“It is not impossible to integrate sustainability into early stages of design. Cradle-to-grave environmental impact analysis methods are rarely used as a metric during product development. In early stages of a project, companies measure feasibility according to money, performance and time metrics. Sustainability is commonly measured at a design cycle’s end on finished products when design features cannot be easily modified for sustainability measures. It is ineffective to apply new design metrics to finished products. Evaluating the 'greenness' of products is typically done to market the 'greenest' product in a line. This does not address the need to create sustainable products at project onset; thus, products remain 'un-green' and unsustainable. It is time for new feasibility metric — Green Design with Life Cycle in Mind. Green design thinking must be accessible and applicable to product development through a set of tools designed for early stages of product development.”
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About the author:
As Mechanical Engineer with Master’s Degree and 8 years of diverse experience, Kimi Ceridon worked technical roles ranging from contributor to lead engineer and project manager of multidisciplinary teams,including working with Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), MIT’s D-Lab and the International Development Design Summit to develop appropriate technology for third world applications. She aims to develop technologies for a positive social impact on the world in two areas: 1. Design for Sustainability: applying principles of life cycle analysis to product development and 2. Technology for International Development: develop appropriate technology for third world applications.
Green Design
