Design for Sustainability

1. Design for Sustainability By: Wilmer Arellano

2. Introduction • Global warming, • Ozone layer depletion, • Rampant species extinction, • Overflowing landfills, • Air pollution, • Overpopulation, • and Acid Rain, • these are some of the by-products of the technocratic society. • Design for Sustainability. A new approach for Design: • “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

3. Overview • Introduction • References • Design for Sustainability • e-waste • The Hannover Principles • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) • Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) • Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) • The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) • The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) • USA and e-waste

4. References • FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY. School of Architecture. April 12, 1996. Guidelines and Principles for Sustainable Community Design. A study of sustainable design and planning strategies in North America from an urban design perspective. • EPAI600IR-061060 May 2006 • LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE by Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC) 11251 Roger Bacon Drive Reston, VA 20190 • The Hannover Principles. Design for Sustainability. Prepared for EXPO 2000 The World’s Fair. Hannover, Germany. William McDonough & Partners 410 East Water Street. Charlottesville, VA 22902. Tel 804 979 1111. Fyax 804 979 1112 • http://www.pre.nl/life_cycle_assessment/life_cycle_inventory.htm. 11/06/2006 • UL ROHS SERVIICES • A Summary of Global Restricted Substances Directives • www.ul.com/rscs • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and_Electronic_Equipment_Directive • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoHS • http://www.greenchoice.cn/index_eng.php?var1=content/waste/ewaste/ewaste_2.htm&

5. Design for Sustainability: • It has been misinterpreted that man has a divine right to subjugate and exploit nature. • When combined with the industrial revolution and the discovery of fossil fuels, this created a recipe for ecological disaster. • http://www.myflorida.com/fdi/edesign/news/9607/thesis/thesis.htm#1.1 • Guidelines and Principles for Sustainable Community Design • A study of sustainable design and planning strategies in North America from an urban design perspective

6. e-waste • Electronic waste, • "e-waste" or "Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment" ("WEEE") is a waste type consisting of any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic appliance. It is a point of concern considering that many components of such equipment are considered toxic and are not biodegradable. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-waste

7. e-waste • It is estimated that e-waste contains over 1000 different substances. • When these items are disposed of, they often leak toxic chemicals into the ground, air and water. • Worldwide, as much as 4,000 tons of e-waste are discarded every hour! • In 2004, China discarded approximately 4 million refrigerators, 5 million TV sets and 5 million washing machines, and these figures are on the rise! • China is receiving e-waste from other countries. It is estimated that between 50 and 80% of e-waste collected for recycling in the United States is shipped to Asia. China is the destination for around 90% of that material

9. Humanity, Nature, and Technology: The Hannover Principles

10. Humanity, Nature, and Technology: The Hannover Principles • There is a broad consensus that our climate is changing and that these changes will intensify with potentially catastrophic implications for global ecosystems. • The science is well understood and • The actual climate changes well documented, • But there is a significant gap in the perception of the general public and policy-makers as to the urgency required to address this crisis. • Action is required now and on an unprecedented scale, to deal with the climate change challenge.

11. Humanity, Nature, and Technology: The Hannover Principles • The City of Hannover, Germany, was designated as the site of the world exposition in the year 2000. • Hosting the world’s fair on the eve of the next millennium was both a great challenge and a great responsibility. • By choosing “Humanity, Nature, and Technology” as the theme for EXPO 2000, • the city decided to directly address the issue of promoting a sustainable future.

12. Sustainability: • Definition offered by the World Commission on Environment and Development: • “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” • In its original context, this definition was stated solely from the human point of view. • In order to embrace the idea of a global ecology with intrinsic value, the meaning must be expanded to allow all parts of nature to meet their own needs now and in the future.

13. The Hannover Principles • The Hannover Principles were assembled. after extensive consultation with representatives from: • design, • environmental, • and philosophical communities. • Design solutions should benefit flora and fauna as much as humans, upon the notion that, • natural processes take care of themselves best when left alone.

