Design for Environment (DfE) is a general concept that refers to a variety of design approaches that attempt to reduce the overall environmental impact of a product, process or service, where environmental impacts are considered across its life cycle. There are three main concepts that fall under the Design for Environment umbrella: ^[1]

• Design for environmental processing and manufacturing: This ensures that raw material [Resource extraction|extraction] (mining, drilling, etc.), processing (processing reusable materials, metal melting, etc.), manufacturing are done using materials and processes which are not dangerous to the environment or the employees working on said processes. This includes the minimization of waste and hazardous by-products, air pollution, energy expenditure, among others.
• Design for environmental packaging: This ensures that the materials used in packaging are environmentally friendly, which can be achieved through the reuse of shipping products, elimination of unnecessary paper and packaging products, efficient use of materials and space, use of [Recycling|recycled] and/or recycleable materials.
• Design for disposal or reuse: The [End-of-life (product)|end-of-life] of a product is very important, because some products emit dangerous chemicals into the air, ground and water after they are disposed of in a landfill. Planning for the reuse or refurbishing of a product will change the types of materials that would be used, how they could later be disassembled and reused, and the environmental impacts such materials have.

Design For Environment

Definition: Design For Environment (DFE) is the idea of implementing certain aspects of environmentally friendly design to create a sustainable product . Although there is no actual DFE certification, following the Design For Environment guidelines helps to minimize waste and pollution, and saves money that is typically spent on product reprocessing.

• The United States Environmental Protection Agency(USEPA) started a program in the

early 1990’s called Design for the Environment. This program recognizes the need to develop cleaner production processes while promoting pollution reduction. This program was developed so that the idea of DFE would be implemented on a greater scale.

Design For Environment: Top 3 Priorities

Manufacturing- This stage includes incorporating new ways of producing items. These processes can help reduce the amount of energy needed for the entire production operation. The manufacturing process must also be a non-toxic process with minimal emissions that creates the least amount possible of left over material.

Materials Innovation- The materials that are included in the design of a product are highly scrutinized to make sure that no excess materials used and that these materials do not have a harmful impact on the environment. Materials that can easily be recycled are important when Designing For Environment.

Disposal/Recyclability- When designing a product, as well as its packaging, the makers must consider if the product is easy to recycle; therefore making the chances of recyclability greater. Designers need to know certain specifications about many types of materials so that they can efficiently decide how best to make a product. One example of this type of knowledge is to make thermoplastics recyclable manufactures make sure that different types of plastics are not mixed, no stickers are put on the product, and a lacquer is not used (HP Environment).

Life Cycles: The life cycle approach or “cradle to grave” analysis is often used while Designing For Environment. This system helps designers determine the best way to minimize environmental damage and maximize efficiency during the entire life of a product. A product goes through at least five different stages in its life; raw material production, finished product production, packaging, use, disposal, or recycling & refurbishment where it again begins the cycle (Guide to Sustainable Development & Environmental Policy). When designers are in the first stages of designing a product they analyze each stage in the product’s life cycle to determine a plan to make each stage as efficient as possible.

Things to be Considered:

Materials- When designing a product under DFE standards, the designer must first take into consideration what materials should be used. Using recycled or natural materials is a good thing, but these are not always the best choice(some recycled or natural materials cannot be easily recycled once they are made into a product). An example of this would be that “the production of 1 kg of wood causes less emissions than the production of 1 kg of plastic. But have you thought about the paint to preserve the wood, the energy needed to dry, the sawing losses? In some products, you would need about ten times as much wood as plastic. Plastics can often be recycled, wood cannot” ^[2]. Also when thinking about materials designers want to limit the variety of materials used in a single product, this makes the product itself more easily recyclable. If less material is used the product itself will weigh less, meaning that when the product is being shipped the transportation vehicle carrying the item will burn less fuel.

Energy Consumption- Designers and engineers must first consider how the production process of a product will be powered and then how the product itself will be powered once it is in use. Is it more beneficial to use batteries or electricity from an outlet to power a product? This is the type of question that a designer must answer when designing a product. Any sort of appliance with an automatic shut-off that is used to save energy would be an example of a product with Design For Environment compatible features.

Making A Product Recyclable- Not only is it extremely important to use recyclable materials, but it is also beneficial to use as few pieces as possible and to make these pieces easy to disassemble. A limited number of fasteners should be used and many tools should not be required to take a product apart. If a product’s parts are easy to remove the greater the chance will be that the recyclable parts will actually be recycled.

Reuse/Refurbishment- Some products are designed to be easily recycled and refurbished so that they can be used again. One example would be the ink cartridges for a printer. The cartridges can easily be removed from the printer by the user, recycled (in specific boxes located in many office supply stores), refilled with fresh ink, and put back on store shelves within a short period of time. Products like the one just mentioned meet many of the guidelines for Design For Environment products.

Increasing Product Lifetime- When the concept of Design For Environment is applied the designers must carefully consider the best ways to increase the total amount of time that a product is in use. In order to keep a product in use longer, designers implement certain techniques including but not limited to the following: making the product itself more durable, making the product upgradeable (meaning that new programs, applications, or tools can easily be applied/added to a product once it has already been sold and in use), and making the customer in some way feel attached to the product. ^[3] The longer a product is in use, the longer the production of similar products (that could be replacements) is stalled. This means that energy that would go into production of new products is saved.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is employed to forecast the impacts of different (production) alternatives of the product in question, thus being able to choose the environmentally most friendly. A life cycle analysis can serve as a very effective tool when determining the environmental impact of a product or process. Proper LCAs can help a designer compare several different products according to several categories, such as energy, toxicity, acidification, [Carbon dioxide|CO2 emissions], ozone depletion, resource depletion, and many others. By comparing different products, a designer can make decisions about which environmental hazard he/she should focus on in order to make the product more environmentally friendly.^[4]

Different software tools have been developed to assist designers in finding optimized products (or processes/services). Design for Environment includes several subsidiary approaches, such as Design for Disassembly (to facilitate recycling) and source reduction.

Contents 1 Design for the Environment Program 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Design for the Environment Program

Design for the Environment is a United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) program that works to prevent pollution, and the risk pollution presents to humans and the environment.^[5] The EPA DfE program provides information regarding safer electronics, safer flame retardants, safer chemical formulations, as well as best environmental processes.^[6]

[edit] See also

Biodiversity Conservation movement Design Impact Measures Ecodesign Sustainable design Environmental design Environmental movement

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Natural environment Nature Sustainability Sustainable Building Alliance

Sustainable development portal Environment portal

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The European Commission's Directory of LCA services, tools and databases in support of Ecodesign
• The European Commission's LCA database ELCD (free of charge)
• Design for Environment - Department Life Cycle Engineering - LBP - University of Stuttgart
• Life Cycle Engineering - LBP - University of Stuttgart
• GaBi Software - The Software for Environmental Product and Process Optimisation
• PE International - Product sustainability
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - DfE Program
• Sustainable Building Alliance

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