Products of A Sustainable Future

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Products of a sustainable future

Matthew Simon and Andrew Sweatman
Design for Environment Research Group,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Design and Manufacture
Manchester Metropolitan University
DFE/TR34
Presented at the International Sustianable Development Research
Conference, Manchester, 7-8 April 1997
Abstract: We set out the principles of sustainable product design (SPD) and
the criteria for measuring the "eco-efficiency" of products, since only very
eco-efficient products can be sustainable. We distinguish SPD from design for
environment (DfE), the incremental improvement of existing products which
does not challenge the status quo of the consumer society. The principles are
illustrated by examples of eco-efficient products. Study of these leads to
conclusions on the economic and social conditions needed for sustainability in
product development. We identify the developing world as in some ways
more suitable for SPD than the West.
Index
1. Introduction
2. Definitions of sustainable products
3. The principles of eco-efficiency
4. Examples of sustainable and eco-efficient products
5. Economic impact of sustainable product design
6. Post-industrial design
7. The developing world
8. Conclusions
9. References
1. Introduction
Design is an activity that determines a large proportion of the resources
http://www.mec.uct.ac.za/~mec450z/local/enviro/documents/REPORT34.HTM 30/11/01
consumed in the industrialised world. Although the apparent culprits in

pollution scandals are plant operators, the responsibility really lies with
designers who have specified the use of certain materials or processes. It is not
surprising, therefore, that sustainable development has captured the
imagination of many designers and a term has been coined - sustainable
product development - to describe the process of creating products that are
more suited to a sustainable future, such as furniture from renewable timber
resources. However, the idea needs careful examination since many of the
products labelled "sustainable" would not be so in the long term, even if they
represent a considerable improvement on today's products.
At the same time, engineers are developing tools and methods for "design for
environment" (DfE) which are resulting in improved, "greened" products -
such as computers with reduced energy consumption and recyclable casings,
with electronics made in reduced-emission plants. This movement is based on
commercial interest, the firms involved being driven by legislation, cost
saving and competitive pressure. But it is possible for a recent book published
on "Green Technology and Design for Environment" [Ref 1] not to even
mention the principle of sustainability. So is there a real dichotomy between
the incremental improvements of commercial DfE and the radically different
designs of sustainable products? Or is the former a good starting point for
progress towards the latter?
2. Definitions of sustainable products
Sustainable development depends on two things: what types of products are

made, and in what quantity they are made. The issue of quantity of production
can only be settled by knowing the carrying capacity of the environment.
Even then, the concept of restricting production raises complex questions of
social and international equality. Consumption is normally limited by market
forces. Even with new tax regimes, market economics will be inadequate to
restrict consumption of products and the question of social benefit arises - is
the product really needed? Hence it is useful to define the nature of a
sustainable product or at least to have some absolute measure of "degree of
sustainability" - which we will call "eco-efficiency". This will allow social
benefit to be set against environmental cost.
This absolute method of assessment contrasts with the approach of
corporations who report "greened" designs from DfE programmes, where they
typically measure the improvement over existing products (e.g. half the
energy consumption) without any attempt to relate this to sustainability. It is
also preferable to the "Factor 10" approach [Ref 18], where a global estimate
has been made that we need to reduce the average resource intensity of
production by a factor of 10. This factor (which some argue should be as high
as 20) is used as a yardstick to measure progress in ecodesign. Fifty examples
of progress by a factor of 4 are reported in a forthcoming book [Ref 14]. The
disadvantage of this idea is that it doesn't distinguish between today's worst
and best products but only looks for overall progress.
An absolute measure gives us a spectrum on which we can place all products,

as follows:
Figure 1: Eco Efficiency of products

! 100% eco-efficiency: sustainable products, those that can be produced in
large quantities indefinitely;
! high eco-efficiency: products which have many environmentally-
conscious features but which can only be produced either in limited
quantity or for a limited time;
! low eco-efficiency: products whose production depletes non-renewable
resources, damages human health or pollutes the environment.
If the average eco-efficiency of all products is steadily increasing, then we are

moving towards sustainability. There are clearly very few truly sustainable
products. Measuring eco-efficiency can indicate which products should be
redesigned or replaced.
The above classification fits the three categories of product defined by the
German EPEA [Ref 2]:
! consumption products, which are fully biodegradable and can be

