We started the class with the understanding that there are environmental issues throughout the life-cycle of a product, from design onwards, through manufacutring, supplychain, logistics (transportation/warehouse), use and disposal of products.
We briefly discussed how Command & Control, economic instruments and voluntary initiatives apply to various stages of the life cycle of the product. For example, at the design stage one has to consider the requirements of RoHS and WEEE (both of legislative requirements of EU); we saw some examples as to how organizations had banned certain substances like Cadmium in 1984, well before the ban of this substance through legislation in 2006 (voluntary initiatives). Designing products with high energy efficiency may qualify these products for preferential purchases (economic instruments). Likewise we can see that the conflict resolution techniques are used throughout the life-cycle of the product. Use of command and control (all applicable legislation related to resource use and emissions and discharges) in manufacturing is well known. They are equally applicable to the supplier units.....an so on.
Design of the prodcut decides if the product at the end of life goes for reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and repair (cradle to cradle) or to landfills or incineration (cradle to grave). Product design plays an important role in the total life-cycle environmental impact of the product. Product Design that takes into consideration the ecological and economical aspects throughout the life cycle of the product is called the Design for the environment (or Eco-Design). We discussed the design for energy efficiency (e.g. dolphin of Honda), design for disassembly, design for recycling, design with lower mass ...we discussed about the possibility of using Al instead of steel in motor vehicles....we debated the "for and against" this concept. I explained to you the six focal areas of Eco-Design being used by Philips, Viz., Mass, energy, substances, recyclability, packaging and life. We touched upon the concept of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is a tool, although mostly in the realm of academics, for assessing the environmental performance of a product. One of the points that I highlighted was that our decisions should be based on the total life-cycle environmental impact of the product rather than the environmental impact during one phase of the life cycle.
We will continue with some of the life-cycle issues in the next lecture
We briefly discussed how Command & Control, economic instruments and voluntary initiatives apply to various stages of the life cycle of the product. For example, at the design stage one has to consider the requirements of RoHS and WEEE (both of legislative requirements of EU); we saw some examples as to how organizations had banned certain substances like Cadmium in 1984, well before the ban of this substance through legislation in 2006 (voluntary initiatives). Designing products with high energy efficiency may qualify these products for preferential purchases (economic instruments). Likewise we can see that the conflict resolution techniques are used throughout the life-cycle of the product. Use of command and control (all applicable legislation related to resource use and emissions and discharges) in manufacturing is well known. They are equally applicable to the supplier units.....an so on.
Design of the prodcut decides if the product at the end of life goes for reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and repair (cradle to cradle) or to landfills or incineration (cradle to grave). Product design plays an important role in the total life-cycle environmental impact of the product. Product Design that takes into consideration the ecological and economical aspects throughout the life cycle of the product is called the Design for the environment (or Eco-Design). We discussed the design for energy efficiency (e.g. dolphin of Honda), design for disassembly, design for recycling, design with lower mass ...we discussed about the possibility of using Al instead of steel in motor vehicles....we debated the "for and against" this concept. I explained to you the six focal areas of Eco-Design being used by Philips, Viz., Mass, energy, substances, recyclability, packaging and life. We touched upon the concept of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is a tool, although mostly in the realm of academics, for assessing the environmental performance of a product. One of the points that I highlighted was that our decisions should be based on the total life-cycle environmental impact of the product rather than the environmental impact during one phase of the life cycle.
We will continue with some of the life-cycle issues in the next lecture
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