IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY-PART A, VOL. 17, NO.

DECEMBER 1994

Green Design: An Introduction to

Issues and Challenges
Werner J. Glantschnig

Abstract- Great hopes are being pinned on the potential of with applying the life cycle framework to product development
green design for reducing the lifetime environmental impact of [71.
products. However, before industry can make significant progress If there is a distinction that seems to make sense, it is
in implementing effective green design programs, many issues
remain to be resolved and challenges met. A major current between design practices such as green design, DFE, and life
challenge, for example, is the still embryonic of the science cycle design on the one hand, and green product realization
and methodologies at the foundations of green design. Further- on the other. Green product realization is a term we at
more, product design does not take place in a vacuum. It is AT&T Bell Laboratories use to describe a comprehensive
impacted by a company’s other practices and initiatives, and on and integrated approach to operating as an environmentally
an even larger scale by factors beyond the control of an individual
manufacturing enterprise. Accordingly, this paper first explores responsible company, of which DFE is but one component.
challenges faced by product designers and environmental design Since the scope of green product realization goes beyond the
specialists developing green design tools, then it examines green scope of traditional design activities, the effectiveness of a
design issues challenges from the perspective of an individual green product realization program is likely to be greater than
company, and, finally, it discusses external factors and forces that of a narrower green design program alone.
that impact green design.
Index Terms-Green design, design for environment, Life cycle 11. GREENDESIGN:ISSUESAND CHALLENGES
design, green product realization, DFE guidelines, DFE checklists,
environmentally conscious product.
A. Introduction
When notions like green design and DFE initially surfaced
I. INTRODUCTION a few years ago, many people were quickly sold on the merits

I N order to be able to sustain further growth and develop-

ment, industrialized societies will have to make adjustments
in how they manage the industrial-environmental interface. In
of the idea of designing adverse impacts out of products. What
was not fully appreciated right away, however, was the com-
plexity and difficulty of making meaningful changes through
that context, design for environment ( D E ) 11-[3], life cycle green design, particularly for electronic products. Accordingly,
design (LCD) and green design are important concepts it was a widely held view that if only products were designed
that are currently evolving. for recycling, for example, many of the environmental ills
The terms green design, design for the environment, and of our throw-away consumer society would take care of
life cycle design refer to practices that are intended to yield themselves.
products whose aggregate environmental impact is as small as This simplistic view was bound to be revised, not so
possible. Since the goals of all of these practices are largely the much as a result of any flaw with the concept of green
same, many people use these terms interchangeably, though design itself but as a result of the realization that design
some distinctions are possible. At AT&T Bell Laboratories we practices in isolation have a limited impact. The inherent
have traditionally regarded DFE as primarily an engineering appeal of the green design concept often causes people to
design program in the tradition of DFX In order to forget that green design is not an end in itself but rather a
introduce it quickly, we intentionally limited the scope of means to an end. The ultimate goal is to reduce the overall
our initial DFE program to the impacts associated with the environmental impact of producing goods and services. The
product manufacturing and disposal stages only. As the DFE designer and the members of the product realization team are
knowledge base expands, more experience with environmental important in this endeavor since they translate requirements
design is gained, and many complex issues and dependencies on paper, including any environmental requirements, into
become better understood, the DFE approach will undoubtedly products with the requisite attributes. However, in order to
become more comprehensive. Thus, differences between DFE achieve significant environmental impact reduction, additional
and life cycle design can be expected to increasingly disappear. initiatives, at both the corporate and a larger industrial level,
In fact, we have already started to explore the issues associated are needed.
This paper discusses four issues or challenges pertinent
Manuscript received August 15, 1994. This paper was presented at the to implementing green design programs. The first issue is
First Annual International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, the dearth of adequate DFE aids such as guidelines and
Arlington, VA, May 10-12, 1993.
The author is with AT&T Bell Laboratories, Princeton, NJ 08542 USA. software-based tools. With little to hand to designers, it
IEEE Log Number 9406176. will be difficult to make significant headway with DFE in
1070-9886/94$04.00 1994 IEEE

