Stages of a product life cycle

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1 Engineering 2503 Winter 2005 Engineering Design: Introduction to Product Design and Development Week 10 Design for the Environment (DFE) Dr. Leonard M. Lye, PEng Prof. Andy Fisher, PEng Introduction Society generates and consumes such a large fraction of the Earth s resources that we must consider our impact on the environment in our technical decision making. A growth area for society, engineering, and design is to simply maintain the standard of technological living we now enjoy into the next centuries, but at a sustainable level of low environmental impact. Design for the environment (DFE) is a product design approach for reducing the impact of products on the environment. 1 2 Impacts Products can have adverse impact on the environment during their manufacture through the use of highly polluting processes and the consumption of large quantities of raw materials. They can also have adverse impact through the consumption of large amounts of energy and long half-lives during disposal. Because of these issues, one must consider a product s entire life-cycle, from creation through use through disposal. Stages of a product life cycle 3 4 Product Life Cycle In a product s life cycle, there are many events of creating pollution and many opportunities for recycling, remanufacturing, reuse, and reducing environmental impact. Merely designing a product to use non-toxic materials is not enough. As product designers, we must bring all our ingenuity to bear on the challenging problem of creating efficient products. Life Cycle Stage 5 6 1

2 Life Cycle Typical material and energy flow over a product life cycle To meet this challenge, we must understand the idea of life cycle assessment that adopts a holistic view by analyzing the entire life cycle of a product, process, package, material, or activity. Life cycle stages encompass extraction and processing of raw materials; manufacturing, transportation, and distribution; use/reuse/maintenance; recycling and composting; and final disposition. 7 8 Why DFE? DFE is an important activity for a design team because environmental damage is, as are most things, greatly influenced in the early design phases. About 80% of the environmental damage of a product is established after 20% of the design activity is complete. From a business point of view, DFE is important because customers are demanding products with less environmental impact. Creating a product that impacts the environment less is a market advantage. Customers now demand it. For example, Xerox has set a commitment to be a waste-free company; as a part of its operations and its products, it will generate no waste material that cannot be recycled or remanufactured. Government agencies are also being asked by their constituents to develop and enforce reduced environmental impact standards for products. Such regulatory pressure will only grow in future Environmental Objectives There are many guidelines developed to help industry understand and deal with its impact on the environment. For example, the Valdez Principles (Financial Times, 27 March 1991), later adopted by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) as the CERES Principles, establishes objectives and guidelines to help companies maintain good environmental performance. These principles were later adopted by hundreds of companies including Exxon, ITT, GM, and many others. CERES Principles 1. Protect the Biosphere: minimize the release of pollutants that endanger the earth. 2. Sustainable use of resources: use raw materials at a level where they can be sustained. 3. Reduction and disposal of waste: Minimize waste where possible. If unavoidable, recycle the waste. 4. Wise use of energy: use environmentally safe energy and invest in energy conservation. 5. Risk reduction: minimize health risk to employees and the community

3 CERES Principles (cont) 6. Marketing of safe products and services: sell products that minimize environmental impact and are safe for consumers. 7. Damage compensation: take responsibility through cleanup and compensation for environmental harm. 8. Disclosure: disclose to employees and the community incidents that cause environmental harm or pose health and safety hazards. 9. Environmental Directors: At least one member of a company s board will be qualified to represent environmental interests, and a senior executive for environmental affairs will be appointed. 10. Annual audit: conduct annual self-evaluations of progress in implementing these principles and make results of independent audits available to the public. 13 Pollution Problems To understand how to live up to the CERES Principles through design of products that are more environmentally friendly, a review of the various types of pollution is necessary. Pollution types can be organized by their scope of their environmental impact, from global to regional to local impacts. 14 Global Issues Climate change is a concern over the probable consequences of possible large scale changes in the Earth s climate due to increases in greenhouse gases. Burning of fossil fuels, increases CO 2 levels in the atmosphere, which in turn cause increases in global surface, ocean, and atmospheric temperatures, which in turn may cause drastic climate changes. From a product design point of view, developing products that use less energy will help mitigate this problem. Global Issues (Cont) Depletion of the Ozone Layer: The ozone layer is a thin layer in the upper atmosphere that blocks most UV radiation from reaching the Earth s surface. Fluorocarbon gases, can react with and reduce the ozone gas in this layer. From a product design viewpoint, developing products that do not make use of or release these harmful chemicals, either in use, manufacture, or disposal, will help mitigate this problem Global Issues (cont) Biodiversity: Minimizing biodiversity loss is another global environmental impact objective. Lost of habitat for different plant and animal species due to our expanding society can cause loss of ecosystems and extinction of species. Developing products that use less new raw material will help mitigate this problem. Regional and Local Issues Acid Rain: pollution by-products in one region can cause acid rain in another region. Caused by excessive fossil fuel air emissions. The lower ph level of rain can cause regional plant and aquatic life to suffer. From a product development viewpoint, developing products that use less energy will help reduce this problem. Air pollution is a similar problem caused by excessive fossil fuel emission for a regional area. Nitrogen compounds, ozone, CO, and SO2 are common combustion products released into the air. Developing products that use less energy will help mitigate the problem

4 Regional and Local Issues (cont) Water pollution, either in the ground water, river, bay, or ocean, is also a regional problem, often caused by herbicides and pesticides, in addition to suburban and urban street water run-off. Many other chemical compounds that are used in products must be understood and controlled. E.g. Mercury poisoning caused by discharge of mercury into the river -> Minimata disease. Basic DFE Methods: Design Guidelines Guidelines from a design point of view are available: Product structure Materials selection Labeling Fastening These guidelines are simple and effective when implemented. After developing a concept, the guidelines should be consulted, every guideline questioned, and the underlying concepts modified to increase the guideline performance. During detail design phase, a guideline should again be consulted, to ensure the product developed is compatible with these guidelines Basic approaches to reduce environmental impact Product Structure Guidelines 1. Design to minimize material usage 2. Design for disassembly 3. Design for recycling 4. Design for remanufacturing 5. Design to minimize hazardous materials 6. Design for energy efficiency 7. Design to regulations and standards Material Selection Guidelines Labeling and Finish Guidelines

5 Fastening Guidelines Summary Some key ideas in the design for the environment include: Assessment must be completed considering the entire product life cycle, from time material is extracted from the earth until it is returned to the earth. Basic DFE methods include smart material selection, minimizing energy usage, and increasing recycled content. DFE is good business and good for the environment and future generations Useful Resources Sections of the ISO Standard ISO 14001: Environmental Management Systems Specification and Guidance for Use ISO 14040: Life Cycle Assessment Principles and Guidelines ISO 14041: LCA LC Inventory Analysis ISO 14042: LCA Impact Assessment Thought question Following DFE guidelines would seem to add cost to a product. What arguments would you use to counter this perception?