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1、Damascus Steel: Accidental nanotechnology circa 1100 A.D.!The Design Response to a Wash of Green: Whole Systems and Life Cycle Thinking, by Simon Lockrey The Keep Cup, a reusable cup for the takeaway espresso market. What a great idea: a green product to make a difference, make one happy, and assist

2、 in performing the menial tasks that litter an otherwise hectic day. Or is it? Consumer decision-making is beginning to follow a distinctly green trend, which is fantastic in principle but often contrived in reality. What does this mean for the designer who imagines, designs and creates these goods

3、that cater for growing consumer demand in sustainability? There lies the contradiction between designing for the consumption obsessed market and designing to the core principles of sustainability, where environmental, economic and social aspects are somewhat detached from a consumer driven market.Ac

4、cording to Ezio Manzini, design theorist from the famed Politecnico di Milano, we have a crisis of the commons (common areas, goods, etc), a lack of contemplative time (a time poor existence, longer hours at work, etc), and most relevant to designers, a proliferation of remedial goods (Manzini 2003)

5、. The latter sees products solving every perceived problem imaginable. Whether it is a toothbrush that oscillates the plaque off in half the time, or a breakfast bar filling the five-minute bus ride, we have become increasingly, unconsciously used to products feeding our increasing wants, without a

6、thought as to how that consumption impacts the environment. Last century, the raw materials consumed by one person in the US increased five fold (Matos and Wagner 1998). This looks more ominous when combined with the fact that only around 15-20 % of the world is highly developed to a US or western s

7、tyle of consumption (UN, 2009). One approach is for design to lower the users consumption, without degrading the consumers experience. The question is whether the new breed of eco products adds to the crisis, or makes a real difference.They may be adding to the crisis if the design method follows th

8、e rules of thumb for that infiltrated the design community in last two decades. The reality is that these techniques do have potential to make a difference, but are often ineffective. Take design for disassembly. A designer in an appliance company designs a product for disassembly although there is

9、no effective product stewardship scheme to collect the parts from reclaimed models. The design driven benefit is not delivered, rendering the methodology a waste of time. It is also well and good to reduce the weight of components and thus the embodied energy of the same appliance, however if the bu

10、lk of the impacts are generated during use from electricity (like an electric kettle), then the strategy most likely has negligible benefit in reducing environmental load. Likewise by making parts from commonised, recyclable materials, the likelihood is that there is no post consumer recycling strea

11、m or infrastructure in place to handle the majority of parts and materials, due to the commercial reality of recycling. This design for environment mentality has long been detached from the benefit it has aimed to deliver upon. There is a light at the end of this tunnel. There are ways to make a dif

12、ference, and there is evidence these methods are filtering through the design world. Life cycle thinking or applying a whole systems approach can make paradigm shifts in the reduction of environmental impacts of a product or service, without reducing perceived quality, or increasing cost. As these i

13、deas infiltrate design methodology, certain products shine as considered, sustainable shifts in the current wash of green.Cheviot Bridges sustainable wine packaging.Cheviot BridgeThe romantics among us would never have thought Shiraz would prosper in a Tetra Pak, a packaging form traditionally reser

14、ved for juice and milk. However some producers such as have, with a reduced packaging weight of almost 10 times a conventional bottle (unfilled). This dematerialisation enables huge embodied energy, carbon and water use reductions on the packaging, not to mention reduced haulage impact after filling

15、 (particularly for export, 1.05 kg rather than 1.5 kg per unit), and a smart palletisation shape for shipping and storage. The decision to move to a paper board packaging mode derived from extensive life cycle research, cost comparison and product testing (which funnily enough, contrary to some stig

16、ma, highlighted longer shelf life) to measure the potential benefits. The weight reduction, combined with an additional 250 mL of wine to the customer (the product is delivered in 1 L), delivers a quality driven outcome, with a raft of environmental and economic benefits due to life cycle thinking.D

17、ysons Airblade.DysonJames Dyson didnt go places by creating a better bag, he decided to create a cyclonic vacuum cleaner based on a saw mill, and the rest is history. This whole systems approach led Dyson to design highly efficient, miniature digital motors for the appliance market around ten years

