This document provides an overview of key concepts from Chapter 12 on Design for Environment from the textbook Product Design and Development by Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger. It discusses how design for environment (DFE) aims to minimize a product's environmental impact over its lifecycle. DFE expands the traditional focus on production to consider the entire closed-loop lifecycle. Methods like life-cycle assessment and cradle-to-cradle design are introduced. Examples of companies implementing DFE through use of recycled materials, design for disassembly, and other strategies are also provided.

1. Design for Environment
Teaching materials to accompany:
Product Design and Development
Chapter 12
Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger
5th Edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2012.

2. Product Design and Development
Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger
5th edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2012.
Chapter Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Development Processes and Organizations
3. Opportunity Identification
4. Product Planning
5. Identifying Customer Needs
6. Product Specifications
7. Concept Generation
8. Concept Selection
9. Concept Testing
10. Product Architecture
11. Industrial Design
12. Design for Environment
13. Design for Manufacturing
14. Prototyping
15. Robust Design
16. Patents and Intellectual Property
17. Product Development Economics
18. Managing Projects

3. Preparation Assignment
• Think about the environmental impact of
the products and services we use.
• Identify a product or service with reduced
environmental impact.
• Be prepared to describe the product or
service class.

4. Patagonia Clothing
In 1993 Patagonia became the first
company to use post-consumer recycled
materials in their products.
Patagonia Capilene fabric garments
contain 54% recycled polyester content
and are 100% recyclable through
Patagonia’s take-back system.
www.patagonia.com

5. Peter Opsvik (for Stokke, 1972) designed the award-winning Tripp Trapp chair to
grow with the child, increasing the effective lifetime of the chair.
www.stokke.com
Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair

6. Dunlop Recycled Wellington Boots
Dunlop Wellington boots are made from
polyurethane, PVC, and rubber.
Dunlop developed a line of recycled boots.
Dunlop takes back used Wellingtons from
customers. Old boots are re-ground and re-
manufactured into new boots.
Source: www.biothinking.com

7. Freitag Bags
Freitag reuses
• truck tarps
• inner tubes
• seat belts
www.freitag.ch

8. Environmental Impacts
Water pollution
Solid wasteGlobal Warming Resource depletion
Air pollution Land degradation
www.buildbabybuild.com www.flickr.com Ben Rad www.wonkroom.thinkprogress.org
www.co.rockingham.nc.us commons.wikimedia.org www.adb.org

9. a legacy problem?
a materials problem?
a solvable problem?
YES!
Is this …

10. Design for Environment (DFE)
Design for Environment (DFE) is a method
to minimize or eliminate environmental
impacts of a product over its life cycle.
Effective DFE practice maintains or
improves product quality and cost while
reducing environmental impacts.
DFE expands the traditional manufacturer’s
focus on the production and distribution of its
products to a closed-loop life cycle.

11. Product Life Cycle
Disposal
Materials Production
Distribution
Use

12. Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)
• Quantifies environmental impact over product life cycle
• Steps in LCA analysis:
1. Prepare proposed design options
2. Identify life cycle, including recycling and disposal
3. Identify all materials and energy sources used
4. Identify outputs and waste streams
5. Quantify impacts of each material, energy, waste
6. Aggregate impact into categories for comparison
• Requires specialized LCA software and training
• Commercial LCA software growing in capability
– SimaPro, GaBi, OpenLCA, Sustainable Minds, …

13. SimaPro LCA Software
Source: www.pre.nl/simapro/

14. Cradle to Cradle
Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is a
DFE method emphasizing
renewable resources and
sustainable life cycles.
William McDonough and
Michael Braungart,
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking
the Way We Make Things,
2002.
McDonough Braungart Design
Chemistry (MBDC) works with
companies to select the safest
materials for product design.

15. Two Life Cycles
Recovery
Materials Production
Distribution
UseDeposit
Resources
Post-consumer
Recycling
Remanufacturing
Reuse
Natural
Decay
Natural “Bio”
Life Cycle
Industrial
“Product”
Life Cycle
Disposal
Post-industrial
Recycling
Extraction

16. Two Life Cycles
Recovery
Materials Production
Distribution
Use
Deposit
Resources
Post-consumer
Recycling
Remanufacturing
Reuse
Natural
Decay
Organics
Post-industrial
Recycling
Natural
“Biological”
Life Cycle
Product
“Industrial”
Life Cycle
Inorganics
Non-renewable
Resources
Renewable
Resources
Toxics

17. “Conditions” for Sustainability
• Consider the earth as a closed system with limited solar
input and natural bio cycles.
• Solar energy and other renewable fuels are sustainable
energy sources.
• Resource usage must balance to the rate the earth
creates each resource (even the rate at which the earth
creates fossil fuels).
• Toxic wastes, heavy metals, radiation, and other
“molecular garbage” must be eliminated because they are
not part of the bio cycle.

