Gupta, Swati
Sustainability is a dynamic concept born out of the environmental debate of the last quarter of a century. The Rio Summit emphasized economic growth and poverty alleviation for sustainable development. Developing a sustainable product design is an important step towards achieving sustainability. It requires that products, goods and services are designed to comply with the principles of sustainability. Product design: Life cycle assessment Sustainability is the ability “to sustain or to maintain”. The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful and sensitive design". A product when conceived should be considered for its impact in its entire lifecycle. This means that designers need to consider how the product interacts with the environment in material production, manufacture, transportation and packaging, use and disposal. McDonough and Braungart states that the designers should consider the life of the product’s materials beyond the first product lifecycle in order to ensure that they can serve a useful purpose indefinitely, rather than being down cycled and eventually disposed off. When re-designing an existing product, designers might research these interactions based on the existing products, or if designing new products the... |