14. THE HANNOVER PRINCIPLES • Insist on rights of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse and sustainable condition. • Recognize interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend upon the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects. • Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness. • Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems and their right to co-exist. • Create safe objects of long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance or vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creation of products, processes or standards.

15. THE HANNOVER PRINCIPLES • Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems. in which there is no waste. • Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely for responsible use. • Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not as an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled. • Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.

16. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) • As environmental awareness increases, industries and businesses are assessing how their activities affect the environment. • Society has become concerned about the issues of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation. • Many businesses have responded to this awareness by providing “greener” products and using “greener” processes. • Life Cycle Assessment is a “cradle-to-grave” approach for assessing industrial systems. “Cradle-to-grave” begins with the gathering of raw materials from the earth to create the product and ends at the point when all materials are returned to the earth.

17. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) • Specifically, LCA is a technique to assess the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product, process, or service, by: • Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases • Evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with identified inputs and releases • Interpreting the results to help decision-makers make a more informed decision.

20. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) • A Life Cycle Inventory is a process of quantifying • Energy • Raw material • Atmospheric emissions, • Waterborne emissions, • Solid wastes, and • Other releases • for the entire life cycle of a product, process, or activity.

21. LCI Simple Products

22. LCI Including Complex Products

23. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) • The Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) phase of an LCA is the evaluation of potential human health and environmental impacts of the environmental resources and releases identified during the LCI. • Impact assessment should address • Environmental effects, • Human health effects; • it should also address resource depletion. • For example, what are the impacts of 9,000 tons of carbon dioxide or 5,000 tons of methane emissions released into the atmosphere? • Which is worse? • What are their potential impacts on smog? • On global warming?

24. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) • Two problems exist in impact assessment: • There are not sufficient data to calculate the damage to ecosystems by an impact. • There is no generally accepted way of assessing the value of the damage to ecosystems if this damage can be calculated.

25. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) • CML and SETAC describe a general approach, through the calculation of environmental effects. There are three steps: • Classification • Characterization • Normalization • Evaluation or weighting • The procedure is described below using fictional data. • Leiden University, Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) • Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)

26. Steps • Classification • In the classification step, all component substances are sorted into classes according to the effect they have on the environment. For example: • substances that contribute to the greenhouse effect or that • contribute to ozone layer depletion are divided into two classes. • Certain substances are included in more than one class. For example, NOx is found to be toxic, acidifying and causing eutrophication. • Characterization • The substances are aggregated within each class to produce an effect score. • Normalization • Each effect calculated for the life cycle of a product is benchmarked against the the known total effect for this class • Evaluation • Some substances may have a more intense effect than others. This problem is dealt with by applying weighting factors to the different substances.

27. Characterization Eutrophication is caused by the increase in an ecosystem of chemical nutrients • In the comparison between paper and polyethylene (LDPE) the calculated effect scores can be displayed as a graph. The highest calculated effect score is scaled to 100%. This means the materials can only be compared per effect.

28. Normalization • In order to gain a better understanding of the relative size of an effect, a normalization step is required. Each effect calculated for the life cycle of a product is benchmarked against the the known total effect for this class. For example, the Eco-indicator method normalizes with effects caused by the average European during a year. Of course it is possible to choose another basis for normalization.

29. Evaluation or Weighting • Weighting. The relative importance of the normalized effect scores is added. After weighting, ecotoxicity has clearly gained in significance (fictional example).

30. Example of the characterization step for a small inventory table. Emissions are multiplied by the corresponding weighting factor before they being summed per class. The results are called effect scores.

41. WEEE Directive • The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) is the European Community directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment which became European Law in February 2003, setting collection, recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical goods.

42. Definition of electronic waste according to the WEEE directive: • Large household appliances (ovens, refrigerators etc.) • Small household appliances (toasters, vacuum cleaners etc.) • Office & communication (PCs, printers, phones, faxes etc.) • Entertainment electronics (TVs, HiFis, portable CD players etc.) • Lighting equipment (mainly fluorescent tubes) • E-tools (drilling machines, electric lawnmowers etc.) • Sports & leisure equipment (electronic toys, training machines etc.) • Medical appliances and instruments • Surveillance equipment • Automatic issuing systems (ticket issuing machines etc.)