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:054 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
GLANTSCHNIG GREEN DESIGN. AN INTRODUCTION

the near term. Because of the scarcity of suitable green a design tool for environmental recovery analysis is being
design tools, several companies with active environmental developed at Carnegie Mellon University 111, and a service
R&D programs have started their own tool development mode and recyclability analysis system is being developed at
efforts. Since green design is new and evolving discipline, Ohio State University [12]. At AT&T we have initiated work
and because some of the science underlying green design on a proprietary Green Index rating system that can be used
is immature and even controversial, these tool development as a decision tool and to track progress from one product
efforts entail their own set of challenges. Third, there is generation to the next [13]. Researchers from Volvo and the
the challenge of integrating design for environment into an Swedish Environmental Research Institute have developed a
effective, multidimensional corporate environmental program. rating system based on computing the environmental load unit
Finally, the impact of some external factors and constraints on for a product or its components [14]. Although all of these
implementing a DFE program is reviewed as well. tools are being tested or are even in limited use, they are not
yet far enough along to have wide applicability, or to be useful
B. Availability of Guidelines, Checklists, to designers on a day-to-day basis. Troy et al. have recently
and Sofrware-Based DFE Tools compared some of the above-mentioned tools, as well as a few
Designers have had to get accustomed to designing products commercially available design for product retirement software
meeting, increasingly, a set of often divergent requirements. packages 151.
In addition to product function and cost, downstream con-
siderations such as manufacturability and serviceability now C. Issues and Challenges in Developing Green Design Tools
must be considered as well [6]. Furthermore, there are safety The primary purpose of green design aids is to make
and liability concerns to heed, and products must conform to practicing DFE as simple as possible. Thus, aids or tools ought
an ever-expanding set of national and international standards. to present green design knowhow in an easily understandable
On top of everything else, designers are now being asked to and usable form. They should enable designers to improve the
contribute to reducing the environmental impact of products. environmental attributes of products without requiring them to
All this is taking place against the backdrop of increased become experts in environmental science and impact analysis.
competitive pressures, and tight schedules and budgets. Given Accordingly, the translation of broad environmental objectives
the wealth of issues and requirements designers must consider, into specific and readily applicable design rules is among
and given that virtually no practicing designers have had any the major challenges in developing useful and relevant green
kind of training in this field, some DFE tools are obviously design tools. Furthermore, the design advice offered should be
needed if headway with DFE is to be made. presented in such a way as to require little or no additional
Unfortunately, practical green design guidelines and other analysis. For example, if various alternative material or process
tools are hard to come by at this stage. As concerns guidelines choices are proposed, they should be presented in the form of
in particular, existing publications on the subject tend to be preference hierarchies. Such hierarchies free the designer from
general treatments of green design, which typically do not agonizing over which choice is environmentally preferable.
adequately translate environmental design goals and philoso- All this is easier said than done. While general environmen-
phies into hard and specific rules preferred by designers. tal design objectives are easily stated (resource conservation,
Examples of such publications are the OTA Green Products by energy efficiency, etc.), it is not nearly as easy to formulate
Design report [8] and the EPA Life Cycle Design Guidelines simple green design rules with general applicability. Three
[9]. Both documents contain a wealth of information, many major challenges in developing good tools are discussed
interesting application examples, and suggested strategies for below. First, there is the lack of a broad-based consensus on
implementing a green design program. This makes them useful practical environmental impact assessment methods. Reliable
reference and educational materials for staff responsible for impact assessment methods are sorely needed for determining
developing and implementing green design programs, but the relative merit of material or process choices, which is what
neither publication is well suited to serve as a working establishing preference hierarchies comes down to. Second,
document for designers. A guideline recently issued by the there is the scarcity of proven environmental material and/or
German association Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) is technology alternatives that can be proposed to designers.
probably among the best design references that have appeared Finally, the effectiveness of a particular green design so-
to date 101. Unfortunately, this document focuses primarily lution often depends on an accurate assessment of external
on design for recycling, and it is available only in German. parameters, which are hard to predict.
In the evolution of green design, the use of guidelines 1)Lack of practical environmental impact assessment meth-
and checklists may not be much more than a temporary ods: In order to reduce the impact of industrial activities,
stopgap measure. Most likely, green design will not be- reliable environmental impact assessment methods are clearly
come widely practiced throughout industry until good and needed. To the designer, impact assessments are merely a
easy-to-use software-based green design tools become avail- means to an end, the end being the ability to make the best
able. Ideally, these should interface seamlessly with standard design choice. Ideally, this choice should be based upon a
CAD/CAM tools and perform green design optimizations in scientific and objective rating or assessment system. Further-
a fashion that is largely transparent to the user. While no more, impact assessments should be comprehensive in order
such tools are as yet commercially available, some interesting to ascertain that design decisions will indeed yield products
tool development efforts are already under way. For example, whose aggregate, lifetime impact is minimized.

