Environmental impact design methods

56914 Design Methods Assignment 1 State of the Art Design Methods Study

Environmental Impact
Author: Raül Feliu Pèlach Lecturer: Jose Hernandez Date: 21/11/2011

Raül Feliu Pèlach

State of the Art Design Methods Study: Environmental Impact

Content
Abstract (p. 3) 1. Introduction (p. 3-4)
1.1. 1.2. 2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. Environmental Awareness (p. 4) ISO 9000 series,ISO 14000 series and Environmental policies (p. 4) Life Cycle Assessment method (LCA) (p. 5-6) Quality Function Deployment for Environment (QFDE) (p. 6) TRIZ method (p. 6-7) Multi-scenarios Coexistence LCA method (p. 8) Hibrid LCA methods: The Path Exchange method (p. 8) Improved QFDE method for Eco Process Design (p. 8) Integrating TRIZ method with QFDE method (p. 9)

2. Design methods related toenvironmental impact (p. 5-7)

3. State of the art: methods developments (p. 8-9)

4.

Conclusions (p. 9)

References (p. 10-11)

Images
Image 1. (p. 3) Image 2.1. (p. 5)

Tables
Table 2. (p. 7)

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Raül Feliu Pèlach

State of the Art Design Methods Study: Environmental Impact

Abstract
The aim of this paper is to identify the state of the art in the topic: environmentalimpact. The main points that will be discussed according to the requirements specified for this assignment are: identify the main design methods available in the topic area, use examples of their application in the product development process, provide practical examples of the application of the key methods within a company context, compare and contrast the different methods, discover the state andfinally research and describe the recent developments in the field. First there is a general view of how design is related to environmental impact followed from some standards and environmental policies. The second part talks about some design methods linked to environmental impact. The last part of this paper talks about recent developments and the state of the art regarding to the designmethods exposed in the previous part.

1. Introduction
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (UNSD 1997), “Environmental impact refers to the direct effect of socio-economic activities and natural events on the components of the environment.” If we apply that definition to products, we can assert that any product has an environmental impact during its entirelife-cycle. This impact occurs during all the stages/phases of the product’s lifecycle: Requirements definition, Concept design, Detailed Design, Manufacture, Use and Disposal or Recovery, however that for some products the environmental impact will be more important in some phases rather than in others. An effective way of reducing the environmental impact of a product is to take in account environmentalissues during the initial conception of the product as well as through the other phases. Designers have the challenge to minimize the product's environmental impact applying different design methods and using various design tools in function of: the design phase, the product, the task on which the designer is working, designer knowledge and experience, available resources, and the cultural andpolitical context.

Image 1. Applying design methods to different phases of a product life-cycle. External factors . Inspired in Design Methods class slides.

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Raül Feliu Pèlach

State of the Art Design Methods Study: Environmental Impact

1.1. Environmental awareness
Developing green products is becoming more important for customers, companies and governments day after day. During thelasts decades, growing knowledge about connections between products and environmental problems have resulted in an increasing interest in designing for the environment (Ernzer, Lindahl et al. 2003). The key point is to address environmental issues through product design and innovation as opposed to the traditional end-of-pipe-control approach*.

1.2. ISO 9000 series, ISO 14000 series and...