An overview of the legal and commercial drivers behind the need to implement eco-design in NPI (new product introduction) and product development plus a guide to getting started.
For design engineers, product managers, marketers and innovation experts.
Getting Started With Eco-Design - Guidance for innovative product developers
1. Getting Started with Eco-Design
Guidance for innovative product developers
Authors: 11 June 2010
Rachel Harker,
Nathan Wrench
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2. Who we are
Founded 1960, owner Altran 300 engineers, designers & scientists
Contract design & development house Developing breakthrough products
Cambridge UK & Boston MA Creating & licensing IP
Specialists in: consumer products, medical technology, wireless, defence & security, cleantech
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3. Turning Ideas into Reality
For start-ups to Bluechips we develop radical products from new science or
technology
Radical product innovations
End to end product design
Integrated eco-design
Transfer to manufacture
Faster time to market…
…with less risk
IP platform springboards
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4. A Flavour of Our Work
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5. The world’s first virtually waterless washing
machine prototype using revolutionary
polymer technology.
Less water. Less energy.
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6. Today’s presentation
Getting Started with Eco-design
1 The business case for eco-design
2 Legal landscape
3 The tools of the trade
4 Case study of eco-design based innovation
5 Getting started
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7. 1. Business case for eco-design
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8. Business case for eco-design
Firms will have to integrate eco-design into innovation & NPD practises
Commercial pressure
– Green products are more desirable
– It promotes lean engineering which can reduce operating & product costs
– Investor pressure to mitigate commercial risks of climate change
– The competition has already begun
Legal requirements
– Multiple expansive directives already in force (e.g. RoHS, WEEE, EUP)
– More to come in response to Climate Change & international competition
Eco-design offers opportunities for major competitive advantage now
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9. Business case for eco-design
Market demand for eco-friendly products will increase
36%
64%
64% of US consumers say they would replace older appliances with newer energy
efficient appliances if home energy prices rise significantly (Source: CEA Market
Research)
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10. Business case for eco-design
There are substantial cost savings to be made
£150k saved in first year after re-design of medium volume electronic product
– Fewer parts
– Circuit boards reduced by 5 to 1
– Fasteners reduced by 30%
– Removal of glues and thinning materials
– Assembly time reduced by 68%
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12. Legal landscape
EC aiming for more sustainable resource use & reduction in landfill
Philosophy of Extended Producer Responsibility based on ‘polluter pays’ principle
OEM is responsible for end of life management
Aim is to encourage:
– Less toxic materials
– Use of more recycled materials
– Reduction in material usage
– Easy end of life treatment
– Re-use & recycling
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13. Legal landscape
Several expansive directives support Producer Responsibility
Battery directive – restricts chemicals and deals with waste management
RoHS directive
– Lead-free electronics assembly
– Also restricts cadmium, mercury & hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE
WEEE directive
– Financial or physical responsibility for products at end of life
Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations – minimise & recover
EUP directive
– A framework for the setting of eco-design requirements for Energy Using
Products
– Increase energy efficiency and reduce negative eco-impact
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14. 3. Tools of the trade
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15. Tools of the trade
Many eco-design tools & methodologies available
Typically used for 3 categories of design: buildings, processes and products
Facilitate eco-improvements through light touch approaches or comprehensive
integrated processes
Product development tools & methodologies can help you:
– Make design & development decisions that reduce eco-impact
– Evaluate alternative technical solutions
– Compare your performance vs the competition
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16. Tools of the trade
Many eco-design tools & methodologies available
Guidelines and check-lists
Management methodologies and tools
One-score indicators
Life cycle assessment tools
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17. Tools of the trade
A few guides, checklists and tools can quickly improve knowledge and practise
Smart ecoDesignTM strategy wheel
– Quick tool to assess environmental strengths and weaknesses of a product
EcoDesign checklist
– Guidance and compliance with RoHS and EUP www.cfsd.org.uk/seeba
Guide - Cleaner Product Design: A Practical Approach
PACK-IN – The Packaging Indicator Tool www.envirowise.co.uk
QWERTY/EE concept
– Evaluates recyclability
– Includes economic factors for take back and recycling
– Jaco Huisman, Delft University of Technology 2003
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18. Tools of the trade
Life Cycle Analysis is the standard method for assessing environmental impact
Environmental impact is determined by the whole product life cycle
Assess products at each phase of life from ‘cradle to grave’
