Chapter 8

Sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic and social
dimensions.

Sustainable Development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.

Kyoto Protocol

An international treaty that sets obligatory regulations on the industrial countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases.

Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992)

The use of international and national laws to promote sustainable development

The UN sought to help Governments rethink economic development and find ways to halt the destruction of
irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet. The summit has produced results, making eco-efficiency a
guiding principle for business and governments.

Strategies for sustainability

1-Triple Bottom Line Sustainability

An expanded scale of values that measuring organizational success: economic, environmental and social.

2-Decoupling: refers to disconnecting two trends so that one no longer depends on the other. Through the act of
decoupling (using resources more productively and redesigning production systems), it is technically possible to deliver
the same or equivalent goods and services with lower environmental impact while maintaining social and equity
benefits.

Sustainability Reporting

A company report that focusses on four aspects of performance: Economic; Environmental; Social; and Governance.

Benefits

Benefits for manufacturers:

 Builds trust Transparency about environmental impact can help to reduce reputational risks, open up dialogue
with stakeholders such as customers, communities and investors, and demonstrate leadership, openness and
accountability.
 A growing number of companies see sustainability reporting as a means to drive greater innovation through
their businesses and products to create a competitive advantage in the market.

Benefits for consumers:

 Consumers want to know whether a company is performing in a globally responsible manner from an
environmental perspective (e.g., water use, emissions, waste), and a social perspective (e.g., labor practices,
human rights, corruption, customer health and safety).

Product Stewardship

is an environmental management strategy that means whoever designs, produces, sells, or uses a product takes
responsibility for minimizing the product's environmental impact throughout all stages of the products' life cycle,
including end of life management.
  Product stewardship requires all stakeholders involved in making, buying, selling or handling equipment to take
responsibility for minimizing environmental, health and safety impact at all stages of the life cycle.
 Manufacturers : In most cases, manufacturers have the greatest ability, and therefore the greatest
responsibility, to reduce the environmental impacts of their products.
 Reducing use of toxic substances, designing for reuse and recyclability, and creating take back programs are just
a few of the many opportunities for companies to become better environmental stewards of their products.
 Without consumer engagement in product stewardship, there is no "closing the loop."

Sustainable Consumption

 The consumption of goods and services that have minimal environmental impact, promote social equity and
economically viable, whilst meeting basic human needs worldwide.

 Sustainable consumption is not about consuming less but consuming differently.

Eco-warriors:

Individuals or groups that actively care about environmental issues &want to take action.

Eco-champions:

Individuals or groups that champion environmental issues within organizations.

 Advocate environmental issues within organizations.

 Attempt to introduce or create change in a product, process, or method that takes into account green or
environmental issues
 Is a person who fights or argues for a cause.

Eco-fans:

Term: Individuals or groups that enthusiastically adopt environmentally friendly practices as consumers.

 It is usually someone who accepts all green design products on the current market or its related objectives.

 An eco-fan will usually buy anything that is environmentally friendly and will never buy a harmful product.

Eco-phobes:

Individuals or groups that actively resent talk of environmental protection.

 Eco-phobes are people who are against helping the environment and purposely go against the ecological
movements.

 They believe that the environmental problems are irrelevant to their lives or are blown out of
proportion.

 An example of an eco-phobe is a head of a country refusing to sign the Kyoto agreement which is based
on controlling the c02 output in a country and limit it in order to decrease global warming.

Eco-labelling:

Marking the products with a label that demonstrates they are eco friendly .

Advantages

 For consumers, they're a shortcut to doing good: they're an easy to use, trustworthy guide to products
that help the environment in some way.
 for manufacturers, eco labels offer a potential point of difference and a competitive advantage.
  Many consumers take environmental performance into account so if a product looks eco friendly and
doesn't cost much more, it's more likely to be lifted off the shelf.
 For manufacturers, making eco friendly products can make commercial sense.
 Third, labels encourage a general raising of environmental performance, even among products that
aren't labeled

Disadvantage

 manufacturers may be tempted to make exaggerated or misleading claims, which confuse consumers
into thinking products are better than they really are. This, of course, is exactly the problem that
properly certified eco labels are designed to solve.
 For the system to work, eco labels need to be trustworthy, trusted, simple to understand, and easy to
recognize.

Energy-labelling:

Term: The labelling of products to show how energy efficient they are.

 The label displays information about : the product’s details; Energy classification that shows the
product’s electrical consumption; Measurements relating to consumption, efficiency and capacity etc.;
Noise emitted from the product when in use.

