Intro to lids wheel PDF

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An introduction to the LiDS wheel....

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Sunday, 28 February 2021

Introducing the LiDS Wheel and the 1st Stage: Strategies and Examples

How easy it is to assess the environmental impact of a product:! 1) The scope of temporal/organisational concern: the gradations are based on life spans of products. Individual phase of manufacturing. Product lifecycle may be short. ! 2) The scale of environmental concern: gradations refer to the assessment of the negative environmental impacts of:! •

A single product lifecycle!

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A group of products!

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“One manufacturer” concerning about all activities of a single manufacturing firm!

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“X manufacturer’s” which activities among a group of manufacturers are considered (Bra’s, 1997). !

There are a number of choices and issues to consider regarding assessment case study.!

Tools for Ecodesign:! Baumann (2002)- identifies 150 types of ecodesign tools. Most of these tools help with sustainable design but only consider environmental issues. These are easier to identify and measure compared with social issues. Many more tools identified in 2002.!

Comprehensive: consider the whole the life stage phase and the complete impact tax. Land, air, water and energy impact. ! Some tools only consider some of the life stage so isn’t used to measure the full life cycle. ! Some use numbers to measure the relevant impact of a product life cycle. Uses repeatable result so it is accurate. Qualitative tools such as LIDS wheel require you to make a guessed 1

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judgement with unrepeatable results. The challenge for designers is to choose the relevant tool to improve the sustainable aspect of a product. !

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT is the standard tool for assessing the environmental impact of a process in industry. It is a systematic step of procedures to examine the input and output of materials energy and environmental impact, directly links to the function of a product. ! -Quantitative! -Comprehensive! Life Cycle Strategy is recognised in 3 stages ! 1) Input of Material: compile an inventory of relevant inputs and outputs! 2) Energy Use: evaluate potential environmental impacts associated with inputs and outputs! 3) Waste and Emissions: interpret the results of the inventory and impact phases! HOWEVER… this life cycle assessment does not offer solutions, just numbers. It is time consuming and expensive meaning there is no clear cut answer. Difficult to compare products with different eco profiles.!

Bras (1997): Tools should have the following 7 characteristics;! 1) Simple! 2) Easy to use! 3) Precisely definable, can be evaluated ! 4) Objective! 5) Valid! 6) Robust, relatively sensitive to changes in the domain of application! 7) Enhances understanding and prediction. ! Lofthouse (2003) adds to this concept by saying that a LCA must offer opportunities in order to develop new creative approaches. ! But how does this apply to the LiDS wheel??!

Life-cycle Design Strategy Wheel (LiDS Wheel) A tool that offers guidance as to how environmental impact may be reduced, which takes into account all of the design stages. It can not be used to determine the environmental impact of a product, it is just a relative examination. To evaluate a new product by using an old product as a bench mark. ! 2

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-Encourages ecodesign thinking in the early stages of new product development ! -Used as an evaluating tool for assessing the environmental impact of two products supplying the same end function or two evolutionary products! -It can not be used to determine actual environmental impact of a product because the analysis is qualitative and unpredictable. The best solution is to use the LiDS wheel to generate alternative scenarios and the LCA to assess the scenario.! -Developed by Brezet and Van Hemel (1997)!

FIRST STAGE STRATEGIES: SELECTION OF LOW-IMPACT MATERIALS! 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the design stage ! How can we reduce this 80% through the LiDS wheel?! Drivers for Low Impact Materials: ! COST: Recycled aluminium is cheaper than virgin. This does not always apply as recycled polyester is more expensive than virgin fibres in regard to the automotive industry. However, using recyclable materials can potentially save landfill costs! LEGISLATION: ! •

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REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemical substances), 2007. Stop us using hazardous chemicals !

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RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances), 2002. ‘Single Market’ Direction which seeks to reduce the impact of EEE by restricting the use of certain hazardous substances during manufacturing. Complimentary to the WEEE directive!

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ELV (End of Life Vehicles), 2005. Treated by authorised dismantlers, ensure producers design vehicles with recycling in mind!

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WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive), 2007. Household appliances, IT equipment, lighting equipment, medical devices etc.!

In stage 1 of the LIDS wheel there are 5 strategies to consider:! CONSUMER PRESSURE: baby bottle manufacturers withdrew products with BPA traces after concerns to health before legislation was introduced in 2010. Only happens when consumer pressure increases rapidly! NON-HAZARDOUS MATERIAL: RoHS Directive (2006) restricts use of heavy metals, cadmium, mercury, chromium, lead, arsenic radium.! NON-EXHAUSTIBLE MATERIAL: In 2006, global fibre/filament market reached 100Mt for the first time. Around 70% of fibre production manmade has increased by 10% since 2007. Natural fibre share reduced by 20% since 1990. ! Hemp! Recycled polyester! Organic Cotton! LOW ENERGY CONTENT MATERIALS: measuring the energy content of materials is difficult but two factors contribute significantly, energy required to extract raw material and energy required to refine the raw material! RECYCLED MATERIALS: there’re not many materials that maintain their virgin quality in the recycling process. Most products are recycled into lower-grade products with reduced requirements which is known as ‘down cycled’ ! RECYLABLE MATERIALS:!

Best results are obtained through a combo of LCA and LIDS. Use LCA to identify where to make the biggest differences then LIDS to come up with new strategies then LCA to confirm environmental benefit. !

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