18、ago. The use life cycle impacts of an electrical appliance generally dwarf the respective material and manufacture impacts. This relates back to the energy, fuels and raw materials consumed in operation of an appliance. By identifying the original motor as a major contributor to inefficiency within

19、the product system, an opportunity for a technology leap was found. Carbon producing, large, heavy, inefficient, failure-prone, brushed motors were replaced by highly efficient, light, fast, small, digital ones. Last year saw the latest Dyson products incorporate a tiny Dyson Digital Motor (DDM) V2

20、resulting in substantial dematerialisation coupled with ergonomic weight benefits. Handheld vacuums were launched with the DDM, replacing the traditional carbon brushed motor. The cost difference between base models is negligible, while functional and environmental credentials have improved markedly

21、. The new models are smaller and lighter, and remain almost half the weight of competitor machines. The DDM V2 size allows for high speed rotation, not achievable in larger, heavier motors. This produces around twice the power output at around half the weight of traditional motors, the new base mode

22、l handheld pulling the same suction power as the previous model, using two less batteries.The Dyson Airblade, which incorporates the first iteration of the DDM, is the first hand dryer to earn the coveted Carbon Reduction Label from the UK Carbon Trust. This achievement relates back to efficiency an

23、d whole systems design. By reverting to a polymer chassis compared to aluminium on the first Airblade release, Dyson cut carbon emissions in raw material, product manufacture and transport by over half, however this is not the preeminent story. Airblade strips the water off the hands, rather than he

24、ating air up and evaporating water like a conventional warm air hand dryer. Airblade drops the drying time to around 10 seconds, as opposed to up to 30 seconds with competitors which use inefficient carbon brush motors and heated air. Things start to look substantially thrifty without even crunching

25、 the numbers. In a press release, the comparison is up to 80% less energy used compared to traditional warm hand dryers (Carbon Trust 2010), which directly relates to carbon emission reductions. This giant gap in energy consumption, combined with product longevity, and a product stewardship scheme,

26、delivers environmental benefits that directly reduce impacts in new Dyson models. The Keep Cup and its many color combinations.Keep Cup: An LCA Case StudyWhilst operating a chain of cafs in Melbourne, Abigail and Jamie Forsyth saw a need and responsibility to address disposable packaging waste gener

27、ated both to reduce environmental impacts and costs. They estimated that in Australia at least 500 million disposable cups are used and discarded each year with large numbers of adults in urban communities consuming a disposable coffee on a daily basis (National Coffee Association of America found t

28、hat in 2007, 14% of adults in the United States drank gourmet coffee daily). Although disposable cups are a low margin, the wider impacts of the daily take away coffee set seemed one problem that did not justify the convenience. Others have attempted to either incorporate Post Consumer Recycled (PCR

29、) content or sell reusable products such as travel mugs designed to keep coffee hot for hours. The former has issues with food regulations; the latter is cumbersome and impractical for the savvy, on-the-go consumer, not designed to fit the needs of quality caf baristas. The duo engaged industrial de

30、sign consultancy Niche, with government funding, to create a solution dropping environmental impacts without reducing the consumers experience. The result was KeepCup, a reusable cup for the takeaway espresso market. It is the worlds first barista standard reusable cup, consisting Polyethylene (PE)

31、lid, Polypropylene (PP) cup, Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) plug, and Silicone ring. It mimics the core geometry and functions of disposable paper cups, including coffee machine modularity, waterproofing, sip slot, lid, individual coffee detailing, and adds hand insulation (avoiding double cupping

32、), steam plug, branding, and most importantly ergonomics to allow for convenience ie light weight, bag storable, etc. The concept has gained momentum, the cup used all over the Melbourne CBD, Australia, and now globally. 300,000 KeepCups have been sold in twelve months of trading, as adoption of the

33、 KeepCup by end users has generated revenue and costs savings for caf owners. But is it really making a difference?We did some research here at RMIT Centre for Design. Disposable paper cups (combined with a PE film) have little post consumer demand from reprocessors, and generally end up in Australi

