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Semester 2 Exams > Sustainable Product Design > Flashcards

Sustainable Product Design Flashcards

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1
Q

Name the three most commonly used SPD strategies

A

Bio-Thinking
Cradle-to-Cradle
Sustainability

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2
Q

What is bio-thinking

A

A set of practical criteria for evaluating environmental performance and adopting renewable resources wherever possible

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3
Q

What is cradle-to-cradle

A

A circular closed system to use resources inspired by nature

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4
Q

What is sustainability

As a SPD strategy

A

Applying attributes related to the pillars of sustainability

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5
Q

What are the three SPD methodologies

A

Cyclic-Solar-Safe (Bio-thinking)
McDonough-Braungart (cradle-to-cradle)
Stuart Walker (Sustainability)

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6
Q

What are the 5 charateristics of Cyclic-Solar-Safe methodology

A

Cyclic: made from organic materials and be recyclable
Solar: Powered by renewable energy
Safe: Should be non-toxic in both use and disposal
Efficient: Should require 90% less materials, energy and water compared to equivalent utility products from 1990
Social: Should not impinge on basic human rights

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7
Q

What are the two closed loop mechanisms in McDonough-Braungart

A

Biological
Technical

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8
Q

What are the three key principles of McDonough-Braungart

A
  • Waste equals food (waste from one process is the input for another)
  • Use current solar income
  • Respect diversity
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9
Q

What are the four pillars of the Stuart Walker Design Methodology

A
  • Economics
  • Environment
  • Social
  • Ethical
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10
Q

What are the traditional design criteria and what additional criteria does thh Mconough-Braungart principle promote?

3 for each

A

Traditional:
Cost
Performance
Aesthetics

Additional:
Is it ecologically intelligent
Is it just
Is it fun

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11
Q

What are 5 features of the lifecycle design model

A
  1. Select low-impact materials
  2. Choose cleaner production processes
  3. Reduce industrial waste
  4. Maximise energy and water effeciency
  5. Design for waste minimisation
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12
Q

What are 6 considerations of social design

A
  1. Ethics and empathy
  2. Teamwork and collaboration
  3. Social Literacy
  4. Inclusiveness
  5. Visualisation
  6. Social Entrepenuership
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13
Q

What is an EPD

A

EPD is an evironmental product declaration which is a standard document providing information about a products environmental impacts.

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14
Q

What is the difference between an LCA and an EPD

A

An LCA is a method an EPD is a report.

EPDs do not contain sensitive information such as BOM or detailed production processes as these are proprietary.

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15
Q

What are PCRs

Definition of acronym

A

Product Category Rules

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16
Q

What do PCRs do

A

They provide rules on what to include and how to compute inputs so that like for like comparisons can be made between products and enable the creation of EPDs.

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17
Q

What is an example of the importance of choosing the correct metrics for measuring impacts

Unilever example

A

Unilever have a KPI of environmental impact per tonne of product.

This can be misleading as a concentrated powder used in smaller quanitities may have a lower impact per wash yet show as worse per tonne of product.

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18
Q

What is an sLCA

A

A simplified LCA which is a standard LCA with significantly reduced scope but still complies with standards ISO14040

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19
Q

What is footprinting

definition and 3 examples

A

Footprinting is a means of evaluating the environmental impacts of a person, product, company on a particular eco-system of resource.

e.g. water, carbon, eco footprinting

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20
Q

What are the three types of water footprints

A

Green water footprint: Rain water.

Blue water footprint: Fresh water.

Grey water footprint: amount of freshwater required to dilute polluted water to an acceptable quality.

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21
Q

Give an example of water footprinting and what it accounts for

A

Global water footprint standard.

Accounts for:
direct and indirect water use
Water consumption and pollution
Water footprints for blue, green and grey water

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22
Q

What is a sustainability BSM

A

Sustainability balanced scorecard matrices are a management tool that provides stakeholders with a measure of how the organisation is progressing towards its strategic goals including sustainability considerations.

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23
Q

Name three strengths and weaknesses of a sLCA

A

Strengths:
- More efficient and less costly
- Useable at an early stage of design
- Evaluate design attributes which are inherently qualitative such as ease of disassembly.

