T2 Charette: LCA lifecycle analysis

Greenfly: Design greener products

• This video encourages us to think about environment considerations rather than just simply 'design'
• Using graphs and visual tools, it really highlights how alternative resources and materials could affect the life cycle selection of our designs
• The information given to us in our Environmental Declaration Report is very thorough, and definitely makes us think twice about wastage and energy consumption, all leading to global warming.

Therefore eco-design should always be on our minds when we design. We should be designing for a more sustainable environment to benefit not only us, but future generations.

Autodesk: Whole system and lifecycle thinking

• Improving performance and decreasing costs shouldn't be conflicting, because we should take a few steps to look at the whole 'system' of what we're designing for first
• It is important to do in depth research to figure out insights and thoughts of consumers before jumping straight into simply designing something
• We must also set our priorities, so we know where to fit in environmental goals to increase sustainability and decrease wastage

I gathered that no design process is 'linear' but there are rough guidelines we should all follow in our thinking. Doing this will ensure we get the best out of our work.

Autodesk: Improving product lifetime

• As designers we should always plan out exactly how products can be used to improve product lifetime
• We need to make things durable for reuse, despite it being "bad business" 
• The ideal product lifecycle is one of a closed loop, leaving no material for creating landfill, however this is very difficult and can be quite costly to achieve.

Not everything should be built to last forever, or else this could cause a catastrophe. Things should be designed to have a 'good end of life' to be recycled, or to be used in another environment.

Autodesk: Lightweighting

• Designing something to be lightweight can save on lots of resources and material
• The energy used to make materials are very large, so as designers we should always be conscious of sustainability
• Geometry and structure can be a strategy for sustainability - this includes hollows/ribs/decreasing wall thicknesses/using trusts

Making a design 'lightweight' is not always the way to go. There are consequences, such as the product may not be as robust, or may lead to a shorter lifecycle, which defeats the purpose of 'saving material' as in the long run, you'd be using more.

Autodesk: Green materials selection

• A good material can be determined by being abundant and non-toxic
• A doesn't require a lot energy and other resources to make it
• A good material it has the right physical properties for its functions

A good material must be balanced off by their trade-offs in uses and functions

Autodesk: Energy efficient design

• The first stage of energy is actually the mining and transport of coal
• Environmental impacts of energy may vary depending on the source of energy and its use
• If there is less sources of energy at the beginning of the 'energy stream', there is less energy used at the end, and therefore a lower cost

The more we know about energy, the more efficient our designs can be as designers.