34、an landfill. Although the KeepCup promotes recyclability, the fact still remains that the same system is more likely going to spit the various polymers it is made from to landfill, even if the components are separated by the consumer. With this in mind we modeled the 8 oz KeepCup (it is available in

35、 various sizes) against a comparable disposable paper cup using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology in a streamlined fashion. The functional unit was 1 take away coffee per day delivered to the consumer over a year, with the cups disposed of to landfill over or at the end of that period. We used

36、 raw material, manufacturing, transport, and end of life data from the Australian Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) 2009 and European Ecoinvent 2.0 database. Regional transport routes were considered (shipping from Asia for the disposable cup, lid, and the ring from the KeepCup, trucking from port to consu

37、mer), as well as tertiary packaging, and a wash cycle per use for the KeepCup, ranging from a quick rinse with warm water, a fully loaded dishwasher, half loaded dishwasher, and sink washing, the latter three with detergent. We also modeled coffee cultivation, production and brewing in Spain from a

38、study out of Switzerland (Humbert, Loerincik et al. 2009) to see what bearing the KeepCup had in context to the whole product The results were determined using the LCA Australian Impact Method. The KeepCup compared to the disposable paper cup (not including the coffee) depending upon the wash type (

39、the sink seeing the smallest through to quick rinse seeing the biggest environmental impact reductions), sees a 71-92% reduction in global warming potential, a 71-95% reduction in water use, and a 95-96% reduction in landfill waste over the year. Although the take away latt set consumer will still p

40、urchase the coffee whether in a disposable or reusable option, it is interesting to see how the previously stated savings compare when included with the impacts relating to coffee, which would in general dilute the savings of the container on its own. The KeepCup compared to disposable paper cup (in

41、cluding coffee) sees a 36-47% reduction in global warming, a 64-85% reduction in water use, and a 91-92% reduction in landfill waste annually. Although these are streamlined results using existing LCI data (a full LCAs may be more accurate, although often results are of a similar quantum), the figur

42、es indicate Keepcup would drastically reduce environmental impacts of consumers in drinking coffee, although in the grand scheme of things this would account for a very small proportion of a consumers overall impacts annually. This just seems like common sense, reusing rather than disposing, althoug

43、h this begs the question how the Keepcup strategy could apply to more resource intensive services such as heating, cooling, cooking, food, housing, and transport; if social rituals adapt. The KeepCup aesthetics are clean, and functionally it is thoughtfully designed, evident in the now global appeal

44、. Although KeepCup is most likely not going to be recycled in the Australian context, the shift from disposable to reusable adds environmental credibility, significantly reduces waste, cuts the economics down to size, and enables a social shift, a welcome change for a society now used to throwaway c

45、ulture.Paris VlibWide spread change in avoiding behaviours that embody high consumption may be some way off. Design has been instrumental in delivering some of the first tentative steps in facilitating individual and community action in this respect. Take the Paris Vlib, a bike share program introdu

46、ced in 2007 to promote cycling as opposed to other transport modes throughout Paris for short journeys. By diverting investment traditionally earmarked for carbon intensive transport modes, like more roads, a highly design oriented system delivers the low consumption alternative. If success is measu

47、red in use alone, 42 million rentals by 2009 speak loudly. The system works as a whole, with infrastructure, communications and servicing the key in delivering this success, producing a product that would continue to be used and reduce impacts inherent in other transport modes. The bikes, stands and

48、 1451 bike stations (one every 300 meters) designed by JC Decaux stay true to core design principles of form follows function and user centred methodology. Stations release only functioning bikes to users, a smart system alerting well resourced and mobile service staff of faults through diagnostic c

49、hecks when bikes check-in. This computer monitoring system is also used to monitor bike location for potential theft and station overloading, with bikes actively moved too and from understocked and overloaded stations. Locks guarantee integrated bike and station security. Bespoke components and economic deterrents dissuade potential thieves; with credit cards debited a deposit on a users non return of a bike. Economic incentives also drive timely travel, with free bike use in the first ha