Design for the Environment

Cleaner production and eco-efficiency does not only focus upon the production 'process' but also upon the products themselves. Recent approaches to product design have shown that there are significant financial and environmental savings to be made by redesigning products to minimize their environmental impact.

Known internationally as 'design for the environment' (DFE), or 'ecodesign', this approach examines a product's entire lifecycle and proposes changes to how the product is designed to minimize its environmental impact during its lifetime. These impacts are reduced by adopting the following strategies:

Raw materials -Design for resource conservation - Design for low impact materials	Manufacturing - Design for cleaner production
Use - Design for energy efficiency - Design for water conservation - Design for minimal consumption - Design for low-impact use - Design for service and repair - Design for durability	End of life - Design for re-use - Design for re-manufacture - Design for disassembly - Design for recycling - Design for safe disposal.
Distribution - Design for efficient distribution

Example - Greening the Kitchen

The Southcorp Dishlex Global range of dishwashers which arose out of the EcoReDesign^TM process at RMIT represents a new benchmark in energy and water efficiency. The key environmental improvements include:

six-star energy rating - the highest rating ever achieved by an Australian designed and manufactured dishwasher in Australia. The six-star rating is based on energy consumption of 256kWh;
AAA water rating - each machine uses less than a sink and a half of water for each wash, ie. less than 18 litres for a full load;
waste avoidance through greater material efficiencies. The new dishwashers are on average 700 grams lighter than previous models;
plastic components coded to enable easier identification during disassembly and recycling, making end-of-life recycling potentially more cost-effective;
major components designed for easier disassembly making end-of-life recycling potentially more cost effective;
material consolidation, or fewer material types, making end-of-life recycling potentially more cost effective; and
wash programmes include provision for enzyme-based detergents, making low temperature cycles highly efficient at cleaning while using minimal energy.

It is clear that DFE delivers cost savings to manufacturers by ensuring that raw material inputs and process inputs are minimised. Further information on this project is available from the RMIT web site.

Links and Resources

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts publications

DfE Case Studies

Consortium on Green Design and Manufacturing

Green Design Initiative - Carnegie Mellon University

Pollution Prevention by Design