18. Planning
Product Development Process
Concept
Development
System-Level
Design
Detail
Design
Testing and
Refinement
Production
Ramp-Up
DFE can be integrated into the
standard product development process.
Assess Impacts
and Refine Designs
DFE Goals
and Team
DFE and Material
Guidelines
Improve
DFE Process

19. DFE Process
Detail
Design Compare to
DFE Goals
Concept
Development
System-Level
Design
Product
Planning 1. Set DFE Agenda
3. Select Material and DFE
Guidelines
2. Identify Potential
Environmental Impacts
5. Assess Environmental
Impact
4. Apply DFE Guidelines to
Initial Designs
N
7. Reflect on DFE Process
and Results
6. Refine Design
Y
Process
Improvement

20. Life Cycle Impacts

21. DFE and Material Guidelines
Example DFE Guidelines
• Do not combine materials
incompatible in recycling
• Label all component materials
for recycling
• Enable easy disassembly into
separate material recycling
streams
• Use no surface treatments
• Eliminate packaging
• Reduce weight and size for
shipping
Example Material Guidelines
• Use recycled and recyclable
industrial materials
• Use natural materials which can
be returned to biological decay
cycles
• Use processes which do not
release toxic materials
• Capture and reuse all
hazardous materials

22. Herman Miller
Aeron, 1994 Mirra, 2004 Setu, 2009

23. Herman Miller’s Environmental Goals
Perfect Vision 2020
• Zero landfill
• Zero hazardous waste generation
• Zero air emissions (VOC)
• Zero process water use
• 100% green electrical energy use
• 100% of sales from DfE products
• Company buildings constructed to a
minimum LEED Silver certification

24. Setu Spine

25. Herman Miller
Setu Multipurpose Chair
• Environmentally friendly and non-toxic materials
– 41% aluminum, 41% polypropylene, 18% steel, by weight
• Use of recycled materials
– 44% by weight - 23% post-consumer, 21% post-industrial
• Less material content
– 20 lbs lighter than most task chairs
• Easy to disassemble
– 86% easily separable materials
• Recyclable
– 92% by weight
• Production line uses 100% green power
• No air or water emissions released in production
• Returnable and recyclable packaging
Source: Herman Miller, Inc.

26. Herman Miller
DFE Assessment Method
Material Chemistry (33.3%)
Recycled Content (8.4%)
Disassembly (33.3%)
Recyclability (25.0%)
Safest Low Hazard Uncertain High Hazard
Separation Time (30 sec) Tools (common) Labeling
Post-consumer Post-industrial Virgin Material
Up-cycle Down-cycle Not feasible
Ref: Rossi, Charon, Wing, and Ewell, “Incorporating Cradle-to-Cradle Design into Herman Miller Products”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2006.

27. Nike Considered Design
• New products are designed using
environmentally preferred materials.
• The materials analysis tool evolves to
reflect best practices and Nike’s
changing environmental values.
• Nike’s goal is for all new products to be
developed using its Considered Design
standards.
– footwear by 2011
– clothing by 2015
– equipment by 2020
Materials Analysis Tool

28. Samsung Reclaim Mobile Phone
• Biopolymer casing
• Recycled paper packaging,
printed with soy-based ink
• Online instruction manual
• Energy Star rated charger
www.samsung.com

29. Ford SmartGauge with EcoGuide
• Instrument cluster on Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan
hybrid vehicles
• Provides engaging feedback to drivers, improving fuel
economy
• Designed by SmartDesign, IDEO, and Ford Motor Co.
www.ford.com
www.smartdesignworldwide.com

30. Better Packaging for Puma:
Clever Little Bag
• Designed by Yves Béhar and fuseproject
• 65% less cardboard than standard box
• No laminated printing, no tissue paper
• Less weight and space in shipping
• New reusable bag replaces the polyethylene
retail bag, is made of recycled PET, and is
also recyclable
• Puma plans to start shipping in 2011
vision.puma.com
www.fuseproject.com

31. Four Simple DFE Rules
1. Design products and processes with industrial materials
that can be recycled continually with no loss in
performance, thereby creating new industrial materials.
2. Design products and processes with natural materials that
can be fully returned to the earth’s natural cycles,
thereby creating new natural materials.
3. Design products and processes that do not produce
unnatural, toxic materials that cannot be safely processed
by either natural or industrial cycles.
4. Design products and processes with clean, renewable
sources of energy, rather than fossil fuels.

32. Final Message on
Green Design
• This is hard.
• This is important.
• This is our responsibility.
• This is a great opportunity…
– for businesses and entrepreneurs
– for scientists, engineers, and designers
– for researchers

33. The
Circular Economy
in the
Asia Pacific Region
www.circularecconomyasia.org