held last month with Mark Shayler who has 15 years experience in resource efficiency and eco-design. He has been an Envirowise advisor for 4 years and prior to that sat on the Envirowise management committee for 6 years. Here is an excerpt of that session, which I have also participated in:

Question
I am working as designer and interested in eco-design, however when I speak to my manager about this he says that we can't afford to do anything like this at the moment. Is there anything I can say to him to get him bought into the idea of eco-design?
Some clients think that eco-design cost them more money. Is it really true? How can I convince my clients to apply eco-design as much as possible?
Answer
The key thing about eco-design is that it pays back faster than many other environmental investments. We have numerous case studies to help you. Working with a small manufacturer of handheld monitoring equipment we achieved savings of over £150,000 for an in vestment of £2000. Working with larger companies the savings are in the £millions.
Visit www.envirowise.gov.uk to have a look at our Envirowise case studies and publications.

Question
How does a designer influence both a company ethos and a business model? It is relatively easy to give examples, but it is the 'manager' who says yes, but often it won’t work for us.
Answer
Clearly many companies are currently solely focused on the bottomline. So it’s about appealing to these financial demands first. The design stage is the most influential stage of the production process and hence if it is invested in effectively all subsequent costs can be reduced. One of the key objectives it to aim to become more efficient, if you can use less materials and energy then you win on many levels.
Response
I think that once you get to the design stage you've lost most of the fundamental changes that you can make. Understanding your business model, and importantly end of life considerations, are where the big changes can be made.
Response
Changing a business model is a significant strategic consideration and you need to get significant managerial buy-in. It can be achieved, but can take a lot of persuasion. Increasingly I find I am working on culture change as much as the eco-design of a specific product. There is an urgent need to head towards carbon descent within the next 500 days, this requires new thinking.

Question
I am working on a product made out of ABS and PC, are there any good eco-friendly alternatives for those materials with similar price and material characteristics? Or are there any resources for finding alternatives?
Answer
If looking for a great surface finish, ABS gives this. Alternatives to PC could be PET or PP. I would go for PET but it depends on the product and its use.
Recycled materials: better than regrind you can source recycled HIPS, PC, PC, ABS, and PP from UK and European Weee Waste Streams.

Question
What is an eco-friendly material?
Answer
Most companies large and small are taking on eco-design principles at many levels, there is an interesting book, Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough. He has published information on materials and their ability to be recycled or upcycled, also try his website.
The key element is to think about your product and identify the largest impact. Start by designing to reduce this. In the case of a book - maybe PP is a good choice as it adds longevity.
For the complete Q&A's, please register at DesignBox and you will find the thread in the forums.

The next chat session is this week on Thursday 2 July 2009 at 10am (UK time) and will be held with Leigh Holloway who graduated in Mechanical Engineering and later gained a PhD in Cleaner Design. Between 1999 and 2001 he was project manager of the UK’s first cleaner design initiative aimed specifically at SMEs and worked with many small companies in sectors ranging from construction to waste management.

Registration is free and required to join the chat session. I would recommend you to join, especially if you are currently working on a project in which you have to consider about sustainability or if you want to extend your knowledge in eco-design. Visit DesignBox at http://designbox.envirowise.gov.u

---

We really appreciate it if you share this with others:

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment Preview