Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
& Design
Materials and Design 27 (2006) 11281133
www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes
Short communication
a,1
, Mark Hadeld
b,*
Royal Academy of Engineering, Sustainable Development School of Design, Engineering and Computing, Bournemouth University, UK
Sustainable Product Engineering Research Centre, School and Design, Engineering and Computing, Bournemouth University, Poole
House, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
Abstract
There are major challenges for the designer to now include Sustainable Development aspects into his/her design; particularly
related to the social and wider economic impacts. The designer must, more than ever before, take into consideration the views
and concerns of all the interested parties stakeholders. There are many topics issues and concerns to consider and often they
can be conicting. The need is to examine the Sustainable Development risks and benets associated with any particular design so
improvements can be made. Both a concept model and a Bournemouth University practical model are described which allows this
risk/benet assessment to be made in a structured manner on a wide range of topics. The assessment can examine the product, the
company manufacturing the product and the manufacturing site. The major social, economic and environmental risks and benets is
tabulated or presented graphically for ease of evaluation in order to modify the design and so improve the Sustainable Development
aspects.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Environmental performance (E); Sustainable Development; Product design; Design model; Sustainable Development assessment
1. Introduction
It is generally understood that the product designer
has to be very focused on achieving the required technical performance and costs demanded by the client
and also takes a holistic approach to other aspects,
i.e., technical, aesthetic and ergonomic, but this does
not include all aspects, i.e., waste, end of life, ethics
etc. There is often little awareness and understanding
of the wider environmental, social and economic impacts of the design in other words, the Sustainable
Development aspects. It is vital that the designer de-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 01202 595983; fax: +44 01202
595314.
E-mail address: mhadeld@bournemouth.ac.uk (M. Hadeld).
1
Smith & Nephew Plc. (retired)
0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2005.03.016
1129
Financial inuences are wide ranging from individual/company tax to levies on products and imposition of taris like sugar in Europe and cotton in
USA [8].
Environment
Impact of climate change, resulting in changing
weather patterns, increasing sea level and ooding
will mainly aect the agricultural industry, but will
also cause more disease and ill health in the poorer
countries. Production of steel, aluminium, glass and
paper require high electricity usage, generating CO2
and increasing global warming.
Use of resources was one of the key concerns at the
recent Johannesburg Summit and the need to reduce
both consumption and production of products. One
way is to prevent and minimise waste arising in the
whole of the supply chain [2].
Decline of biodiversity has been a result of both
human population increase and the growth and eciency of the agricultural industry. The impact has
been global and local for example, the elephant
population has decreased 10-fold in the last 50 years
[3] and it has been estimated some 21 species are lost
each day for ever [4].
Social
Population growth has been predicted to double in
the next 50 years, but now experts are suggesting a
50% increase to 9 billion. Typical population growth
in the UK is 0.3%, compared with 70% growth over
the last two decades in China [5].
Provision of fresh water and sanitation to over a third
of the worlds population has been identied as a key
programme following the Johannesburg Summit [2].
Human rights were rst dened in the UN Declaration in 1948 with some 30 articles [6]. The most recent
concern has been the use of child labour to provide
cheap products for the developed countries.
Exclusion from earning a living or being part of society aects many people locally and globally, for
example the homeless, religious persecution, ethical
cleansing etc.
Economic
Poverty applies to over a third of the worlds population with these people living on less than $1 a day.
North south divide is dramatic USA has $34,320
GDP per capita compared with Sierra Leone of $470
GDP per capita. In the poorer countries, life expectancy can be 35 years compared with 78 years in UK [7].
Behaviour of International organisations is important as many have a greater turnover than the GDP
in a number of developing countries.
