Getting Started With Eco-Design - Guidance for innovative product developers

11 June 2010

Commercially Confidential S3908-P-090 v1.0

Getting Started with Eco-Design

Guidance for innovative product developers

Authors: Rachel Harker, Nathan Wrench

Commercially Confidential 2 11 June 2010 S3908-P-090 v1.0

Who we are

Founded 1960, owner Altran 300 engineers, designers & scientists

Contract design & development house Developing breakthrough products

Creating & licensing IPCambridge UK & Boston MA

Specialists in: consumer products, medical technology, wireless, defence & security, cleantech


For start-ups to Bluechips we develop radical products from new science or technology

Radical product innovations

End to end product design

Integrated eco-design

Transfer to manufacture

Faster time to market…

…with less risk

IP platform springboards

Turning Ideas into Reality


A Flavour of Our Work

Commercially Confidential 5 11 June 2010 S3908-P-090 v1.0Commercially Confidential 5 11 June 2010 S3908-P-090 v1.0

The world’s first virtually waterless washing machine prototype using revolutionary polymer technology.

Less water. Less energy.

6 11 June 2010 S3908-P-090 v1.0

Getting Started with Eco-design

The business case for eco-design1

Legal landscape2

Today’s presentation

The tools of the trade3

Case study of eco-design based innovation

Getting started

4

5


1. Business case for eco-design


Firms will have to integrate eco-design into innovation & NPD practises

Commercial pressure

– Green products are more desirable

– It promotes lean engineering which can reduce operating & product costs

– Investor pressure to mitigate commercial risks of climate change

– The competition has already begun

Legal requirements

– Multiple expansive directives already in force (e.g. RoHS, WEEE, EUP)

– More to come in response to Climate Change & international competition

Business case for eco-design

Eco-design offers opportunities for major competitive advantage now


Market demand for eco-friendly products will increase


64%

36%

64% of US consumers say they would replace older appliances with newer energy efficient appliances if home energy prices rise significantly (Source: CEA Market Research)


There are substantial cost savings to be made


£150k saved in first year after re-design of medium volume electronic product

– Fewer parts– Circuit boards reduced by 5 to 1– Fasteners reduced by 30%– Removal of glues and thinning materials

– Assembly time reduced by 68%


2. Legal Landscape


EC aiming for more sustainable resource use & reduction in landfill

Philosophy of Extended Producer Responsibility based on ‘polluter pays’ principle

OEM is responsible for end of life management

Aim is to encourage:

– Less toxic materials

– Use of more recycled materials

– Reduction in material usage

– Easy end of life treatment

– Re-use & recycling

Legal landscape


Several expansive directives support Producer Responsibility

Battery directive – restricts chemicals and deals with waste management

RoHS directive

– Lead-free electronics assembly

– Also restricts cadmium, mercury & hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE

WEEE directive

– Financial or physical responsibility for products at end of life

Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations – minimise & recover

EUP directive

– A framework for the setting of eco-design requirements for Energy Using Products

– Increase energy efficiency and reduce negative eco-impact

Legal landscape


3. Tools of the trade


Many eco-design tools & methodologies available

Typically used for 3 categories of design: buildings, processes and products

Facilitate eco-improvements through light touch approaches or comprehensive integrated processes

Product development tools & methodologies can help you:

– Make design & development decisions that reduce eco-impact

– Evaluate alternative technical solutions

– Compare your performance vs the competition

Tools of the trade


Many eco-design tools & methodologies available

Guidelines and check-lists

Management methodologies and tools

One-score indicators

Life cycle assessment tools

Tools of the trade


A few guides, checklists and tools can quickly improve knowledge and practise

Smart ecoDesignTM strategy wheel

– Quick tool to assess environmental strengths and weaknesses of a product

EcoDesign checklist

– Guidance and compliance with RoHS and EUP www.cfsd.org.uk/seeba

Guide - Cleaner Product Design: A Practical Approach

PACK-IN – The Packaging Indicator Tool www.envirowise.co.uk

QWERTY/EE concept

– Evaluates recyclability

– Includes economic factors for take back and recycling

– Jaco Huisman, Delft University of Technology 2003

Tools of the trade


Life Cycle Analysis is the standard method for assessing environmental impact

Environmental impact is determined by the whole product life cycle

Assess products at each phase of life from ‘cradle to grave’

Life phase impacts vary greatly from product to product

Tools of the trade

http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0109_lct/

material extraction material processing manufacturing use waste management

recycle re-manufacturing Re - use


The Ei-99 system is a comprehensive life cycle analysis tool which assigns points to each life phase based on three damage categories:

