Environmentally sustainable design

A useful example of sustainable design comes from BASF, and their development of the eco-efficiency tool. This tool seeks to integrate the combined aspects of each of the three pillars in an attempt to quantify the most sustainable products and illustrates some of the concerns associated with evaluating sustainable products. For example, the economic analysis includes a total cost of ownership that goes beyond the purchase price of a product to incorporate the cost of operation, the cost of environmental health and safety, and the cost of labour. Thus, even though a product may have a lower purchase price, it may be more expensive to use and thus costlier over the total life cycle of the product. 

The starting point in the development and designing of a closed water loop system is an inventory of the amounts and the quality of the process and transport water flows which are needed for the various steps in the production process. Each production step where process or transport water is involved causes a certain amount of wastewater. The pollution of this water is strongly dependent on the process step. The selection of separate treatment steps which, together, comprise a closed loop water system is complex. As already mentioned, various complete treatment scenarios can be developed and designed to satisfy the requirements set for process and transport water and treatment of wastewater. A technical and economic evaluation, in combination with environmental sustainability assessment, is necessary to determine the treatment system which is most appropriate. 

SEEBA workshop on Supply Chain Management Meeting Electronics Customer Environental Requirements, 30 April 2003, Centre for Sustainable Design, Farnham, UK Envirowise (2001) ENDS Report 321, Envirowise revamp brings advice on cleaner product design, October 2001. Envirowise is funded by the UK Department of Trade and Industry. See www.envirowise.org Apple (2005) Apple states its environmental policy with respect to materials at http //www.apple.com/ environment/design/materials/selection. html... 

Directive (96/61/EC) concerning integrated pollution prevention and control The IPPC Directive is designed to prevent, reduce and eliminate pollution at source through the efficient use of natural resources. It is intended to help industrial operators move towards greater environmental sustainability. 

Sadamichi, Y., Kimura, Y., Widiyanto, A., Kato, S., Maruyatna, N., Nishimura, A., 2003. LCA evaluation of reuse/recycle impact for environmental conscious industrial products. In Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, 2003. EcoDesign 03. 2003 3rd International Symposium, 8—11 December 2003, pp. 339—343. Tokyo, Japan. SMART, December 15, 2004. Sustainable Textile Standard 2.0 -Promoting Sustainable Textile Achievement, the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability, Einal Approved Consensus Ballot Version. 

Sustainability is a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely. The term, in its environmental usage, refers to the potential longevity of vital human ecological support systems, such as the planet s climatic system, systems of agriculture, industry, forestry and fisheries, systems on which they depend in balance with the impacts of our unsustainable or sustainable design. 

Manzini, E., Vezzoli, C., 2008. Design for Environmental Sustainability. Springer Publishing,... 

There is a need for economic and environmental sustainable development in this area. To provide commercially viable opportunities for the introduction of new circular economies, various initiatives have been introduced or are being developed relating to different aspects of the supply chain, including alterations to overall garment design. 

Additionally, using the cradle-to-cradle sustainable design approach introduced by McDonough and Braungart (2002) and Cao et al. (2006) developed a science-based course to educate students about the environmental issues related to the AT industry. 

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