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Sustainability in product design engineering
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SUSTAINABILITY IN PRODUCT DESIGN ENGINEERING
By: Elia Abdulkarim
What is sustainability?
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is the application of developing products to reduce negative environmental effects.
Sustainability aims to meet our current needs without jeopardising the next generation's ability to meet their own (Portney 2015).
Product design is at the heart of engineering.
Incorporating sustainability into Product design is the first step
Plastics are commonly used in manufacturing
limitations
but they have a lot of negative environmental impact
Biodegradable materials
They release high amounts of CO2 and waste
Uses
The solution: bioplastics
Polylactic acid (PLA)
POLYLACTIC ACID (PLA)
PLA is a biodegradable thermoplastic (Sin & Tueen 2019)
Its produced through a direct condensation reaction (Sin & Tueen 2019)
it produces much less CO2 than most petrloleum based plastics
PLA is also biodegradable
Practical implementation of PLA
The most common application for PLA in product design is 3D printing (Sin & Tueen 2019)
PLA has a low melting point of 150°C–175°C (Sin & Tueen 2019)
It emits minimal odour and fumes making it ideal to work with (Sin & Tueen 2019)
Other PLA grades are ideal to use for mobile and computer casings (Sin & Tueen 2019)
Limitations of PLA
PLA has a low melting point
It can take very long to degrade and often has to be done through a process called hydrolysis
Human centred design
Design methods
Human-centred design is a design framework that prioritises human needs
The goal of this approach is to adress pain points and improve how we interact with our products (Crandall, 2019).
ISSUES
Limitations of human centred design
There are issues with placing human needs at the center of the design process
Like overconsumption of resources due to environmental neglect (Borthwick, Tomitsch, & Gaughwin, 2022).
Solution
LIFE CENTRED DESIGN
Life centred design is a technique that considers all life and not just human life (Borthwick, Tomitsch & Gaughwin 2022).
This framework aims to maintain the values of human-centred design while making environmental and ethical concerns a main priority (Lau 2004).
This framework argues in order for a product to succeed, we have to take into account not only desirability, viability, feasibility, financial viability but also environmental factors
Limitations
LIMITATIONS OF LIFE CENTRED DESIGN
This model is new, which means there is a high probability that impracticalities will be found in the implementation of this model.
This however opens up an area for future study and research
CONCLUSION:
Conclusion
Because of the world's environmental situation, sustainable practices in product design engineering are evolving and becoming increasingly important.
Ethics and inclusion
If biodegradable polymers are used on a greater scale
there is the possibility for significant reductions in carbon dioxide concentrations and plastic waste
Despite slow progress in sustainable approaches
engineers are constantly refining new design frameworks
Sustainability is an ethical consideration, because it aims to preserve our natural resources
resources for PLA are easily accesible