Several ways to respond

•The engineer’s approach: life cycle assessments (LCA)•The designer’s approach: eco-design•The management approach: life cycle management (LCM)

Corporate responses to the pressure regarding the environment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)• LCA studies include the environmental aspects and

potential impacts throughout the products' life (i.e. cradle-to grave) from raw material acquisition through production, use and disposal. The general categories of environmental impacts that need to be considered include resource use, human health, and ecological consequences.

• The life of a product is usually divided into the following life-cycle stages:

Simplified assessment methods

Four main areas of interest when talking Electrical & Electronic Equipment (based on detailed LCA):

• Use of materials– Environmental impacts from mining and refining of raw

materials, use of non-renewable resources

• Energy use – acid rain, CO2 and Nox emission, use of oil/coal/natural gas,

waste (eg. Radioactive waste)

• Use and content of chemical substances– eco- and human toxicity (carcingenic, reproductive

disorders, allergenic, neurotoxic

• Disposal of waste/incineration– leaking of environmentally hazardous substances, loss of

resources

3 indicators to measure the impacts

• Energy parameter: the draw on the global energy reserve. It is an aggregation of the total life cycle energy consumption measured as primary energy in MJ. If energy is recovered during recycling, this can be subtracted in the E-parameter budget.

• Resource parameter: the total resource draw on virgin resources from the use of materials in a specific product. Calculation of the Resource Parameter: The resource consumption (of e.g. copper) is divided by the known global reserves (of copper) per person. PR (person-reserves) becomes therefore the unit for the R parameter

• Chemical substances according to UPM • U Unwanted (Highly toxic)

P Problematic (Moderately toxic)M Manageable (Relatively low toxicity or no observed toxicity)No data (little or no knowledge)

Simplified Environmental Assessment: Energy-parameter

-200

0

200

400

600

800

1.000

1.200

1.400

1.600

MJ

Components Materials Processes Energy, standby Energy, active End-of-Life

HBS, 1.0E-parameter [MJ] (Calc. II)

Simplified Environmental Assessment: Resource-parameter

Simplified Environmental Assessment: Chemical Substances

Definitions of eco-design

• “A systematic manner which aims at including environmental aspects in the product planning, development and design process at the earliest possible opportunity”

(Tischner et al. , 2000)

• “A systematic approach for environmentally conscious product design that takes into account the limited time available in day to day decisions in a company” (Philips, 1998)

= Qualitative approach

Eco-design - and other terms

Synonyms:– Design for (the) Environment– Green Design– Life Cycle Thinking (LCT)– Life Cycle Design– Environmental sound product innovations– Eco-efficient producer services (EEPS)

Eco-design 6 examples

+ answering service on your mobile phone (no mini tapes)

Product Development

Designalternatives

Product strategy

ConceptualDesign

DetailedDesign

Possibility to influence the design

Possibility to influence the design

Information about the product

Information about the product

(Behrendt et al., 1997)

Slide by Mikkel Thrane

Application of tools

Product strategy Conceptual design Detailed design

Assessment Fast five----

----

LCA (screening ordetailed)--

Improvement Rules of thumbEnvironmentalPrinciples---

-----

Checklist criteria (2)---

(Inspired by: Behrendt et al., 1997; Philips, 1998)

Slide by Mikkel Thrane

Fast five method “Philips”

Qualitative approach, questions with yes/no entries:Compared with a reference product (the old version) is the product...

1. Demanding less energy ? (throughout the life cycle)2. More recyclable ?3. Containing less hazardous substances ?4. More durable and repairable ? 5. Is it an alternative way to provide service ?

Suited for brainstorming - new product concepts

Assess

Improve

(Inspired by: Behrendt et al., 1997; Philips, 1998)

Assess

Improve

(Inspired by Novotex - Green Cotton)

Rules of thumb “6xR”

Re-think: Re think the product and its functions Re-duce: Reduce the energy consumption and ressource

consumption in the whole life cycle Re-place: Replace harzadous substances with more environmentally

sound alternatives Re-cycle: Use those materials which can be reused or recycled Re-use: Design in such a way that the product or parts of it can be

reused Re-pair: Design a product that is easy to repair

Slide by Mikkel Thrane

Env. principles “Life-cycle design”