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:054 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY-PART A, VOL. 17, NO. 4, DECEMBER 1994

The life cycle assessment (LCA) framework has been pro- about the procedures and technical capabilities of the facility
posed for this purpose 161. Conceptually, the LCA framework where product disassembly and recycling will take place,
appears sound. Unfortunately, in practice there are many certain assumptions must be made. The upshot is that a product
problems with life cycle analysis. It tends to be cumbersome, may be ideally designed for recycling by reclamation center
reliable environmental data for materials and processes are A but not for recycling by facility B, which uses a different
scarce, and there is a lack of a broad-based consensus on how disassembly approach and employs different material reuse
to value or assess unlike impacts In addition, impacts options.
caused by product use and disposal are difficult to assess 4 ) Options and choices for the tool developer: The devel-
quantitatively since they depend on many factors that are hard opment of good design tools is a major challenge even if the
to predict or anticipate. Because of all these difficulties, current underlying knowledge base and science is well developed. It
rating or assessment methods, regardless of whether or not they is an even bigger challenge if, as is the case with the green
are based on LCA, are necessarily subjective, and their value design, much of the foundations are missing. In this case, one
is still somewhat questionable. has no choice but to improvise, to be pragmatic, and to accept
2) Scarcity of environmentally sound material and process the fact that corrections and improvements will inevitably have
choices: Often a designer’s ability to improve the “green- to be made later.
ness” of a product will be hampered by having to specify In developing guidelines or other aids one can start with
materials that, while undesirable from a purely environmental adopting existing design rules that have some bearing on
perspective, are necessary because of their unique combination the greenness of products. Additional rules, particularly rules
of physical properties. In general, this will more often be the pertaining to material selection, can be derived from infor-
situation with technologically complex products. Consider, for mation about toxic or hazardous substances in environmental
example, the difference between a very simple, nontechnolog- regulations. However, in some instances regulations, available
ical product such as a salt shaker and a printed wiring board data, and technology knowhow will not provide sufficient
(PWB). The vessel of the salt shaker can be made out of a information. For example, consider the development of pref-
variety of ceramics, metals, wood, and plastics. After all, the erence hierarchies, which involves establishing rankings for
sole function of the vessel is to contain the salt and to keep material, process, or design feature alternatives. As discussed
it dry, and a large number of materials are suitable for this above, settling the correctness of each and every design recom-
purpose. On the other hand, the function of the PWB is much mendation or preference ranking by means of a comparative
more complex. Typically, functional complexity can be bought impact analysis is not a possibility at this point. Thus, one
only at the price of material complexity. Even though it is a may have to rely on one’s experience, common sense, and
relatively simple electronic product component, a PWB cannot scientific guesses.
be made out of a single material. Furthermore, PWB materials The design rule development process just outlined was
must be chosen for their unique properties. For example, the basically the approach followed in developing the preliminary
board substrate must have certain dielectric properties, it must AT&T DFE Guidelines. Accordingly, our preliminary DFE
be flame and ignition retardant, and it must be compatible with guidelines amount to a collection of common sense rules, rules
a variety of wet and dry manufacturing processes. The metal derived from current and anticipated regulations, and rules
conductors must be inexpensive, adhere well to the substrate, compiled from sources such as green design guides available
exhibit low resistance, and resist oxidation. The upshot is from some material suppliers Furthermore, since
that a very limited number of combinations of materials are there is considerable overlap between practices such as design
suitable for PWB’s. Even though there are concerns with the for simplicity (DFS) and design for recyclability, rules
flame retardant substrate materials, and the processing and use borrowed or adapted from design for manufacturability (DFM)
of metals such as copper and lead, there currently just are or DFS guidelines are included as well.
not many environmentally preferable alternatives. Put another Since at the current time the design for environment frame-
way, the solution space is very constrained. In designing work is still largely an improvised construct, and not one based
an electronic product, the choice of less hazardous or toxic strictly on scientific principles and hard data, there is much
materials is, unfortunately, often not a realistic option. room for improvement. One aspect of green design that will
3) Dependence green design solution on extemal factors: probably see considerable improvement soon is design for dis-
If the lifetime environmental impact of a product is to be assembly and recyclability Larger companies operating
minimized, the product must be properly dealt with during their own material reclamation centers are finding that much
each of its life cycle stages. Since design and manufacturing knowledge is to be gained from disassembly studies and pilot
engineers control only the front end of the product life cycle, recycling projects
their ability to reduce back-end environmental impacts is The task of developing a software-based design tool is
limited. To be sure, they play an important enabling function obviously a much more resource- and knowledge-intensive
by, for example, designing the product for recycling. However, task than that of developing guidelines and checklists. This
if the product should end up being recycled in a different way realization provided the motivation for several large industrial
than was originally anticipated, then the designed-in impact companies and research organizations to start a cooperative
reduction potential may not be realized. Put another way, effort to develop a Green Design Advisor (GDA) under the
the correct design solution depends on external factors or sponsorship of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
boundary conditions. In the absence of detailed knowledge The GDA is supposed to automate the analysis of design

