Module 5

Design for Environment and

Sustainability
Overview
 Overview of Module
• General design process & relevant factors
• Link to industrial ecology
• Design for environment & sustainability
methods & factors
• Design for environment & sustainability
decisions/actions
Introduction
 Introduction
• Design for environment and sustainability
involves:
– Methods
– Factors
• Resource selection
• Product use
• Transportation & storage
• Packaging
• Recycling
• Etc.
Background on Design
 Design
• Act of creating something to satisfy a
needed service
• Design usually creates
– products
– processes
• Example: if illumination needed for a
working area, one can design
– artificial lighting system
– means of using natural light
 Design Process
• Usually involves many steps:
– Identification of service to be provided & relevant
constraints
– Selection and definition of product or process to
provide the service
– Conceptual design & identification of important
parameters
– Consideration of interactions with suppliers, users,
marketing (acceptability & desirability)
– Detailed design considering pertinent factors
Design for “X”
Df …
DfM (MANY
MORE)

DfE DfSv

DfR DfSa
 Factors Considered in Design
Process (Design for “X”)
• Degree original need • Servicing needs
satisfied • Testability
• Customer satisfaction, • Efficiency
including quality, ease of • Reliability and lifetime
use, aesthetics
• Compliance with legal
• Safety and other regulations
• Costs and economics • Liability avoidance
• Manufacturability • Environmental impact
• Assembly and concerns
• Materials, component and • Sustainability
equipment requirements
 Factors Considered in Design
Process (Design for “X”) (cont.)
• “Environmental impact and concerns"
includes resource use, emissions and
other forms of pollution
• Inclusion of environmental impact and
sustainability in overall design process
often referred to as
– Design for Environment
– Design for Sustainability
 Product Realization Process
(Traditional)

IDEA CONCEPT PRELIM. DESIGN MATURE DESIGN

1 2

RECYCLING SALES & USE MANUFACTURE DEVELOPMENT

5 4
Product Realization Process (with
Environment and Sustainability)
INVIOLATES CHECKLISTS;
LIST DESIGN GUIDANCE

IDEA CONCEPT PRELIM. DESIGN MATURE DESIGN

1 2

3
FLOW CHARTS;
SLCA
ENERGY, WATER, MATERIAL BALANCE;
WASTE AUDITS LCA

RECYCLING SALES & USE MANUFACTURE DEVELOPMENT

5 4
Design for Environment
 Design for Environment (DFE)
• Consideration environmental impacts and
concerns in design
 Design for Environment (DFE)
(cont.)
• General considerations for DFE:
– Can be considered in all design steps
(material selection, structural design, product
transport, packaging, etc.)
– Long lifetimes of many products and
processes (years to decades) make DFE
decisions important
• Impacts persist for corresponding times
 Design for Environment (DFE)
(cont.)
– Best addressed during initial design stages
• Usually easier to design for better environmental
performance in initial design rather than as an
afterthought
– Measures often more effective and efficient
when implemented in initial steps of a process
• Example: usually simpler and less expensive to
reduce acid gas emissions by
– removing sulphur compounds from process feedstocks
– rather than by adding capture and treatment steps to end
of a process
 Design for Environment
Methodologies
• DFE methods range greatly
– Vague and non-rigorous, based mainly on
qualitative considerations
– Detailed, rigorous and comprehensive, based
on quantitative data and decision-making
• DFE methodologies must acknowledge
other factors involved in design (not
unreasonably hinder other design aspects)
 Industrial Ecology and Design for
Environment & Sustainability
• Many propose Industrial Ecology approach
as best way to undertake design for
environment and sustainability
• Industrial ecology
– “means by which humanity can deliberately
and rationally approach and maintain a
desirable carrying capacity, given continued
economic, cultural & technological evolution”
 Industrial Ecology and Design for
Environment & Sustainability (cont)
• Industrial ecology approach
– views systems and activities in concert with
the environment, rather than in isolation
– provides a systems or overall perspective
– seeks optimum cycles & processes for
material & energy resources, while satisfying
environmental constraints and financial and
other desires as much as possible
– Takes life cycle analysis approach, i.e.,
considers life cycle for a product or process
 Industrial Ecology and Design for
Environment & Sustainability (cont)
• On results of industrial ecology approach:
– Do not lead to “correct” environment and
sustainable-development solutions
• Misleading as correct solutions are subjective and
infrequently are obtainable
– Optimal solutions are sought
• where optimum usually determined via trade-offs
among different factors and constraints (each with
importance dependent on its weighting)
– Help provide optimal solution via approach
viewed by many as rational & comprehensive
 Relation of Industrial Ecology to
Design for Environment (cont.)
• Industrial Ecology seeks sustainable economic
and cultural development with moderate
population growth, relying greatly on technical
advances and managed development to achieve
compromise between 2 extremes:
– Return to low-level technology, with corresponding
results of trying to reverting society to past ways
– Unmanaged development (often seen at present),
with unlimited population growth and few
environmental constraints, likely leading eventually to
major societal disruptions and potential catastrophies
Design for Environment and
Sustainability Factors
 Design for Environment and
Sustainability Factors
• Materials selection
• Structural design
• Usage patterns
• Transportation
• Storage
• Packaging
• Installation and removal
• Reuse and recycling
• Energy use
• Others
Materials Extraction and Limitation
Considerations
• Materials should be used efficiently
because quantities of many are limited
• Two types of material limitations:
– Availability of finite quantities
• E.g., some metals on Earth in limited amounts, and
fossil fuels are essentially non-renewable in that
they require long times to be created
– Excessive use relative to renewal rates
• E.g., wood resources renewable if use managed
Materials Extraction and Limitation
Considerations (cont.)
• Materials extraction should be carried out
sensitively because they often
– impact environment
– deplete reserves
• Example: 1 kg copper production involves:
– Removing 350 kg of overburden
– Processing 100 kg of ore
– Releasing 1 kg of wastes
• Example: jet engine manufacture
 Mass Ratio: Product to Raw
Materials