Eco-labelling and Energy Labelling Schemes benefits

 For the manufacturer such labels can help guide their designing in order to meet country regulations or
the manufacturers design specifications. When designers design products they need to take into
consideration the criteria that make up the different eco and energy labels for different labelling schemes

 .For the consumer they can make the appropriate purchase if they are environmentally concerned.

Opportunities to capture shoppers interested in green products

 building awareness,
 educating shoppers,
 making green products easier to find and recognize,
 enhancing in-store communications and •inspiring shoppers at the store shelf.

How to Create a market for sustainable products;

 pricing considerations : Green products that are more expensive than 'grey' products are not often
purchased (cost can be decreased as more companies start using triple bottom line sustainability).

 Pay attention to market niches and demand to decide which green products to promote.
 Market green products as a way to build a responsible identity and lifestyle.

Pressure Groups

Group of individuals who hold a similar viewpoint on a particular topic, for example the environment, who take
action to promote positive change to meet their goals.

Pressure groups use a range of 'direct' and 'indirect' actions to promote environmentally sustainable policy.

Direct Action In the past, Greenpeace has taken direct action, such as blocking a French nuclear testing ship in
the south pacific in 1985 with its own ship, "The Rainbow Warrior."

Indirect Action The overwhelming majority of pressure group action is 'indirect', involving the promotion of
issues through education, debate and calculated lobbying.
 1-Datschefski’s five principles of sustainable design equip the designer with a tool not only to design new
products, but also to evaluate an existing product. This can lead to new design opportunities and increase the
level at which a product aligns with these principles.

 Cyclic – The product could not only be made from recyclable materials but is also organic materials that
are recycled in a continuous loop such as bio plastics.
 Solar – The energy used to extract and produce the product requires to come only from renewable
energy sources that is renewable and safe.
 Safe :products that are released into the environment (air, land & water) and ’space’ are non-hazardous,
i.e. non polluting. The by-products are “food” for other systems. Hydrogen fuel celled cars’ by-prodouct
when in use is H2O.
 Efficient – Requiring 90% less energy.

 Social – The products manufacture and usage should highlight basic human rights, safe work practices, fair
trade principles and natural justice.
2-Green design: is designing in a way that takes account of the environmental impact of the product throughout
its life

3-Sustainable design is the philosophy of designing physical objects, that comply with the principles
of social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

Green design -Sustainable design

Products that have little or no effect on the Deals with TBL sustainability, economic, environmental & Social
environment.

Cradle to the grave approach Cradle to cradle approach

Shorter timescale therefore easier and Longer timescale which can affect the R & D stage (system wide
cheaper to address environmental research needed) of the design process increases costs
concerns in products. therefore may not be feasible.

Incremental idea generating techniques are Idea generating techniques are more extreme to re-think
possible only small changes need to be made. (over-haul/redesign) the nature of the product and how it
works

4-Sustainable Innovation

Making changes to a company's products, to generate long-term social and environmental benefits while
creating financial profits for the firm.

 Sustainable innovation facilitates the diffusion of sustainable products and solutions into the
marketplace.
 Sustainable innovation produces both bottom line and top line benefits because developing products&
services that are environmentally friendly lowers costs through reducing the resources required.

Complexity and timescale of sustainable innovation

 Because Sustainable innovation relies on cooperation between different stakeholders such as

government and manufacturing, it is a hugely complex concept that requires a long time for
implementation, typically 20–40 years depending on the nature of the innovation.
  The huge timescale means that sustainability is difficult to maintain as conditions/criteria can
change significantly, for example, a lengthy period of economic decline.

Sustainable Strategies

 Sustainable use of the planet will require multiple sustainability strategies, Strategies starting at the highest
system level are referred to as ‘top-down’, and strategies designed for components, local or regional, are
referred to as ‘bottom-up’
 When considering sustainable innovation, designers are usually more comfortable with top-down strategies
as it means investment and resources are more predictable and reliable.

1-Top-down strategies

Strategies implemented from the ‘top’ such as global or national government initiatives.

 Management of resources, finances (controlling bank rates, etc) and so on.

 It provides targets and measures for sustainability.

2-Bottom-up strategies

 Strategies implemented from the ‘bottom’ such as regional or local (city or town) level.

 These include local initiatives like Planting Tree Campaigns

 Designers involved with bottom-up strategies are usually enthusiasts for the project and willing to make a
commitment even though it may not be cost-effective to do so.