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:054 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
GLANTSCHNIG GREEN DESIGN: AN MTRODUCTION

features and processing choices, and provide feedback about maintained, is to encourage the growth of one’s lease business.
environmental impacts. The goal is to have this system ulti- This can be done through attractively pricing product leases.
mately evolve into a powerful CAE tool capable of importing Pricing decisions are typically the domain of product-line
design data from CAD files and environmental data from management and marketing, and not the designer.
remotely accessed databases. Depending on such factors as company size and structure,
and the nature of the products manufactured, implementing a
green product realization program will entail different chal-
D. The Need for Green Product Realization lenges for different companies. Many large companies are
So far, only issues and challenges faced by designers and likely to have programs in support of various environmental
design tool developers have been discussed. Green product objectives already in place. In this case, a first step toward
realization, however, entails a good deal more than a practice creating an effective green product realization program can be
narrowly focused on design. It also includes environmentally taken by improving coordination and synergies. Subsequently,
conscious product manufacture, green marketing, and envi- the pieces still missing need to be implemented, and finally,
ronmentally responsible product retirement. Green product all programs-the green design program included-will need
realization is a comprehensive approach to managing the to be forged into an effective green product realization system.
product life cycle. It gives design for environment meaning In order to accomplish all this, a well-designed environ-
and purpose in the first place. Without complementary envi- mental management system is needed. This system provides
ronmental initiatives and programs, the impact of green design the organizational support for green product realization and
will likely remain limited. Thus, the integration of green design includes elements such as environmental policy, corporate
into an effective, multidimensional green product realization environmental goals, performance measures, certain dedicated
program is a necessity. resources, efficient information management, and training [9].
Several reasons for integrating a green design program into The challenges involved in implementing an effective green
a broader green product realization framework have already product realization system are great, but in the long run the
been touched upon. For example, there is the complementarity cost of not attacking environmental issues in a proactive and
of design for recycling and the actual recycling process. Ide- comprehensive fashion may even be greater.
ally, specific design for recyclability features should reflect and
discount the product’s final disposition. If the wrong product
disposal or recycling process is assumed, the recyclability E. External Factors Affecting Green Design
features incorporated in the product may, in the final analysis, Although some factors external to the design process can be
have not much impact. Thus, a company operating its own addressed by companies themselves through a comprehensive
reverse distribution channels and material reclamation centers corporate green product realization program, others go beyond
ought to ascertain that its green design program and its product the control of an individual company. This is a result of
recycling strategy evolve in parallel and influence each other. manufacturing enterprises operating within, and interacting
This way, design for recyclability will ultimately yield the with, a larger industrial system. For example, there are in-
greatest economic and environmental benefits. teractions with suppliers and customers, products are subject
Earlier, some of the difficulties encountered in developing to various product standards, and there is a complex regulatory
green design tools were discussed. To the extent that these framework to content with. All the interactions and external
difficulties are due to the embryonic state of the science and forces impact on what is doable in terms of green design.
methodologies at the foundation of DFE,the situation will Let’s consider the dependence on suppliers first. A business
improve with time. As better material and process data and aggressively pursuing DFE may find that its efforts to turn
better assessments methods become available, some of the out environmentally improved products are stifled because
current obstacles to practicing DFE will disappear. However, of the inability to procure certain components. For example,
it is not realistic to expect that it will ever be possible to the manufacture of a lead- (Pb-) free electronic product may
design all adverse impacts out of products. Thus there will fail because of the current prevalence of components with
always be a need for complementary and backup programs. leads plated with Pb/Sn solder. There are no unmet technical
To the extent that a particular process waste (solder dross, for challenges in producing Pb/Sn-free components. Presently, the
example) cannot be designed out of the manufacturing process, scarcity of lead-free components is simply due to insufficient
a dross recycling program will help avoid a hazardous waste demand. As more and more companies are getting into the
stream. Since green design is a forward looking and preventive green design fray, and component suppliers will spot a market
approach, it is a high-leverage approach, and it ought to be opportunity, this situation will presumably correct itself.
tried first. However, since a satisfactory design-based solution Product standards are another issue. Many of those stan-
will often not be possible, there will always be a need for dards were developed before the merits of environmentally
technical approaches further down in the preference hierarchy, conscious product design were universally recognized. As a
such as waste minimization and recycling. result, in drafting those standards, little thought was given to
An equally if not more significant component of green how specific standard provisions might conflict with the goals
product realization are business strategies that support certain of green design. The upshot is that certain product standards
environmental goals. One way to ascertain that products are amount to outright impediments to green design, whereas
eventually returned, and control over their end of life is others constitute more subtle impediments. As an example of

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:054 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY-PART A, VOL. 17, NO. 4, DECEMBER 1994