discarded after use - these are sustainable;
! service products, which must be taken back by the producer for treatment
and are thus of less than 100% eco-efficiency;
! unmarketable products, which cannot be safely used or disposed and
must be stored (such as toxic waste) - these we might say had zero eco-
efficiency.
3. The principles of eco-efficiency
Although a numerical scale will be difficult to define, the principles of eco-

efficient design can be agreed by considering the flow of materials in the
environment. Jackson [Ref 3] clearly explains the cycles of material extraction
and use and relates these to the growth motive of capitalism. We can use his
conclusions on human welfare and the mass production of consumer goods to
establish the basic principles of eco-efficient design:
1. Identify the human need that is being satisfied by the product or service
and prioritise needs over wants.
2. Dematerialise - reduce the quantity of materials and energy required per
unit of service. This can often be done by substituting labour for
materials through a reconception of the product.
3. Use renewable sources of materials and energy (interpreting renewable in
the context of the system or surroundings).
4. Minimise the dispersion of materials in the environment, whether waste,
emissions or other pollution, especially if harmful to human health or
ecosystems. This implies reuse, recycling, etc.
Any quantitative measure of eco-efficiency will contain a valuation, in other

words a weighting of the relative importance of the criteria used. The nearest
existing scale is the Ecopoints system [Ref 13] which awards points for all
environmental effects in the life cycle. This scale could be inverted - a low
Ecopoints score would mean high eco-efficiency. However no LCA system
such as the Ecopoints scale currently contains our first criterion, relating to
human need and social equity.
Manzini [Ref 15] offers an interesting model with two axes, representing
technology and culture. Progress on both axes is needed to achieve
sustainability. Dematerialisation can be achieved either by technical advance
or by cultural change: by more efficient car engines or by car sharing, for
example. This is a useful way of recognising the importance of cultural
factors. His model could be extended to three independent, orthogonal axes of
progress: Culture, Technology and Nature (Figure 2). These would then
correspond roughly with the first three principles outlined above.
Figure 2: Three axes of sustainability
My choice of the term eco-efficient is intentional: the principles above (with

the exception of the first) can be found in the publications of the World
Business Council on Sustainable Development, who use the term "eco-
efficiency" referring to strategic environmental management in industry. Their
six principles have surprisingly radical implications for the multinationals that
subscribe to the organisation. These principles are very similar, again, to those
of The Natural Step, the Swedish consensus on sustainable development
A catalogue of sustainable product development (SPD) has been produced by

the UNEP-WG-SPD working group on SPD [Ref 4] which stresses the
development of a product or service within whole systems and meeting human
needs. They point out:
"Often, the whole system in which a product exists and to which it contributes
is more important to achieving sustainability than the product itself."
Their seven criteria for sustainable products include the four we have
identified but add emphasis on strategic design (holistic design and planning
to meet a need), optimised design,and longevity.
The first design implication of eco-efficiency is the life-cycle philosophy,
since all the above have to be considered throughout the life cycle of the
product. The second implication is that we move closer to nature, since all
products originate, and ultimately return to, the earth; the increased use of
renewables emphasises this. The closeness to nature of eco-efficient design is
well described by Van der Ryn [Ref 5] who describes five principles of
"ecological design", as he calls the process. Although his examples are mostly
taken from the built environment, his principles are generally applicable. Van
der Ryn identifies not only that the product will be different, but also that the
user will relate to it in a different way. We cannot separate the "hardware"
from its purpose in society. If a new house is built from natural materials and
energy efficient, its occupants will interact with it in new ways; their lifestyle
and the appearance of the building will make statements to wider society. In
this way, design becomes personal and political [Ref 6].
4. Examples of sustainable and eco-efficient products
We can make a start by looking at published examples of products that claim

various degrees of eco-efficiency or sustainability. The following table
describes some of these and gives references where more details can be found.
We have added our own qualitative judgement of the degree of eco-efficiency
according to how many of the principles have been followed and to what
degree the requirements have been met.
Eco-efficiency
Category Product description [reference]
and comments
"Homes for Change", Manchester,
UK: low-energy high-density social Medium (non-
housing, with many innovative renewable
Housing
features including reduced car park materials still
spaces and community facilities, used)
£1/week heating costs [Ref 7]
Grammer "Natura" office chair: long
Furniture life, uses wood and leather, designed High
for disassembly and remanufacture,
120% re-usable, takeback costs