Weaknesses:
- Little or no ability to track material flows
Little ability to compare dissimilar approaches to fulfilling a need.
- Little ability to track improvements over time.

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24
Q

Name three benefits of Eco-indicator

A

-Simplified paper-based method
- Include a weighting method to provide a single score for environmental impact
- Data collection and assessment undertaken in advance for most common materials and processes.

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25
What are the three stages of Eco-Indicator
Goal & Scope, inventory assessment, interpretation.
26
Name the use of eco-indicator and two limitations
Use: - Aid designers in their search for environmentally friendly design alternatives. Limitations: - Not intended for environmental marketing or labelling - Not intended as an instrument for government standards or guideline setting
27
What are the units for eco-indicator
Eco-Points (Pt)
28
What does one point (Pt) represent
One thousandth of the yearly environmental load of one average european inhabitant.
29
What is an environmentally responsible product assessment (ERPA) Matrix
A qualitative and utilitarian approach which provides a numerical endpoint against which improvements can be measured. Assessor provides figure of merit to estimate the results of a formal LCA. Guided by experience and surveys.
30
What is DfLC | Acronym and goal
Design for Life Cycle - targets whole lifecycle and aims to concurrently reduce the impact across all stages
31
What are the three main considerations of DfLC
1. Manufacture 2. Use 3. EOL
32
What is DfD | Acronym definition and goal
Design for disassembly - aims to improve disassembly of products to promote serviceability and simplify EOL management.
33
What is DfRem | Acronym definition and goal
Design for Remanufacturing - aims to improve product structure and promote reuse or remanufacturing to extend service life.
34
What is DfR | Acronym definition and goal
Design for Recycling - aims to increase EOL recycling through improved material selection.
35
What is DfEM | Acronym definition and goal
Design for Energy Minimisation - aims to reduce energy consumption by both product and production processes across the entire lifecycle.
36
What is DfS | Acronym definition and goal
Design for sustainability - builds on the work of eco-design to include economic and social concerns. Includes both incremental and radical innovation.
37
What is DfSB | Acronym definition and goal
Design for sustainable behaviour - aims to reduce the environmental impacts of products by influencing user behaviour. Focus on use phase.
38
What are unilevers 5 levers of change
1. Make it understood 2. Make it easy 3. Make it desirable 4. Make it rewarding 5. Make it a habit
39
What are the four categories of ecodesign tools
1. Tools that analyse environmental strengths and weakenesses. 2. Tools that help set priorities for potential improvements. 3. Tools for coordination and implementation (provide assistance in design, brainstorming) 4. Environmental cost accounting to determine the environmental cost of a product throughout its lifecycle
40
What are the two broad groups that ecodesign tools fall into
Analytical Creative
41
What are some ecodesign tools for analysing the strengths and weaknesses | Name 4
LCAs (very thorough) Material input per service unit (MIPS) Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) Matrices (e.g. MET matrices)
42
Name two ways of simplifying an LCA
Limiting the scope and range of impact categories considered e.g. footprinting Using a relative unit representing all impact factors e.g. eco-indicator Pt
43
What is MIPS analysis | What it does and the assumption it is based on.
Material Input per Service Unit (MIPS) tool to identify and assess environmental impact by considering energy and material inputs. Based on the assumption that for the first assessment of environmental impact it is sensible to ignore product outputs like waste streams
44
What are the 5 categories of input material in a MIPS analysis
- Abiotic raw materials - biotic raw materials - Soil - Air - Water
45
What is Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) Analysis
CED is a tool to assess environmental impact across a lifecycle on the absis of its energy input and content.
46
What are the three usual outputs from a CED analysis
- Cumulative direct energy inputs into the product - Cumulative indirect energy inputs into the product - Cumulative energy content of the product (the energy content of the end product could be recycled)
47
Name two tools that support priority-setting and decision-making
- Spider diagrams e.g. LiDs - Dominance matrix
48
What is a LiDs Wheel | Acronym definition
Life-cycle Design Strategy Wheel
49
What is an ecodesign portfolio
Matrix that questions the technical and economic feasibility of designs. Solutions are entered in the correct box according to captions.
50
What are the four boxes in an ecodesign portfolio matrix
1. Do it 2. Quick wins 3. Longer term 4. Forget it