the latter, consider the issues surrounding the use of recycled However, before we get there, many issues must be resolved
plastics in an electronic product housing application. Typically, and challenges met. Reducing the environmental impact of
such a part will have to meet certain Underwriter Laboratories products is a complex task. Industry and society at large are
(UL) standards pertaining to flame retardancy. The recycled just beginning to accept the urgency of this task. Clearly, there
material may well meet those standards. However, this is is much room for improvement with our current approaches
something that must first be verified and documented. This to managing the industriaknvironmental interface. Academia,
type of due diligence discourages most designers from even research institutions, and corporate R&D share the responsibil-
contemplating specifying the use of recycled materials. Again, ity for advancing the science underlying green design, and for
some day resin suppliers will offer resin grades with a certain developing better and more effective D E tools. At a corporate
recycled material content and with guaranteed properties that level, there has to be a commitment to nurturing fledgling
will remove the onus of verifying those properties from DFE practices, and to work toward integrating disparate envi-
designers and product developers. In the near term, though, ronmental programs into a cohesive green product realization
the need to comply with product standards is a problem in approach. Finally, we need to ascertain that our industrial and
terms of making progress with DFE. regulatory infrastructure evolves in such as way as to facilitate
Regulations, even environmental regulations ostensibly de- proactive environmental approaches by individual companies,
signed to drive the manufacture of greener products, can such as green product realization.
amount to impediments to green design as well. A high
recycled material content is certainly one attribute of an
environmentally conscious product. In fact, a major goal of REFERENCES
the proposed German Electronic Take Back Ordinance is to
foster the establishment of a closed-loop system in which J. C. Sekutowski, “Design for environment,” MRSBull., p. 3, June 1991.
B. R. Allenby, “Design for environment: A tool whose time has come,”
materials and components recovered from scrapped products J., pp. 5-9, Sept. 1991.
are utilized in the manufacture of new ones. Nevertheless, W. J. Glantschnig and J. C. Sekutowski, “Design for environment: Phi-
proposed regulations banning the use of brominated flame losophy, program, and issues,” in Green Engineering: Designing Prod-
ucts for Environmental Compatibilify, D. Navin-Chandra, Ed. New
retardants, which were commonly used in the past, may York Academic, in print.
prevent the recycling of the plastic materials tied up in L. Alting, “Life cycle design of industrial products: A new chal-
equipment already in circulation. lenge/opportunity for manufacturing enterprises,” in Proc. First Int.
Congress on Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing,
In summary, for green design to progress on a significant Boston, May 4-5, 1992.
scale, aspects of our whole industrial system-and the regu- V. A. Tipnis, “Evolving issues in product life cycle design,’’ Ann. CRIP,
latory framework within which it exists-will have to change vol. 42, pp. 169-173, 1993.
D. A. Gatenby and G. Foo, “Design for X(DFX): Key to competitive,
to provide a more hospitable environment for green prod- profitable products,” Tech. J . , vol. 68, pp. 2-13, 1990.
