DESIGN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND

SUBSTAINABLE DESIGN

Presented by

Preyesh.m

Mechanical engineering

M.TECH (PDM)

21ME326
 Design for the Environment 

 It is a design approach to reduce the overall human health and environmental impact of a
product, process or service, where impacts are considered across its life cycle. Different
software tools have been developed to assist designers in finding optimized products or
processes/services.
 DfE is also the original name of a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
program, created in 1992, that works to prevent pollution, and the risk pollution presents
to humans and the environment. The program provides information regarding safer 
chemical formulations for cleaning and other products.
 Environmental design is a concept which draws inspiration from our natural surroundings as a
point of reference. Environmental design ranges widely from architecture, product design,
engineering, urban planning, technology design and generally makes use of the combination of
many of these principles within a particular project.
 Another key design element regarding environmental design is the concept, bio-morphism and
bio-mimicry. Bio-morphism is when designers use shapes, forms and colours found in nature
and incorporate them into the aesthetic of their design. Bio-mimicry is when eco systems and
natural interactions are studies and copied in manmade systems such as water drainage systems
or colour changing materials like that of a chameleon’s skin.
Introduction
 Initial guidelines for a DfE approach were written in 1990 by Anneke van Waesberghe with her East
Meets West not for profit organization.
 It became a global movement targeting design initiatives and incorporating environmental motives to
improve product design in order to minimize health and environmental impacts by incorporating it
from design stage all the way to the manufacturing process.
 The DfE strategy aims to improve technology and design tactics to expand the scope of products. By
incorporating eco-efficiency into design tactics, DfE takes into consideration the entire life-cycle of
the product, while still making products usable but minimizing resource use.
 The key focus of DfE is to minimize the environmental-economic cost to consumers while still
focusing on the life-cycle framework of the product. By balancing both customer needs as well as
environmental and social impacts DfE aims to "improve the product use experience both for
consumers and producers, while minimally impacting the environment"
  Four main concepts that fall under the DfE umbrella

• Design for environmental processing and manufacturing: Raw material extraction (mining,

drilling, etc.), processing (processing reusable materials, metal melting, etc.) and 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 and other factors.
• Design for environmental packaging: Materials used in packaging are environmentally responsible,
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 recycled and/or recyclable materials.
• Design for disposal or reuse: The 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 energy efficiency: The design of products to reduce overall energy consumption
throughout the product's life.
Why do firms want to design for the environment?

 Modern day businesses all aim to produce goods at a low cost while maintaining quality, staying
competitive in the global marketplace, and meeting consumer preferences for more environment
friendly products. To help businesses meet these challenges, EPA encourages businesses to
incorporate environmental considerations into the design process. The benefits of incorporating DfE
include: cost savings, reduced business and environmental risks, expanded business and market
opportunities, and to meet environmental regulations.
Design for Environment - A Case Study

 Environmental responsibility is increasingly becoming vital in business and manufacturing. In

automotive ancillary industries, where volumes of products are huge, environmentally friendly
design is especially important.
 This paper discusses some of the practical methods that could be used in designing
environmentally friendly and efficient products. The major focus has been on design for
manufacture and assembly use of “green” materials and finally checking the environmental impact
using a specially developed guideline. In the case study, the redesign of a vacuum cylinder used in
light commercial vehicle exhaust brake system was taken up. Weight reduction of weight of 35%,
parts count of 40% and cost reduction of 30% were achieved in the new product. The design was
verified with an ECO-rating table. These techniques have been integrated with new product
development process.
 Environmental Design - Examples
 Examples of the environmental design process include use of roadway noise computer models in
design of noise barriers and use of roadway air dispersion models in analyzing and designing
urban highways. Designers consciously working within this more recent framework of philosophy
and practice seek a blending of nature and technology, regarding ecology as the basis for design.
Some believe that strategies of conservation, stewardship, and regeneration can be applied at all
levels of scale from the individual building to the community, with benefit to the human
individual and local and planetary ecosystems.
 Specific examples of large scale environmental design projects include:
• Boston Transportation Planning Review
• BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit System Daly City Turnback project and airport extension.
• Metropolitan Portland, Oregon light rail system
 Sustainable design 

 Sustainable design is about building the future, not just a structure. Sustainability is as much about
process as it is about product. Seeing design as a process empowers “green” designers to better
evaluate and anticipate the environmental, economical and social impacts and costs of building
products. Bigger-picture evaluations at the start of a project lead to better long-term decisions—and
that leads to greater overall success. 
 Sustainable design (also called environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design,
etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply
with the principles of ecological sustainability.
Theory