P 1) Achieving environmental efficiency / optimal function

P 2) Saving resources

P 3) Use of renewable and sufficiently available resources

P 4) Increasing product durability

P 5) Design for product reuse

P 6) Design for material recycling

P 7) Design for disassembly

P 8) Minimising harmful substances

P 9) Environmental friendly production

P 10) Minimising environmental impact of product in use

P 11) Using environmentally friendly packaging

P 12) Environmentally friendly disposal of non recyclable materials

P 13) Implementing environmentally friendly logistics

Assess

Improve

(Inspired by: Behrendt et al., 1997; Philips, 1998)

Slide by Mikkel Thrane

Trade-offs

The selection of one environmental issue can create or add to another environmental problem - or contradict with other product system requirements”

(UNEP, 1996)

Slide by Mikkel Thrane

Life Cycle Management defined

”Management of the company decisions that have environmental consequences at any point of the product’s life cycle”

(Garcia-Sanchez, Wenzel Christensen and Jørgensen, 2004)

The leaders

• Those companies practising Life Cycle

Management are now regarded among the

environmentally leading companies. They operate

proactively, meaning ahead of legislative

demands, and interactively, meaning engaging in

different networks and influencing the behaviour

of other actors.

Life Cycle Management as 12 x COConsidering the Life Cycle of the productsCore of business operations and decision making (not an add-on function from the

environmental department)Cost reflecting (linking to economic efficiency and life cycle costing: green

products that do not sell are a waste)Comprehensive and complex (most departments in the company will be involved)Commitment from top-level management is therefore necessaryCompetence is crucialContinous efforts Compliance+ (meeting legislative requirements is not enough)Consumer oriented and – involving (regarding the values and environmental

priorities)Communication (along the product chain including user and waste stages)Collaboration and co-ordination (to lower the impacts and provide transparent

information)Context (product and company specific context must be considered – no general

model)(Riisgaard, 2004)

Communication and collaboration

These two linking elements keep two central flowsrunning: the down-stream flow of products andservices; and the opposite up-stream flow of values– including payments but also values in a broadersense: environmental values and priorities etc.etc.

Communication and collaboration in product chain

Primaryproducers

Suppliers

Producers

Distributors

Retailers

Consumers

Material- and service flow

Communication & collaboration

Value- and money flow

Collaboration in the product chain (inspired by Remmen,2002)

Slide by Mikkel Thrane

Moving towards the core of business

• The integrated product aspect links LCM to the core activity of business: to produce and sell products and services

• This is a clear distinction from ordinary environmental management which is more focussed on the side effects of the business core

C om panyB

C om panyA

C om panyC

C om panyD

D istribution

P ackaging

EU the US Singapore Japan other m arkets

Suppliers Suppliers Suppliers Suppliers

"Producer"

Electronicsin Malaysia

MinoltaMotorola

Other sectors(plastics, packing, chemicals)

EU legislation

WEEE Directive

RoHS Directive

(Proposal forEUE directive)

Certifying bodySIRIM

Managem ent

Corporate policy

Studying Environmental management in electronics

Research Questions

• Do the companies have environmental management

• Are the companies aware of the drivers for Life Cycle Management?

• Are they actually implementing LCM?• What tools are they using?• (Comparative perspective with Denmark)

The Findings so far

• Yes, The major players have EMS (corporate policy, customer pressure)

• These companies are very much aware of EU regulation

• To some extent they apply LCM (policy level, declarations)

• Tools: lists of banned substances, environmental product declaration, green purchasing

The Wider Perspectives of the Changes ?

C om panyB

C om panyA

C om panyC

C om panyD

D istribu tion

P ackag ing

EU the US Singapore Japan other m arkets

Suppliers Suppliers Suppliers Suppliers

"Producer"

Mass Production

Green demand in other sectors EPR regulation

in other sectors

C om panyB

C om panyA

C om panyC

C om panyD

D is tribu tion

P ackag ing

$

$

EU

$

$

the US

$

$

Singapore

$

$

Japan

$

$

other m arkets

Suppliers Suppliers Suppliers Suppliers

"Producer"

15 min. Break: Time for tasting packaging?

Please take a copy of the exercise sheet - Only one per group!We will go around in the canteenSlides will be put on the course homepage