included.[Ref 8]
Sustainable or
Food & very high,
Organic produce, locally grown
Drink depending on
transport
Natural gourd packaging, grown to
Packaging Sustainable
shape [Ref 8]
Foxfibre cotton, organically grown,
Clothing Sustainable
naturally coloured, unbleached [Ref 8]
Appliances- Solar water heaters and cookers, wood High, depending
hot stoves (if fuel supply sustainable) on materials
Medium - still
Appliances - "Greenfreeze" refrigerators, using
contain plastics,
cold hydrocarbon fluids [Ref 9]
etc.
Medium -
important social
"Freeplay" clockwork radio - no
Appliances - element but
batteries, designed for developing
electronic many non-
countries [Ref 8]
renewable
materials
Manchester Metropolitan University Medium - still
- wooden telephone, machined from depends on
ash, fitted with recovered electronics electronics
Greenpeace "SmILE" modified Low - resource
Transport Renault Twingo car, 360cc engine, intensive for
75-86 mpg [Ref 7] service delivered
Medium - still
Hydrogen economy cars, gas from
resource
- renewably-generated power via
intensive for
electrolysis [Ref 7]
service delivered
Medium -
"Call-a-car" leasing system, the reduces
- Netherlands, promoting car sharing ownership but
[Ref 16] not journey
inefficiency
Bicycles, standard type made from

- steel/aluminium/rubber, long life, High
repairable/ recyclable
Bicycle, bamboo frame with carbon High, but little
-
fibre composite joints [Ref 8] better
- Walking Sustainable
Sustainable or
Natural fibre composites, e.g. flax or
very high,
Materials hemp fibres in matrix of lignin, tannin
depending on
or cellulose; biodegradable [Ref 10]
manufacturing
5. Economic impact of sustainable product design
Unfortunately, many of the products in the table above are only likely to be
made in small numbers. To have a significant impact regionally or globally, a
product needs to be available to millions of people (this is also a criterion in
the UNEP SPD research programme). However, dramatic changes in the
lifestyle of millions are not going to occur rapidly. So it is possible that larger
numbers of modestly improved products will have a greater impact, even if
they are still of low or medium eco-efficiency. The changes in the production
systems of these designs may be significant but are not "visible" in the
finished article. Products of high eco-efficiency will have a role as "concept
demonstrators", of considerable educational value especially if their design
semantics convey the sustainability message (Figure 3 and 4).
Figure 3: The MMU prototype wooden telephone, with a casing machined

from solid ash - a "concept demonstrator"
Figure 4: Economic impact of SDP
Examination of the UK economy shows that there is great scope for eco-
efficient products to have an impact. Consumers' expenditure amounts to £428
bn. whereas GDP in 110000 was £669 bn. 65% of consumers' expenditure
goes on goods and housing (see table below), where changes in materials,
production processes and transport would have a significant impact on
sustainability; the rest on various services, where the labour content is higher
and therefore the room for improvement less.
Potential Potential
Category of UK for for
Expenditure
consumer increase in reduction
bn. 110000
expenditure eco- in
efficiency consumption
Food, drink, tobacco 84.2 * *
Housing 55.1 *** *
Energy 26.8 ** ***
Clothes & shoes 24.7 ** *
Cars and vehicles 21.3 ** ***
Furniture and durables 19.1 *** **
Misc. (leisure,
household, personal 47.6 *** **
goods)
(Key: * low, ** medium, *** high potential)
The expenditure on categories of goods, combined with an estimate of the

potential for increased eco-efficiency, gives an indication of the progress
towards sustainability that could be made (Figure 5). Life cycle analysis of
more products is needed to identify which category has greatest environmental
impact: New tools such as input/output accounting can model the complex
flows of resources in the economy more closely, producing better national
economic/environmental accounts. The UK government published such
"green" accounts for the first time in 1996.
Figure 5: Scope for progress in the UK
The third column in the table is effectively an estimate of the technical

potential for improvement, while the last column relates to social factors.
Reduction in consumption is likely to be achieved by changes in lifestyle: for
example, vehicle expenditure will be reduced by travelling less and over
shorter distances. Even without significant reduction in the production of
goods and services, it is still possible to move towards a "conserver economy"
that reflects the priorities of sustainable product development. Hueting [Ref
11] reported a model of the Netherlands economy, which assumed
environmental measures such as energy saving, pollution prevention and the
encouragement of the service sector (by reduced VAT on labour-intensive
activities). The result was increased employment, an improved environment
and significantly reduced use of resources, while industrial production and
income were little affected.
In the short term, therefore, government policy could have a greater effect on
our current unsustainability than modest changes in product design. In the
longer term, we will need high eco-efficiency products for a sustainable
future. At the same time as developing these radical designs, we need to