Life phase impacts vary greatly from product to product
material extraction material processing manufacturing use waste management
recycle re-manufacturing Re - use
http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0109_lct/
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19. Tools of the trade
The Ei-99 system is a comprehensive life cycle analysis tool which assigns
points to each life phase based on three damage categories:
Impact on resources
Impact on ecosystems
Impact on human health
Outputs score in points per unit of product
Facilitates comparison between:
– Different or competing products
– Technical solutions or designs
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20. Tools of the trade
Extraction of Concentration of ores
Mining minerals & Surplus energy at future extraction Resources
fossil fuels Availability of fossil fuels (MJ surplus energy)
Converter Decrease of natural areas Regional effect on species numbers
Land use & Altered pH + nutrient availability
Damage to
Local effect on species numbers
conversion ecosystems
Milling Concentration in soil Effect on target species ( % plant species
* km2 * year )
Ecotoxicity: toxic stress (PAF)
NOx
SOx
Pressing
NH3 Concentration of greenhouse gas Climate change (disease + displacement)
Pesticides Damage to
Heavy metals Concentration of ozone depl. subst Ozone layer depletion (cancer + cataract)
Transport CO2 human health
HCFC Concentration radionuclides Radiation effects (cancer) ( disability
Nuclides (Bq) adjusted life
SPM Concentration fine dust. VOC Respiratory effects years (DALY) )
Disposal VOCs
Concentration air, water + food Cancer
PAHs
Resource analysis
Inventory Exposure & Damage Normalisation
Land-use analysis
analysis Fate analysis effect analysis analysis and weighting
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3
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21. 4. Case study of eco-design based innovation
using Life Cycle Analysis
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22. Case study
Consumer appliance manufacturer developing next generation mini fridge
Requirements:
– Better cooling performance
– Reduced noise
– Improved capacity
– Low impact on cost
Poor consumer reviews highlighted high energy use of existing platform
– Improved environmental impact had become an imperative
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23. Case study
Ecovation technique used to drive the technical development
Generated a range of potential technical solutions
Quantified & ranked 3 platforms in terms of
– Cost
– Performance, size, noise
– Overall environmental impact using Ei-99 scale
– Benchmarked against existing product
The process identified a new platform with:
– Substantially better cooling performance
– Environmental impact reduced by a factor of 3
– Only marginal impact on build cost +5% (in line with customer expectation)
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24. Case study
The existing appliance had a very high impact during use phase
Due to inefficient thermoelectric (Peltier) cooling with relatively poor insulation
60
Use 51.68
50
Total = 58.03
40
Impact (Ei-99 Points)
30
20
10 Production 6.74
Packaging 0.17 Transport 0.57
0
Disposal -1.13
Current appliance
-10
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25. Case study
Concept 1 - Incremental ‘improvement’ by retaining Peltier cooling and adding
extra cold store
Improved cooling performance plus meets noise and size targets
But eco-score deteriorated for both production and use
60
Use 53.23
50
Total = 60.84
40
Impact (Ei-99 Points)
30
20
10 Production 8.59
Packaging 0.17 Transport 0.57
0
Disposal -1.73
Peltier + cold store
-10
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26. Case study
Concept 2 – Adopt an absorption cycle (used in camping fridges/mini-bars)
Improves overall eco-impact and performance
Dramatically improved energy efficiency reduces eco-impact during use phase
Slightly higher eco-impact during production phase
Reduced noise 60
50
Total = 22.06
40
Impact (Ei-99 Points)
30
20
Use 14.78
10 Production 7.89
Packaging 0.17 Transport 0.57
0
Disposal -1.35
Absorption cooling
-10
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27. Case Study
Concept 3 – Vapour compression cycle
Better energy efficiency dramatically improves eco-impact of use phase
Poorer noise was offset by improved cooling performance was used to offset noise
Eco-score reduced by factor of 3! (even with slightly higher production impact)
60
50
Total = 16.27
40
Impact (Ei-99 Points)
30
20
Use 9.3
10 Production 7.85
Packaging 0.17 Transport 0.57
0
Disposal -1.62
Vapour compression
-10
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28. Case study
Improvements translated to strong marketing advantage
€40 / year saving for the average consumer
Overall performance improved
ECO-Score of appliance concepts
70
USE: 82%
reduction
60
50
Impact (Ei-99 Points)
40
53.23
51.68
30
20
14.78
9.3
10 0.57
0.17
0.57 0.57
0.17 0.57
0.17
0.17
6.74 8.59 7.89 7.85
0 -1.13 -1.73 -1.35 -1.62
Current appliance Peltier + cold store Absorption cooling Vapour compression
-10
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30. Getting Started
Start Simple and Build Eco-Design Capability
Consider eco-impact at the design stage using basic guides and checklists
Focus on energy efficiency – 9/10 products which consume energy have most eco-
impact during the use phase
Make products that have recycling value (easy to dis-assemble, good yield)
Benchmark using simple lifecycle analysis
– Existing products and competitors
– Identify biggest opportunities for improvement
Consider increasing product lifetime and re-define commercial models:
– Upgradeable platforms
– Services versus products
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