1130
CLIENT
CUSTOMER
USERS
PLANNING OFFICER
MANUFACTURERS
COMMUNITY
PRODUCT
DESIGNER
LOCAL COUNCIL
EMPLOYERS
WASTE
CONTRACTORS
TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
PROFESSIONAL
INSTITUTIONS
MATERIAL
SUPPLIER
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
3.1. Background
3.2. Assessment
3. Sustainable product development model concept
This is an attempt to provide a tool for designers in
order to present the Sustainable Development issues related to their product in a more manageable form, which
will allow them to identify the importance of stake-
3.3. Analysis
Will need the ability to analyse the above assessment
in various ways, but the key to any decision is based on
the balance between risks and benets. The key risks
and benets need to be identied, tabulated or graphed
so it is possible to compare the environmental, social
and economic impacts separately or together as Sustainable Development. This can be completed for the product, company or site or all three together. Finally,
having seen these tables and graphs there must be the
ability to go back into the assessment and change the detail on the score, impact aspect and level of importance
etc.
1131
1132
Table 1
Product, company and site worksheet example
Topics
Score
Element
Comments
Social
Risk or
benet? *
Raw materials
Hazardous
5
Source
6
Benet
Use of child labour
3
Risk
Costs
8
Transportation
6
Non-renewable
0
Energy used
10
Emissions
8
Discharges
6
Nuisances
6
Risk
Health and safety
7
Other
Other
Raw material risks total score
raw material benets total
Design *
Material selection
10
Material amounts
10
Disassembly
7
Costs
10
Energy usage
7
Waste generated
6
Reuse
8
Recycling
6
Life cycle assess.
5
Other
Other
Other
Design risks total score
Design benets total score
Benet
Risk
Benet
Benet
Economic
Environmental
High, medium
or low? *
Risk or
benet? *
High,
medium
or low? *
High
Low
Benet
Medium
Risk
High
High
Benet
High
Risk
Benet
Medium
Medium
6.75
6.00
High, medium
or low? *
Risk
Medium
Risk
Medium
Benet
Risk
Risk
Risk
Benet
Medium
High
High
Medium
High
11.00
16.50
Benet
High
Benet
Risk
Low
Medium
Low
Low
Low
Low
1.50
5.25
Risk or
benet? *
22.50
12.00
Benet
Benet
Benet
High
High
High
Benet
Risk
Benet
Benet
Benet
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
3.50
12.50
3.00
40.00
1133
exercise as a dierent stakeholder and evaluate any necessary changes to the design brief.
5. Concluding remarks
A model has been generated to assess the Sustainable
Development aspects of a product by not only evaluating the specic product but also the manufacturing company and its own manufacturing site. It provides
generic topics to consider in each element product,
company or site plus easy access to further information
on these topics. The analysis is via Excel spread sheets in
which the impact of each topic is scored, the impact
linked to the three elements of sustainable development
social, environmental or economic and the level of
impact allocated as high, medium or low impact, and nally dened as a benet or risk. The analysis of the
risks and benets is via a table or set of graphs. It has
been used successfully using the motor car as the
product.
References
[1] Hadeld, M, Howarth, G. Sustainable development training and
educational challenges for business and universities. In: International conference: engineering education in sustainable design.
Delft, The Netherlands; 2425 October 2002. p. 17482, ISBN
90 -5638-099-0.
[2] Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development. 4th
September 2002 UN Department of Economic and Social
Aairs Division for Sustainable Development.
[3] World Resources Institute. EarthScan Trends Data Set, Sept
2004. Available from: <www.wri.org>.
[4] The Reporter Spring. 2004. Brother, Can You Spare a Species,
Jerey K. McKee.
[5] China Population Information and Research Centre. August
2004. Available from: <www.cpirc.org.cn/en/eindex.htm>.
[6] Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations General
Assembly resolution 217 A(III) of 10 December 1948.
[7] United Nations Human Development Report, 2003.
[8] Market Access for Developing Countries. Exports Sta of
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, April 2001.
[9] NIKE Website www.nike.com/nikebiz Responsibilities Factories and Workers, August 2004.
[10] Bournemouth University SPD Website http://spd.bournemouth.
ac.uk.