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New Product Design:

Eco-Effectiveness

Design for Environment (DfE)

Systemic Consideration of Design Performance with Respect to Environmental Objectives

By Vadim Kotelnikov, Founder, The first-ever BUSINESS e-COACH for Innovative Leaders, 1000ventures.com

Cleaner ProductionDesign for Environment (DfE) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) New Product DevelopmentNew Product Design

Five Steps of the DfE Process1

  1. Assess environmental impacts

  2. Research the market

  3. Run an ideas workshop

  4. Select design strategies

  5. Design the product

DfE Strategies1

  1. Selecting environmentally low-impact materials

  2. Avoiding toxic and hazardous materials

  3. Choosing cleaner production processes

  4. Maximizing energy efficiency in manufacture and use

  5. Maximizing water efficiency in use

  6. Designing for waste minimization

Outline of a Design Brief1

Introduction

  • Define the aim of the design project

  • List specific objectives

General requirements

  • Define the primary function of the product

  • State the durability requirements

  • List aesthetic considerations

  • Define ergonomics requirements

  • List the safety requirements and issues

  • Outline the required performance and quality

Environmental objectives

  • List specific strategies relating to materials, efficiency, recovery at end of life and so on

  • Include quantitative targets where relevant

Production requirements

  • Specify manufacturing requirements and limitations

  • Include any objectives or targets

Regulations and standards

  • List any mandatory regulations, standards or codes of practice relevant to the product

Cost

  • Specify limits on costs of production to ensure that the product is competitive

DfE Defined

Design for Environment (DfE), also known as eco-design, recognizes that environmental impacts must be considered during the new product design process, along with all of the usual design criteria. It is defined as systemic consideration of design performance with respect to environmental, health, and safety objectives over the full product life cycle.

Use of LCA as a DfE Tool

The value of Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is in its ability to map a product's environmental impact across its whole life-cycle. Use of LCA as a DfE tool can1:

  • Benchmark the environmental performance of existing products

  • Develop environmental targets for the product development team to pursue

  • Provide an 'work-in-progress' assessment tool to review how a concept or detailed design might perform environmentally

  • Help the product development team make decisions regarding materials and components

  • Identify previously unknown impacts associated with a product and associated consumables

Bibliography:

  1. "Design + Environment", Helen Lewis and John Gertsakis, 2001, published by Greanleaf Publishing Limited

  2. "Applying DfE through a Green Productivity Demonstration Program", Raymond Leung, 2003

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