1 Million Pounds Ore 100,000 Pounds Metal 10,000 Pound Engine

(10% metal content) (forgings and bar stock)

100 10 1

Courtesy of Robert Tierney, Pratt & Whitney

Materials Extraction and Limitation
Considerations (cont.)
• In extraction processes such as mining
and wells, sensitive operations may
involve:
– Retaining and eventually replacing topsoil
– Controlling surface runoff in sedimentation
ponds
– Impermeably lining working pits
– Monitoring water levels for trace metals,
acidity and suspended solids
 Materials Selection and Structural
Design Considerations
• General DFE objectives for materials selection
and structural design:
– Design for minimum materials use in products and
processes
• Improvement of structural designs to minimize materials use
usually results in improved materials-utilization efficiency and
subsequently reduced environmental impact
– Use recycled rather than newly extracted materials
– Leave materials in recyclable form after use
• Recycled materials, where available and suitable, can be
less environmentally impacting and expensive than new
materials
 Materials Selection and Structural
Design Considerations (cont.)
• Recyclability of materials varies
– Metals often recyclable
– Wood and paper products sometimes
recyclable, but quality decreases with each
recycling (e.g., fiber length decreases)
– Some plastics recyclable (others are not)
– Mixed materials often not recyclable
– Hazardous or toxic materials normally not
recyclable
 Materials Selection and Structural
Design Considerations (cont.)
• Often best to select materials for designs
with the following characteristics:
– Abundant
– Non-toxic
– Non-regulated
 Materials Selection and Structural
Design Considerations (cont.)
• Beneficial to substitute materials with less
environmentally impacting alternatives
– Example: quantities of iron and steel in many
automobiles decreased over last few decades
in favour of plastics and aluminum
– Toxic materials (heavy metals, solvents,
radionuclides, carcinogens) are best avoided
• introduce particularly severe concerns in all
phases of a process or product
Dematerialization: Not the Way
 Packaging Considerations
• Packaging
– used mainly to
• protect products
• make them aesthetically appealing
– can contribute significantly to environmental
impact
• E.g., makes up 30% of municipal solid waste in
some locations
 Packaging Considerations (cont.)
• On the protective role of packaging
– its selection or design depends on conditions
encountered, especially during transport
– Often packaging is excessive and can be
reduced without compromising its role
 Packaging Considerations (cont.)
• Some DFE-related packaging objectives
(in order of environmental preference)
– No or minimal packaging
• Involves reduction or elimination of overly
protective, overly decorative and otherwise
excessive packaging
– Consumable, returnable, reusable packaging
– Recyclable and made-from-recycled-materials
packaging
• To be readily recyclable, packaging should not
have toxics, pigments and unseparable materials
 Packaging Considerations (cont.)
• Notes on DFE packaging objectives
– First item above can usually be addressed
solely by packaging suppliers
– Last two items necessitate cooperation
between
• suppliers of packaging
• receivers of packaged goods
 Electronic System Packaging:
Common Problems
ELECTRONIC
SYSTEM