uct development. Furthermore, increased cooperation between G. A. Keoleian, W. J. Glantschnig, and W. McCann, “Life cycle design:
AT&T demonstration project,” in Proc. I994 IEEE Inf. Symp. Electronics
industry and government in developing relevant databases, and the Environment, San Francisco, May 2 4 , 1994.
and in expanding green design and process knowhow, would “Green products by design,” United States Congress, Office of Technol-
clearly be a plus. Allenby uses the term DFE infrastructure ogy Assessment, S/N 052-003-01303-7, Oct. 1992.
“Life cycle design guidance manual,” EPA/600/R-92/226, U.S. Envi-
to describe the support system in which DFE activities by the ronmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development;
private sector can be developed and sustained [24]. Clearly, prepared by G. A. Keoleian and D. Menerey, School of Natural
green design efforts by individual companies are important. Resources, Univ. of Michigan.Cincinnati: U.S. EPA, 1993.
“Konstruieren recyclinggerechter technischer Produkte,” VDI 2243,
However, if companies will not be able to increasingly count Blatt Oct. 1993.
on favorable external conditions and developments, green D. Navin-Chandra, “ReStar: A design tool For environmental recovery
analysis,” in Proc. 9th Int. Con& Engineering Design, The Hague, 1993.
design, and even broader green product realization efforts, K. Ishii, C. F. Eubanks. and M. Marks, “Evaluation method for post
will never quite reach their full potential and have the desired manufacturing issues in life cycle design,” Journal Concurrent
impact. Engineering: Research and Applications. London: Academic, vol. I ,
pp. 61-68, 1993.
Y. B. “Environmental rating tool,” AT&T Bell Labs. Tech. Memo.
111. CONCLUSION (proprietary), 1992.
“Environmentally compatible product development,” Volvo Car Corp.
Green design is an important component in the effort to Environmental Rep. 27, Version I , May 1991.
produce goods and services with a reduced lifetime environ- C. Troy, J. C. Fu, C. F. Eubanks, and S. T. C. Wong, “Design for product
mental impact. Thus, it is to be hoped that the implementation retirement software: A primer and a comparative survey,” presented
at 8th Con& with Industry: Partnering for Competitive Manufacturing
of design for the environment programs will succeed on a Processes, Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, PA, May 23-24, 1994.
large scale, and that the green design movement will some- “A technical framework for life-cycle assessment,” Society of Environ-
day become as entrenched in corporate life as TQM and mental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Foundation, Washington,
DC, 1991.
other competitiveness-enhancing measures. In that event, the F. R. Field J. Isaacs, and J. P. Clark, “Life cycle analysis and
stress on the environment caused by our industrial activities its role in product and process development,” Int. J. Environmentally
should be significantly reduced, and we will have managed to Conscious Design Manufacturing, vol. 2, pp. 13-20, 1993.
“Environmental considerations in product design and processing,” Gen-
evolve into an industrial ecology system capable of existing eral Electric Plastics, Pittsfield, MA.
in reasonable harmony with nature. Such a system should be “Designing green-a guide,” Dow Plastics, CH 00 I 012-E-I 291, Dow
Europe S.A., CH-8810 Horgen, Switzerland.
environmentally and economically sustainable over the long R. G . Watson, E. M. Theis, and R. S. Janek, “Mechanical equipment
run [25], design for simplicity,” A77 Tech. J., pp. 14-27, May/June 1990.