Government intervention in innovation

strategies that governments use to promote knowledge exchange and technology transfer, including:

 regulation— setting and policing rules to avoid or limit environmental issues caused by undesirable
technologies yet allow the manufacturer to still make profits 
 education—providing consumers with information and guidance in the choice of products and services
that are more sustainable such as eco and energy labels
 taxes—to penalize environmentally damaging technologies and influence consumer choice of
sustainable products and service Examples outside Beijing the government is forcing companies to
comply or they are fined and ultimately closed down
 subsidies—to stimulate and support sustainable innovations. Example: sustainable innovation can cast
the company profits so governments offer financial help or tax breaks.

Macro energy sustainability

Macro-sustainability is the area of sustainable development that focuses on how a nation, region or the entire
world would establish large scale behaviors for sustainability

Macro energy sustainability can be influenced through:

 international treaties and energy policies

 methods for change and restrictions

 national systems changing policy when government leadership changes

 ex Kyoto Protocol on the reduction of green house gases. In order for it to be successful all governments
need to agree, for a while Australia and USA did not so many countries followed suit
Micro energy sustainability

the area of sustainable development focuses on sustainability at the individual, household or company level

 the government raising awareness and changing attitudes.

 promotion of individual and business action towards energy sustainability
 E.g. Local governments installing Combined Heat and Power (CHP))

Energy security refers to the continuous availability of energy sources at an affordable price.

It can be influenced by energy demand/supply trends

 forecasting, demand response versus energy efficiency, and smart grids

 Energy demand is rarely constant and this puts a responsibility on those that generate and manage the flow of
energy to understand when peaks and troughs of energy use occur over the course of days, weeks and years.

o For example, in many countries, energy demand increases during breaks and following popular TV
shows as large numbers of people put the kettle on to enjoy a hot beverage.

o Also, there may be particular periods during the night where energy use is at a minimum. In these
situations it is vital that the power-generating stations are informed when to start and stop energy
generation.

 The difficulty arises as massive amounts of electricity cannot easily be stored, excess energy
generated at these times is wasted.
 Demand/supply trends need to be predicted carefully to create a responsive and efficient energy
supply.

Lifestyle consumerism: -

Lifestyle Consumerism: A social and economic practice that encourages the acquisition of goods and
services in ever greater amounts.

It’s the Tendency of People who live in a capitalist economy to live a lifestyle of excessive materialism that
is based on overconsumption that is involuntary, useless, or obvious.

 Consumers might have been informed of the environmental factors of various products and become
more conscious does not always translate into purchasing of sustainable alternatives due to some
examples such as:
 -the availability of product
 -the price of product instead of eco-label or energy label
 - The consumer may be more likely to buy a more efficient product if it saves money over the product's
life, lasts longer, has less of an effect on the environment, and puts out less greenhouse gas.
 -trust
 -consumer lifestyle -product origin -company reputation

Ethical consumerism:

Ethical Consumerism: The practice of consciously purchasing products and services produced in a way that
minimizes social and environmental damage, while avoiding those that have a negative impact on society and
the environment.
 Being an ethical consumer means buying products which were ethically produced and/or which are not harmful
to the environment and society.

Smart grid : A electrical supply network that uses digital communications technology to automatically to detect
and react to local changes in usage.

 Smart grids are used to improve electricity production and distribution efficiency, reliability, economics,
and sustainability.

Disadv most power is generated centrally;

 monitoring is mostly done by hand;

adv

-Sensors are widely used –

-Digital self-monitoring

-Adaptive and intelligent

-Energy efficient

Take back legislation puts the push on manufacturers to deal with the product or waste at the end of it’s
lifecycle. This can mean providing opportunities for recycling and collection, providing information to the
consumer about disposal or directly dealing with obsolete products.

 They are expected to provide a financial and/or physical plan to ensure that such products are collected
and processed.
 Take back legislation comes in many different policy forms. For instance some legislation asks
consumers to work with manufacturers to return products themselves for recycling.

Implications of take-back legislation on manufacturers and designers.

 Once companies have to take products back, they become immediately interested in design for disassembly and
recyclability because they are the ones doing the disassembling and recycling
 Manufacturers and designers have to make design changes that reduce waste, such as improving product
recyclability and reusability, reducing material usage, and downsizing products.

Implications of take-back legislation on consumers

 If the cost of recycling a product is included in its price consumers can make more informed judgments about
buying .
 Some European countries have laws where stores must accept used packaging (from their store) on the spot.
Customers love it because trash collection bills are very high in Europe and if you can leave your waste
packaging at the store, you save money. The result? Increased customer satisfaction and an immediate
reduction in product packaging