43. WEEE directive • Article 4 • Product design • Member States shall encourage the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment which take into account and facilitate dismantling and recovery, in particular the reuse and recycling of WEEE, their components and materials. In this context, Member States shall take appropriate measures so that producers do not prevent, through specific design features or manufacturing processes, WEEE from being reused, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages, for example, with regard to the protection of the environment and/or safety requirements.

44. WEEE directive • Article 5 • Separate collection • Member States shall adopt appropriate measures in order to minimize the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to achieve a high level of separate collection of WEEE. • For WEEE from private households, Member States shall ensure that by the 13 August 2005: • systems are set up allowing final holders and distributors to return such waste at least free of charge. Member States shall ensure the availability and accessibility of the necessary collection facilities, taking into account in particular the population density; • Continues …

45. The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) • The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) 2002/95/EC [1] was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. • The RoHS directive took effect on July 1, 2006, but is not a law; it is simply a directive. • This directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. • It is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic e-waste. • In North America, it is often pronounced "ROHS", "Rosh", or "Row Haws". In Europe, it is pronounced "Rose".

46. RoHS Directive • Each European Union member state will adopt its own enforcement and implementation policies using the directive as a guide. Therefore, there could be as many different versions of the law as there are states in the EU. • RoHS is often referred to as the "lead-free" directive, but it restricts the use of the following 6 substances: • Lead • Mercury • Cadmium • Hexavalent chromium (Chromium VI or Cr6+) • Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) • PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ether) • PBB and PBDE are flame retardants used in some plastics. • The maximum concentrations are 0.1% or 1000ppm (except for Cadmium which is limited to 0.01% or 100ppm) by weight of homogeneous material.

47. USA and e-waste • Electronic Waste Recycling Act – Senate Bills (SB) 20 and 50 • The Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (Stats. 2003, ch. 526 - SB 20) was signed into law on September 24, 2003, and amended by SB 50 (Stats. 2004, ch. 863) on September 29, 2004. • One of the major objectives of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act, as amended, is to establish a new program for consumers and the public to return, recycle and ensure the safe and environmentally-sound disposal of video display devices, such as televisions and computer monitors, that are hazardous wastes when discarded. • Beginning on January 1, 2005, California consumers began paying a fee ranging from $6 to $10 at the time of purchase of certain video display devices. The fees are deposited into a special account to be paid to qualified e-waste collectors and recyclers to cover their costs of managing these devices when they are discarded.

48. USA and e-waste • As part of its implementation of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act, DTSC has tested certain types of electronic devices to determine which would be hazardous waste when discarded; only video display devices that DTSC "determines are presumed to be, when discarded, a hazardous waste" are potentially covered by the Act. Currently, these devices include: • Cathode ray tube (CRT) devices (including televisions and computer monitors); • LCD desktop monitors; • laptop computers with LCD displays; • LCD televisions; and • plasma televisions. • These devices are "covered" only if their viewable screen size is greater than four inches, measured diagonally. (Note: the electronic waste recycling fee will not be charged on LCD televisions or plasma televisions until July 1, 2005.) • Department of Toxic Substances Control

49. California RoHS • What Hazardous Substances will be restricted from use in electronic devices sold in California? The EWRA will restrict the use of: • Lead, • Mercury, • Cadmium, and • Hexavalent chromium

50. JIS C 0950 (J-Moss or Japan RoHS), Japan • Effective date: July 1, 2006 • Japan’s directive mandates labeling requirements for restricted substances across seven categories of electrical and electronic equipment: personal computers, televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, microwaves and clothes dryers. Japan RoHS covers the same six substances called out by the EU RoHS Directive. Unlike EU RoHS, however, Japan RoHS does not ban products containing these substances. Instead, products that exceed the limited values of restricted substances are labeled “R,” while products that do not exceed these values receive a “G” rating.