 The intention of sustainable design is to eliminate negative environmental impact completely through
skillful, sensitive design.
 Manifestations of sustainable design require renewable resources and innovation to impact the
environment minimally, and connect people with the natural environment.
 Human beings don't have a pollution problem; they have a design problem. If humans were to devise
products, tools, furniture, homes, factories, and cities more intelligently from the start, they wouldn't
even need to think in terms of waste, or contamination, or scarcity.
 Good design would allow for abundance, endless reuse, and pleasure. The Upcycle by authors 
Michael Braungart and William McDonough, 2013.
 Design-related decisions are happening everywhere on a daily basis, impacting “
sustainable development” or provisioning for the needs of future generations of life on earth. 
Sustainability and design are intimately linked.
 Quite simply, our future is designed. The term “design” is here used to refer to practices applied to the
making of products, services, as well as business and innovation strategy — all of which inform
sustainability. Sustainability can be thought of as the property of continuance; that is, what is
sustainable can be continued into the future.
Sustainable design principles

 While the practical application varies among disciplines, some common principles are as follows:
• Low-impact materials: choose non-toxic, sustainably produced or recycled materials which require
little energy to process
• Energy efficiency: use manufacturing processes and produce products which require less energy
• Emotionally durable design: reducing consumption and waste of resources by increasing the
durability of relationships between people and products, through design
• Design for reuse and recycling: Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance
in a commercial 'afterlife'.
• Targeted durability, not immortality, should be a design goal.
• Material diversity in multicomponent products should be minimized to promote disassembly and
value retention.
 Sustainable design principles
• Design impact measures for total carbon footprint and life-cycle assessment for any resource used are
increasingly required and available. Many are complex, but some give quick and accurate whole-earth
estimates of impacts. One measure estimates any spending as consuming an average economic share of
global energy use of 8,000 BTU per dollar and producing CO2 at the average rate of 0.57 kg of CO2
per dollar (1995 dollars US) from DOE figures.
• Sustainable design standards and project design guides are also increasingly available and are
vigorously being developed by a wide array of private organizations and individuals. There is also a
large body of new methods emerging from the rapid development of what has become known as
'sustainability science' promoted by a wide variety of educational and governmental institutions.
Sustainable design principles

• Biomimicry: "redesigning industrial systems on biological lines ... enabling the constant reuse of
materials in continuous closed cycles...
• Service substitution: shifting the mode of consumption from personal ownership of products to
provision of services which provide similar functions, e.g., from a private automobile to a carsharing
 service. Such a system promotes minimal resource use per unit of consumption (e.g., per trip driven).
• Renewable resource: materials should come from nearby (local or bioregional), sustainably managed
renewable sources that can be composted when their usefulness has been exhausted
Approach to Sustainable Design:

 The new laboratory, which opened in September 2001, was designed and built using sustainable
principles. The lab was supported by government agency sustainability advocates, GSA, and EPA, as
well as a sustainability conscious developer and contractor. The goal was to use the best commercially
available materials and technologies to minimize consumption of energy and resources and maximize
use of natural, recycled, and nontoxic materials.
 The design construction team diverted more than 50% of its construction and demolition debris from
the waste stream by recycling, processing excavated rock outcroppings into crushed stone that was
also used on site, and reusing furniture and laboratory equipment from the former facility to furnish
the new building while redistributing unused supplies to other buildings and organizations. The
facility used fly-ash content concrete and many other recycled-content materials
Sustainable Features
 The team maximized the use of natural site features, such as solar energy, natural shading, and
drainage. The team's principal goals were achieving energy efficiency and maximizing renewable
energy sources, so they incorporated a wide range of technologies and strategies, including lighting
controls, skylights, light tubes, extra insulation, high-efficiency chillers and motors, green power, and
PV awnings that supply 2 kW of electricity to the electric grid. Water-efficiency measures included
Xeriscape concepts for landscaping, an onsite well for laboratory uses, and low-flow sinks with
electronic sensors.

 Commercial power is provided by Green Mountain Power of Vermont via 100% renewable energy
sources. Green Mountain Power has committed to generating or purchasing wind-powered electricity
that matches the electrical consumption of NERL, an estimated 2 million kWh per year. Using green
power will reduce pollution by an estimated 3.46 million lb/yr of CO2, 17,600 lb/yr of SO2, and
6,200 lb/yr NOx over conventional power sources.
A Case Study On Environmental Design

• Medicine Werx Slogan Analysis. Medicine Werx – An artist-driven, wooden eyewear and lifestyle
apparel company. Public.
• Toulmin Model Argument About The Environment. With this, Christians will enhance their role of
service to God through.
• The Ethical And Environmental Effects Of Organic Food. According to research done by Renn Shaw
Hughner, customers.
• The Pros And Cons Of Biophilic Design. It involves building and landscape design that enhance
human.
Why sustainable design?

 When reading the examples of sustainable design, please realize that sustainability is not a new trend.
It’s an obvious and necessary change in our mindset, in which we don’t depend on extracting and
producing new materials, but we rather reuse, recycle and repurpose existing materials to make
new products.
 The absolutely amazing feature of sustainable design is that creative, innovative designers apply new
solutions to the production process, creating completely new designs and products.
 So if you like modern, new and unique items, you should totally go for sustainable design products
Thank you