51
Describe the Philips Fast Five Checklist
Answer 5 questions either yes or no as you compare the new product to the reference product. Purely qualititative method. The number of yes boxes allow for interpretation.
52
What does environmental cost accounting do | 3 points
- allows for the cost of a product to be balanced against the environmental impact/improvement it provides. - Determines the environment related costs a product will incur in its lifecycle - A rough estimation of eco-improvement profitability
53
Name three examples of Environmental Costing tools
- Lifecycle Costing (LCC) - Total Cost Accounting (TCA) - Full Cost Accounting (FCA)
54
What is LCC | Acronym and what it does
Life Cycle Costing: includes considerations of cost impacts of a product beyond the proudction phase. e.g. restructuring distribution, packaging, repair costs, energy demand during use
55
What is TCA | Acronym and what it does
Total Cost Accounting: reveals costs that are difficult or hidden, including liability costs such as obligation to clear up after accidents, compensation for damaged property etc.
56
What is FCA | Acronym and what it does
Full Cost Accounting: adds a dimension to LCC by consdering the effects a product has on specific stakeholders. TCA focuses on producer, LCA focuses on all factors in product lifecycle - FCA widens the horizon to include all externalised costs. e.g. overfertilisation of soil or depletion of the ozone layer.
57
What does sustainable devlopment aim to do?
it aims to meet the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
58
What are the three pillars of sustainable development?
* Environmental protection * Economic development * Social inclusion
59
What is economic development | In the context of sustainable development
The generation of wealth in way that is compatible with the other pillars of SD
60
What is environmental protection? | In the context of sustainable development
Avoiding adverse impacts on natural and social systems from pollution and other environmental impacts.
61
What is social inclusion? | In the context of sustainable development
Avoiding gross inequalities of wealth, health and life choices.
62
For what metrics are standard eco-indicator values available? | 5 categories
- Materials (based on 1kg) - Production processes - Transport (tonne/km) - Energy generation (electricity/heat) - Disposal scenarios (per kg)
63
What is Phillips Electronics approach to sustainable design?
Top management driven approach integrates environmental sustainability improvement goals into all areas of the company. 90% of manufacturing sites worldwide are ISO14001certified
64
What is ISO14001
The international standard for enviromental management systems (EMS), a framework which helps organisations manage their environmental impacts and responsbilities.
65
Name 4 ways in which Phillips electronics have embedded eco-design in its product development.
- Reduction of weight and power in products. - Utilisation of bio-plastics in products - EoL strategies for all products - Packaging with high recycled content
66
What examples of sustainable product design do Body Shop Cosmetics employ? | 4 points
- Use of renewable materials in packaging - Sustainable sourcing - Package recycling - The Body Shop communicate their Sustainable Product Design Ethos to customers by bringing social and environmental issues to the attention of the customer (e.g. animal welfare and fair trade issues)
67
Name 3 benefits of Caterpillars remanufactured engines.
- 43 million tonnes of raw materials saved - 90% cost savings over new engines which are passed onto customers through price reductions - 52 million tonnes of C02 saved
68
Give three examples of how DfD can be applied.
- Modular components - Clear labelling of components - Easily accessible parts
69
Give three examples of how DfR can be applied
- Material simplification - Avoidance of hazardous materials - Monomaterials (minimal material diversity)
70
Give three examples of how DfRem can be applied.
- Robustness and durability - Standardisation of parts (facilitates easy component replacement/upgrades) - Ease of inspection (enabling diagnostics and assessments of component condition)
71
Give three examples of how DfEm can be applied.
- Energy-efficient operation modes (e.g. sleep mode/low power mode) - Choosing efficient components - Thermal insulation to reduce heatloss and reduce energy needed for heating/cooling operations
72
Give 3 examples of how DfSB can be applied.
- Clear feedback displays - Intuitive controls to allow users to select energy saving settings - Prompts and reminders (switch off, choose eco-settings)
73
Name three examples of how DfLC can be applied.
- Use of renewable and recycled materials - Product lifetime extension - EoL considerations
74
Name three examples of how DfS can be applied.
- Circular economy integration - Low-impact manufacturing processes - Multi-functional designs to reduce resource requirements.

Semester 2 Exams (2 decks)

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