We’re definitely living in the era of climate change. 2016 was the warmest year on record for the third year in a row, and we’re witnessing all kinds of crazy weather events month after month around the world. This is a big problem that’s got to be solved, and largely it’s a problem that needs to be solved with design.
From architectural design to product design, how we approach designing our world has a tremendous impact on our environment. designers can leverage this impact to move us in the right direction. If you’re looking to design for climate change, here’s a few ideas to keep in mind.
Designing for Climate Change
The most important rule when considering your environmental impact is to maximize your productivity while minimizing your resource consumption as much as possible. In other words, it’s all about efficiency. Getting the highest value from minimal energy and material is, obviously, also a winning business proposition, which means that designing environmentally friendly products is never really about compromising on the economics.
How this rule is applied will vary depending on the nature of your design project, but it is applicable in all situations. For architectural projects, designing low-energy and passive-energy houses is a prime example. For new products, it can be everything from longer shelf-lives, energy-efficient manufacturing, and recycled materials.
It’s all about designing smart and being smart means having a plan.
1.Consider Energy Efficiency from the Beginning
Right from day one, you want to be considering and planning your energy consumption throughout the life-cycle of your product. You want to break down your product’s lifecycle into distinct stages and consider the energy requirements in each stage and how they can be leveraged for efficiency. This includes manufacturing, storage, usage, and disposal.
For extra points, you’ll want to take into account the embodied energy contained in your materials. This includes what the materials themselves are (whether recycled, renewable, virgin, or what) as well as where they came from. Transportation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s always a good idea to use materials that come from nearby when the option exists.
At every stage, ask yourself: what is the long-term energy consumption consequence for this decision? How can the energy efficiency be improved at this stage of the process?
2. Observe, Test, and Repeat
Experimentation, iteration, and documentation are central to any successful design project, and they play a special role when it comes to sustainable design. Figuring out the most efficient design is always going to require a bit of experimentation. Creativity takes effort! Test hypotheses and be bold.
These days, it’s easier than ever to run iterations of your design. Modern CAD programs allow you to perform complex and reliable analysis and simulation operations without having to physically produce anything. Now that is environmentally friendly!
3D printing and other rapid manufacturing technologies have also dramatically improved the efficiency of prototyping, allowing designers to rapidly iterate design solutions without any wasted tooling or excess production.
3. Plan for the Long-Term
Sustainability means planning for the future. Think about how your product will be used, how it might fail, what the consequences of failure might be, and how the thing will eventually be disposed of. Will the batteries eventually die? Can they be replaced? Will certain components fail, and if so, can they be replaced? What will happen to the product if it eventually finds itself in a landfill? Always be thinking ahead.
4. Stack Functions for Optimum Efficiency
Stacking functions is one of the core principles of permaculture, but it has applications well beyond the worlds of horticulture and farming. The idea is to imitate nature. Nature, of course, is all about efficiency. One of the mechanisms by which natural systems remain resilient is by maximizing the efficiency of every feature in a system. For example, a tree in the forest or in a garden provides shade for other plants, a surface for moss to grow on, roots that break up the soil and provide a home for fungi and leaves that fall to the ground to become mulch — several functions stacked onto a single element.
You want to accomplish the same kind of thing with your design. Think of an electric bike. The brakes can serve multiple functions: they help you slow down and stop, and they can also recharge the bike’s battery. Since you have to have brakes anyways, why not have them produce some energy while they’re at it. Always look for ways that you can get more than one yield or benefit from any design element.
5. Put Your Mouth Where Your Money Is
Designing efficient, sustainable design makes economic sense and can mean long-term savings for your customers on top of offering products that align with their values. Bu in order for both parties to reap those benefits, you have to successfully communicate with your potential customers. Consumers are becoming increasingly wary of greenwashing. You have to be able to show what you’re actually doing to make your product climate-friendly and energy-efficient. Slapping a green label and a cartoon tree on your packaging isn’t enough — even if you’re packaging is made from reclaimed materials! You need to clearly and effectively communicate the concrete steps your company is taking to reduce your ecological footprint so that consumers know yours is a brand worth supporting.
Designing the Future
A report published in October in the journal Nature predicts that global economic production is in danger of declining by 23% by the end of this century unless the current climate trends are disrupted. This means that even the most hard-nosed and cynical ‘realists’ out there have good reason to be concerned with the challenges posed by greenhouse gases.
This is one of the greatest challenges humanity has had to face, and it is maybe the first one that we have to face collectively. Great challenges also present great opportunity, though. Today we have the technology and science available to intricately model and analyze our designs. We have the collective knowledge and the tools to identify and implement the optimum design solutions in a way we never have before.
Environmental science is all about holistic analysis and systems thinking. By bringing that kind of thinking to our design projects, we can create products and solutions that mimic the efficiency and resiliency of nature. Thinking systematically means considering the entire lifecycle of your product, from the production of the raw materials through to ultimate disposal. It means thinking about how to maximize the efficiency of each part of your design, and to treat the design itself as a system.
By thinking systematically and paying attention to interconnections within and between systems, we can minimize the environmental impact of the things we make.
Working With Efficient Designers
Working with experienced and talented industrial designers is a great way to maximize your efficiency. Expert product designers understand the manufacturing process and will help you create a product that is both appealing to consumers and ready for mass production.
Cad Crowd is ready to connect you with the top-tier CAD design services you need to analyze, iterate, prototype, and manufacture your climate-friendly product. Submit your project description today for a free quote, and we’ll match you with an industry-leading freelance designer.