We started with the "voluntary initiatives". I explained to you the Philips Environmental Programme which was started in 1994 as the Environmental Opportunity Programme. Philips had taken targets on energy, packaging and management systems in the first programme. From 1998, the environmental improvement programme has been called EcoVision programme and is implemented throughout the company. I had shown you how the targets for the whole company were set on not only energy and water, but also on wastes, emissions, green products etc. The latest programme spells out targets for energy efficiency improvement on activities beyond manufacturing, sales turnover of green products and money to be spent on green innovation. This is an example of how business organizations move ahead of legislation and have control over their activities and products.
We discussed the life cycle of a product. Like human beings products also have a life-cycle. The product life cycle starts with design. The product, then is manufactured, sold, used by the user and after the use it becomes the end-of-life product (or waste). Now this waste, as it happens in human beings after death, may be incinerated or burried in land fills. This type of a life cycle is called "Cradle to Grave". In the case of human beings, it is also possible that after death, eyes, liver, kidney etc., are donated and a new lease of life is given to those suffering from disabilities and diseases. The same can happen with the EOL products; parts of the product may be recycled, reused, re-manufactured, repaired for reuse etc. In this case the resource in the EOL product is being used for a further life period. This type of life cycle of a product is called "Cradle to Cradle", meaning that the EOL product gives rise to a new product. If a product has a "cradle to Cradle" or "Cradle to Grave" lifecycle is decided at the design stage. This aspect of design is called "Design for Environment" or EcoDesign. Eco Design is a design methodology which seeks to improve both ecological and economical performance of the product at the same time.
The lifecycle environmental performance of a product can be improved by addressing the following key improvement areas while designing a new product
a. Mass
b. Energy
c. Hazardous Substances
d. Recyclability
e. Packaging
f. Life
When the mass of the product is reduced, a) there is a reduction in the use of resources (material), b) there is a reduction in the use of process solvents/substances/chemicals, c) there is a reduction of the packaging mass, d) there is a reduction in the space occupied and hence more products can be shipped in a standard container and e) the mass of the EOL waste is reduced and to that extent the waste reaching the municipal dump yard gets reduced.
When energy consumed by the product is reduced it has a tremendous effect on the total energy consumption of the product during the life cycle. For a consumer product (electronics and electricals) the energy consumed during the life of the product is about 80 % of the total energy used during the life cycle. We discussed the example of a potted choke vs. open construction electromagnetic choke for a 36 W tubelight; by changing the design from potted to open construction we found that we could save on iron, copper, polyester resin and many MW of power.
The third important aspect of ecodesign is avoidance of hazardous and toxic substances. In Europe it has already been legislated through the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS, 2004). According to RoHS, all products exported to Europe should not contain Cadmium, Lead, Mercury, Chromium (vi), Polybromobiphenlys, polybromobiphenylethers. There are exceptions, of course, to this general rule. Avoiding these and similar substances in products and processes will help the general environment and avoid health related problems for the consumer and workers handling these products and processes. Other substances of concern are Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), tricholoroethylene (tri), perchloroehtylene (per), trichloroethane, carbontetrachloride (ctc), asbestos, pentachlorophenol, azodyes, polycholorbiphenyls (PCB) etc. In general heavy metals have to be avoided as much as possible in products. If polybromobiphenyl ether is used in the product (plastic), there is a possibility of formation of dioxins, substances known to cause cancer, when the waste containing this substance is incinerated.
The fourth issue to be considered is to design in Recyclability into the product. For example, if two plastics parts made of different plastics have to be joined, the following methods can be used: gluing, welding, press-fitting, using mechanical fasteners (nut and bolt). If the plastics are glued or welded, it will be difficult to recycle them at the end of life as the separation of the two plastics is difficult (one has to cut them to separate and waste the glue/weld line). If they are fitted with nuts and bolts, the disassembly may take some time leading to reduced productivity of the recycling operation. Press fitting may be a good choice if the properties of the plastics allow this to be done. If the plastic has to be recycled, it is advised to avoid painting on it. Insert moulding may be avoided. Thermoset plastics may be avoided. Filled plastics may avoided. It is better to design a product with least number of materials to enable better recycling at the end of life.
Packaging is an important part of the product; but it has the least life. Packaging is used to protect the product from damages on its journey from the manufacturing unit to the final customer. It also has the added function of attracting prospective buyer to the product. The third aspect of packaging is to provide information on the product to the customer. This information may be on the contents of the product, operational aspects of the product, handling instructions etc. It may also inform the user on the product characteristics such as vegetarian (green dot), toxic (skull with cross bones), flammable (flame) etc. Once the consumer buys the product, he/she generally throws the packaging; thus packaging uses resources only for a short time. The waste generated at this short period joins the municipal waste stream. By reducing the packaging mass the designer will be able to reduce the municipal solid waste generated per product sold.
The most important aspect of ecodesign is the extended life of products; if product life is extended, then the resource use per product per unit time comes down and to that extent the use of limited natural resources per unit time is reduced while giving the same service benefit to the customer.
Thus by introducing the ecodesign principles at the design stage of a product an enormous amount of environmental impacts of products can be reduced; i.e. ecodesign is one of tools for Sustainable Development.
In the second half of the class we continued with the paper by Porter and Linde.
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