encourage the changes in consumers' attitudes and in society that their use will
require. This is why the product semantics is such an important part of a
design: the distinctive whine and the logo of an electric or hybrid bus
communicates the anti-pollution public transport message as it passes by.
6. Post-industrial design
Unfortunately, mass production of goods means that most design serves the
interests of large corporations. It is unlikely that radical designs will emerge
from such companies; their profit motive requires that they constantly produce
new designs and must persuade people to buy them. So although washing
machines now use less power, detergent and water than those of ten years ago,
the machines' longevity and upgradability has not increased, since this might
affect sales. There has been no move by suppliers towards leasing machines,
which would drive design in the direction of robustness and maintainability.
And the manufacturers have not initiated community washing services.
Innovations are more likely to arise from smaller companies - for example, the
two major innovations in vacuum cleaner design, the "Wet & Dry" cleaner
and the cyclone cleaner, came from Vax and Dyson - small enterprises. So the
conditions for more sustainable product development include:
! encouraging innovation in larger manufacturers;
! promoting competition and preventing monopolies and oligopolies;
! ensuring the take-up of innovative ideas by bigger firms;
! moving to a decentralised production system where solutions to local
needs are produced locally.
Designers and the process of design will also change. This idea is not new:
Nigel Cross [Ref 17] identified ecodesign as one of the seeds of post-
industrial design in 1981: he cites examples such as an earth-walled house
with electronic control of heating to show that "ecodesign... is not simply
regressive to pre-industrial approaches, or romantically anti-industrial, but
offers a post-industrial way forward that utilises the full range of appropriate
human knowledge". More recently, Barry Katz [Ref 12] writes entertainingly
about a new breed of "un-designers", who will take over to clear up the mess
left by designers. They will be followed by "post-designers", who will design
for life, not for lifestyle.
7. The developing world
It is often pointed out that we in the West cannot seek to prevent the
population of developing nations from "catching up" to our lifestyle in terms
of consumption. Although many people still have need of basics such as clean
water, refrigeration is a vital aid to health. But the resources needed to provide
the whole developing world with traditional electric fridges and the power to
run them are enormous.
However, there are two ways in which this is less awful than it seems. Firstly,
the developing world has the opportunity to "leapfrog" our wasteful stages of
development and move directly to sustainability designed products. Fridges
using hydrocarbon refrigerants, which are freely and cheaply available, reduce
dependence on Western chemical companies who not long ago were hoping
for huge third world markets for their CFCs and HCFCs. These fridges need
not be electric and powered by mechanical compressors but can use a simple
absorption cycle powered by gas - biogas, perhaps. This "leapfrogging" is a
positive step, not a method of holding the third world back; Manzini argues
that similar leaps are needed by the first world too: "a sustainable system of
production and consumption cannot emerge from the partial modification of
the one in existence today" [Ref 15].
Secondly, the relative values of labour and materials in developing countries

affect the way products are treated. In Zimbabwe, for example, the deposit on
a returnable soft drink bottle is equivalent to two hours' wages for a labourer.
As a result, return rates are very high (the streets are not littered with bottles)
and several jobs are created at each supermarket to handle and sort returned
bottles. The use of refillable bottles has far less environmental impact than
recycling glass in bottle banks, the half-hearted solution forced on us in
Britain by the supermarkets to avoid the labour costs of returnable bottles.
Larger products also have a longer life in the third world. The high value of a
washing machine means that it will be maintained and repaired more times
than in the West. As long as products are designed for such conditions, the
whole system has a higher eco-efficiency and a higher labour content than the
throw-away culture here.
8. Conclusions
! A truly sustainable product is very unusual. Products need to fit within

new patterns of production and consumption for which design can play a
part, but not achieve alone.
! There is good agreement, even between environmentalists and industry,
on the basic criteria for an eco-efficient product.
! There is substantial scope for environmental progress in the UK by the
use of more eco-efficient designs, although in the shorter term more
impact will be felt from the larger numbers of marginally improved
products.
! In the longer term, we will have to move to a system of post-industrial
design, reflecting changes in society towards smaller, innovative
manufacturers, locally based and involving users in the design process.
! The relatively high value of materials in developing countries, compared
to the cost of labour, is a positive advantage in promoting sustainable
product development.
9. References
1. Billatos, "Green Technology and Design for Environment", , 1997