Outputs score in points per unit of product

Facilitates comparison between:

– Different or competing products

– Technical solutions or designs

Impact on ecosystems

Impact on human health

Impact on resources

Tools of the trade


Damage toecosystems( % plant species

* km2 * year )

Damage tohuman health

( disabilityadjusted life

years (DALY) )

Resources(MJ surplus energy)

Regional effect on species numbers

Local effect on species numbers

Effect on target species

Ecotoxicity: toxic stress (PAF)

Climate change (disease + displacement)

Surplus energy at future extraction

Ozone layer depletion (cancer + cataract)

Radiation effects (cancer)

Respiratory effects

Cancer

Decrease of natural areas

Altered pH + nutrient availability

Concentration in soil

Concentration of greenhouse gas

Availability of fossil fuels

Concentration of ores

Concentration of ozone depl. subst

Concentration radionuclides

Concentration fine dust. VOC

Concentration air, water + food

Land use &conversion

NOxSOxNH3

PesticidesHeavy metals

CO2HCFC

Nuclides (Bq)SPMVOCsPAHs

Extraction ofminerals &fossil fuels

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

Mining

Converter

Milling

Pressing

Transport

Disposal

Inventoryanalysis

Resource analysisLand-use analysis

Fate analysisExposure &

effect analysisDamageanalysis

Normalisationand weighting

Tools of the trade


4. Case study of eco-design based innovation using Life Cycle Analysis


Consumer appliance manufacturer developing next generation mini fridge

Requirements:

– Better cooling performance

– Reduced noise

– Improved capacity

– Low impact on cost

Poor consumer reviews highlighted high energy use of existing platform

– Improved environmental impact had become an imperative

Case study


Ecovation technique used to drive the technical development

Generated a range of potential technical solutions

Quantified & ranked 3 platforms in terms of

– Cost

– Performance, size, noise

– Overall environmental impact using Ei-99 scale

– Benchmarked against existing product

The process identified a new platform with:

– Substantially better cooling performance

– Environmental impact reduced by a factor of 3

– Only marginal impact on build cost +5% (in line with customer expectation)

Case study


The existing appliance had a very high impact during use phase

Due to inefficient thermoelectric (Peltier) cooling with relatively poor insulation

Case study

Production 6.74

Packaging 0.17 Transport 0.57

Use 51.68

Disposal -1.13

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Current appliance

Impa

ct (E

i-99

Poi

nts)

Total = 58.03


Concept 1 - Incremental ‘improvement’ by retaining Peltier cooling and adding extra cold store

Improved cooling performance plus meets noise and size targets

But eco-score deteriorated for both production and use

Case study

Production 8.59


Use 53.23

Disposal -1.73

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Peltier + cold store

Impa

ct (E

i-99

Poin

ts)

Total = 60.84


Concept 2 – Adopt an absorption cycle (used in camping fridges/mini-bars)

Improves overall eco-impact and performance

Dramatically improved energy efficiency reduces eco-impact during use phase

Slightly higher eco-impact during production phase

Reduced noise

Case study

Production 7.89


Use 14.78

Disposal -1.35

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Absorption cooling

Impa

ct (E

i-99

Poi

nts)

Total = 22.06


Concept 3 – Vapour compression cycle

Better energy efficiency dramatically improves eco-impact of use phase

Poorer noise was offset by improved cooling performance was used to offset noise

Eco-score reduced by factor of 3! (even with slightly higher production impact)

Case Study

Production 7.85


Use 9.3

Disposal -1.62

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Vapour compression

Impa

ct (E

i-99

Poi

nts)

Total = 16.27


Improvements translated to strong marketing advantage

€40 / year saving for the average consumer

Overall performance improved

Case study

ECO-Score of appliance concepts

6.74 8.59 7.89 7.850.17

0.17 0.17 0.170.570.57 0.57 0.57

51.6853.23

14.789.3

-1.13 -1.73 -1.35 -1.62

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Current appliance Peltier + cold store Absorption cooling Vapour compression

Impa

ct (E

i-99

Poi

nts)

USE: 82% reduction


5. Getting Started


Start Simple and Build Eco-Design Capability

Consider eco-impact at the design stage using basic guides and checklists

Focus on energy efficiency – 9/10 products which consume energy have most eco-impact during the use phase

Make products that have recycling value (easy to dis-assemble, good yield)

Benchmark using simple lifecycle analysis

– Existing products and competitors

– Identify biggest opportunities for improvement

Consider increasing product lifetime and re-define commercial models:

– Upgradeable platforms

– Services versus products

Getting Started


Contact details:

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Getting Started With Eco-Design - Guidance for innovative product developers

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