FOAM
PLASTIC CORRUGATED
WOOD SLEEVE CARDBOARD
PALLET COVER

STEEL
STRAPPING

SHIPPING
 Transportation Considerations
• Significant environmental impacts
– Land
– Water
– Air
• Transportation environmental concerns often
separated into two operation-based categories:
– Normal-operation concerns (e.g., energy use to drive
vehicles and corresponding emissions)
– Abnormal-operation concerns (e.g., accidental
releases of toxic or hazardous substances during
train derailments and oil spills)
 Transportation Considerations
(cont.)
• Transportation-related environmental concerns
depend greatly on:
– Distance travelled
– Duration of travel
• When these factors increase, concerns become
– more significant during normal operation
– more likely during abnormal modes
• Where toxic/hazardous substances are utilized,
transport release risks can be reduced if the
substances are produced where needed, rather
then elsewhere and transported
 Storage Considerations
• Storage can lead to environmental
impacts, mainly because of risk of
accidental or unintentional releases
• Risks of accidental emission from storage
particularly of concern when toxic or
hazardous materials stored
– Then, storage release risks can be reduced if
substances are produced only when required,
rather than in advance and stored
 Storage Considerations (cont.)
• Storage can also lead to non-accidental
environmental concerns
– Example: some storages maintained at
special conditions (e.g., hot, cold,
pressurized, vacuum), and energy resources
are used to maintain conditions
• Concerns associated with storage
normally increase as the duration of
storage increases
 Storage Considerations (cont.)
• Storage sometimes
reduces
environmental impact
– Example: heat storage
systems can be used
in conjunction with
solar energy collectors
to allow solar resource
to provide heat during
dark periods
 Usage Considerations
• Care is required by designers to ensure
environmental impacts of product & process use
are managed appropriately for several reasons:
– Product or process use often causes more significant
environmental impacts than other stages in its life
• Example: energy use and corresponding emissions for many
transportation vehicles exceed 80% of the total energy use
and environmental emissions over vehicle life cycle
– Since products and processes often are used by
consumers, DFE measures must “work” after they
leave designer and manufacturer domains
 Usage Considerations (cont.)
• DFE measures can often lead to wastes
from usage being handled by:
– Elimination
– Reduction in quantity
– Recycling
– Modification to less impacting forms
• Substitution of materials
• Other actions
 Usage Considerations (cont.)
• Energy consumption during product or
process operation often important and
leads to significant environmental impacts
 Usage Considerations (cont.)
• Installation of certain products so as to
permit use can impact environment
– Example: buried telephone cables & pipelines
– Example: electrical distribution wires
traversing great distances
• DFE can reduce or eliminate these
– Designing systems so that their removal,
along with appropriate restoration of the
natural environment, is planned in advance
 Usage Considerations (cont.)
• Some maintenance is normally required
during product or process use
• Maintenance-related DFE can include:
– Utilizing repairable and/or replaceable
components and assemblies
– Using modular parts, to facilitate above point
– Generating minimal and/or clean maintenance
wastes & an infrastructure to handle them
Reuse Considerations: Example of
Transformable Vehicle
 Recycling Considerations
• Recycling is important part of DFE, involving
– Use of different materials should be minimized
– Use of toxic & hazardous materials should be avoided
• Presence deters disassembly, re-use, incineration, energy recovery
– Joining dissimilar materials should make separation
difficult & should permit easy disassembly
• Example screws are easier to deal with than welds or rivets

• Recycled substances/devices can be used

– For same purpose as original (e.g., recycled bottles)
– In other processes (e.g., old tires broken down &
used in manufacture of other rubber products)
 Recycling Considerations (cont.)
• Recycling usually most effective when
implemented as early as possible in
manufacturing chain
• From most to least advantageous,
recycling & reuse should be considered for
– entire product
– its assemblies
– its components
– its materials
 Recycling Considerations (cont.)
• Important recyclable materials categories
– Metals
• usually recyclable, but complex if impure or mixed with other
materials
– Forest products
• usually recyclable, but material quality degrades on each
recycling operation (stiff paper yields low-quality paper)
– Plastics
• some (e.g., thermoplastics) recyclable
• others (e.g., thermoset plastics) much less
– Chemicals
• sometimes recyclable, often with treatment or purification
 To Recycle or Not To Recycle?
• Answer often
– involves a case-by-case analysis
– Subjective
• perceptions of different people on merits of
recycling often vary depending on the specific
circumstances
 To Recycle or Not To Recycle?
(cont.)
• In general, recycling probably
– Undertaken if less environmentally damaging and
more cost effective compared to using new materials
– Not undertaken if environmental impact of recycling
exceeds that of using new materials
• Example: environmental impact associated with
transporting and materials over great distances
for recycling may outweigh impact of obtaining
and using new materials
A Tenet of Design for Environment
and Sustainability
• Actions should not compromise other
design attributes of a product
– Performance
– Reliability
– Aesthetics
– Maintainability
– Cost
– Time to market
– Etc.
 Costs of Design for
Environment & Sustainability
Carrier Air Conditioning’s
Environmentally-Friendly
Product Line
Design for Environment &
Sustainability for Buildings
and Infrastructure
 Components of Infrastructure
• Water distribution & treatment
• Transportation networks
– Land (road, rail)
– Water (port)
– Air (airport)
• Energy distribution
– Electricity distribution
– District energy
• Telecommunications
 Principles of Green Infrastructure
Design and Operation
• Sites & rights-of-way: minimize
ecosystem disruption
• Material & energy inputs: renewable
rather than depleting
• Material & energy inputs and outputs:
inherently nonhazardous
• Recycled material use where possible
• Processes & systems: maximize mass,
energy and space efficiency
 Principles of Green Infrastructure
Design and Operation (cont.)
• Waste
– Prevent formation first
– Use treatment if necessary
• Maintenance & refurbishment facilitated
• Designs:
– flexible to facilitate future renovation and
expansion
– enable and encourage recycling at end of
life