2. Braungart, M & Engelfried, J "The Intelligent Products System", Bulletin
EPEA, Hamburg, 1993
3. Jackson, Tim "Material Concerns", Routledge, 1996
4. UNEP-WG-SPD research programme, University of Amsterdam

(http://unep.frw.uva.nl)
5. Van der Ryn, Sim & Cowan, Stuart "Ecological Design", Island Press, 1996
6. Simon, M "The politics of ecodesign", Ecodesign, IV, 4 (spring 1997)
7. EcoDesign, IV, 3 (transport issue), publ. Ecological Design Association.

8. Hegeman, Han "Fifteen examples of sustainable product development",
UNEP-WG-SPD preliminary publication, on web (see ref. 4)
9. Greenpeace UK, "The Greenfreeze story", 19
10. Hill, Stephen "Cars that grow on trees", New Scientist, 153, 2067 (1 Feb
1997), pp. 36-39
11. Hueting, Roefie "An economic scenario for a conserver economy", in
Ekins, Paul (Ed.) "The living economy", Routledge 1986.
12. Katz, Barry M "Un-designing the mess we've made", Metropolis (New
York), September 1996.
13. Goedkoop, M "The Eco-Indicator 95 - final report", NOH, Netherlands
(see www.pre.nl).
14. von Weizsäcker, Ernst, Lovins, Amory B & Lovins, L Hunter, "Factor
Four - doubling wealth, halving resource use", Earthscan, 1997 (forthcoming)
15. Manzini, Ezio "Designing sustainability - leapfrog: anticipations of a

possible future", Domus 789 (Italy), January 1997.
16. Meijkamp, Rens, (T U Delft) in proceedings of 1996 "Greening of

Industry" conference, Heidelberg, Nov. 1996.
17. Cross, Nigel "The coming of post-industrial design", Design Studies, 2, 1

(Jan. 1981).
18. The "Carnoules declarations" of the Factor 10 club, publ. Wuppertal
Institute, 1995.
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Products of a sustainable future

Design is an activity that determines a large proportion of the resources

consumed in the industrialised world. Although the apparent culprits in

2. Definitions of sustainable products

Sustainable development depends on two things: what types of products are

This absolute method of assessment contrasts with the approach of

An absolute measure gives us a spectrum on which we can place all products,

Figure 1: Eco Efficiency of products

If the average eco-efficiency of all products is steadily increasing, then we are

! consumption products, which are fully biodegradable and can be

3. The principles of eco-efficiency

Although a numerical scale will be difficult to define, the principles of eco-

Any quantitative measure of eco-efficiency will contain a valuation, in other

Figure 2: Three axes of sustainability

My choice of the term eco-efficient is intentional: the principles above (with

A catalogue of sustainable product development (SPD) has been produced by

4. Examples of sustainable and eco-efficient products

We can make a start by looking at published examples of products that claim

120% re-usable, takeback costs

Bicycles, standard type made from

5. Economic impact of sustainable product design

Figure 3: The MMU prototype wooden telephone, with a casing machined

Figure 4: Economic impact of SDP

(Key: * low, ** medium, *** high potential)

The expenditure on categories of goods, combined with an estimate of the

Figure 5: Scope for progress in the UK

The third column in the table is effectively an estimate of the technical

future. At the same time as developing these radical designs, we need to

for life, not for lifestyle.

7. The developing world

Secondly, the relative values of labour and materials in developing countries

! A truly sustainable product is very unusual. Products need to fit within

1. Billatos, "Green Technology and Design for Environment", , 1997

4. UNEP-WG-SPD research programme, University of Amsterdam

6. Simon, M "The politics of ecodesign", Ecodesign, IV, 4 (spring 1997)

7. EcoDesign, IV, 3 (transport issue), publ. Ecological Design Association.

9. Greenpeace UK, "The Greenfreeze story", 19

15. Manzini, Ezio "Designing sustainability - leapfrog: anticipations of a

16. Meijkamp, Rens, (T U Delft) in proceedings of 1996 "Greening of

17. Cross, Nigel "The coming of post-industrial design", Design Studies, 2, 1

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Design for the Environment Research Group

Last updated 22 September, 1997

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(Key: * low, medium, * high potential)