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Setting standards for green design
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13/07/2008
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Tom Shelley reports on a move to develop a formal methodology to guide designers in the development of sustainable products
BSi British Standards is seriously contemplating the production of a set of standards on sustainable design – and has got together with the Design Council and other UK design organisations to do so.
The institution has already produced the 14000 series of standards on environmental management but it now intends to produce a set of guidelines and procedures to guide designers in best practice in designing sustainable products. The aim is for this to carry the same weight as ISO 9001: 2000 as a standard for design and development procedures – which, incidentally, started out life as a British Standard (BS 5750).
The challenge is probably greater than creating BS 5750, which began as a way of improving the design of munitions during World War II, in the light of bombs exploding in factories during manufacture, but the problems that the world face today, are undoubtedly even greater than ammunition factories blowing up, and equally urgent to solve.
In order to get the ball rolling, BSi British Standards organised a forum on ‘Setting standards for sustainable design’ at the Design Council in London last month. Lectures were interspersed with workshop groups tackling some of the problems to be solved before these standards could become a reality.
There was little disagreement as to the need. Ron Holdaway, director of Giraffe Innovation summed up his talk with his widely quoted observation: “No organisation, no matter how adroit, can make money from a poisoned population and a dead planet.”
Jenni Rosser, head of cleaner design for Envirowise, emphasised that reducing waste and being more sustainable saves companies money. She also made the point that products that use less or free energy are also attractive to customers – highlighting a solar powered MP3 player radio that powers itself from photovoltaics on the headband and the Electrolux Waterless washing machine. Furthermore, she pointed out that products that are designed for end of life disassembly also cost less to assemble. What’s more, although the free one-to-one visits in England are no longer available, they still are in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – and the organisation still gives free advice over the telephone and holds free seminars on sustainable practice and how to improve profits.
Envirowise does not specify any standards, though has evolved certain standard procedures, and has standardised its advice on packaging in the form of a free Excel spreadsheet. This led to BSi asking the workshop groups whether it should offer new standards and advice in the form of websites and assessment tools. The general feeling among the people we spoke to seemed to be that it should be in the form of its tried and tested methodology: a booklet of points for users to work through and make sure they are working in accordance with all the described requirements, according to the task to be undertaken.
The benefits of formal standards were encapsulated by Alistair Fuad-Luke, author of the Eco Design Handbook – who said they could be “a driver for creativity”.
“Good standards are valued by many people and are a form of communication,” he said – highlighting the fact that a standard becomes an instant ‘shorthand’ for a design specification.
At the end of the day, Mike Low, director of BSi British Standards, summed up by saying: “Sustainability is what consumers want, it’s what politicians are trying to do. We want to smooth the path.”
A show of hands showed that the overwhelming majority of the delegates thought that formal sustainable design standards were needed – leaving the organisers with the task of making them happen.
Ten top tips
In the absence of a formal British standard on sustainable design, one starting point for designers could be to download a free booklet from design consultancy Thomas Matthews (www.thomasmatthews.com).
“Ten ways design can fight climate change” is built on very simple ideas that designers should contemplate. These include: re-thinking; re-using; using friendly materials; saving energy; designing to last; and saving money.
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Author
Tom Shelley
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