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:054 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
GLANTSCHNIG: GREEN DESIGN: AN INTRODUCTION

J. R. Kirby and I. Wadehra, “Designing business machines for disas- Werner J. Glantschnig received his B.A. and M.A.
sembly and recycling,” in Proc. 1993 IEEE Int. Symp. Electronics and degrees in Physics from Harvard University, and a
the Environment, Arlington, VA, May 10-12, 1993. Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from M U .
L. DAnjou and W. Glantschnig, “Recycling of Postconsumer ABS He joined AT&T in 1982. worked initially on
into wall mounts for the MERLIN LEGENDB and PARTNER 118 optical fiber technology, and in 1990 transferred to
communications systems,” in Proc. 22nd Annual Society of the the then-new Environmental Research Department,
Plasrics Industry, Structural Plasrics Division, pp. 88-96, 1994. where he commenced work on design for environ-
M. Wixom, “The NCMS green design advisor, a CAE tool for environ- ment (DFE) tools. He is currently a Member of
mentally conscious design,” in Proc. 1994 IEEE Inf. Symp. Ekctronics Technical Staff in the Green Product Realization
and Environment. San Francisco, May 2 4 , 1994. group at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Princeton, NJ.
B. R. Allenby, “lndustrial ecology gets down to earth,” Circuits In this caoacitv he is involved with all aspects of
I I

Devices, pp. 24-28, Jan. 1994. establishing a DFE program at AT&T. He is one of the authors of the
L. W. Jelinski, T. E. Graedel, R. A. Laudise, D. w. McCall. and c. preliminary AT&T DFE guidelines and checklists, and the development of
K. N. Patel, “Industrial ecology: Concepts and approaches.” Z”-. Nat. Improved DFE aids and tools continues to be one of his responsibilities.
Acad. USA, vol. 89, pp. 793-797, Feb. 1992. More recently he has also begun work on comprehensive product take-back
J. G. Speth, “The transition to a sustainable society,” Proc. Nut. and H~ is frequent on DFE-related topics,
Sci. USA, vol. 89, pp. 87G872, Feb. 1992.

mgmt

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:054 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.