"Going green has become a necessity, not an option, for companies facing the new reality of balancing business objectives with dwindling environmental resources. Limited energy supply and skyrocketing costs are compelling organisations to take radical measures to reduce their carbon footprint."
- Sanjay Deshmukh, Area Vice President, Citrix, India Subcontinent
What is the current market trend in sustainable product design?
"Sustainable consumption" has become a growing trend for companies and consumers because of its numerous benefits. The concept of Product Longevity seeks to extend the life of a product through its design. Nowadays, companies are more aware of the practices used to increase their Eco-friendliness; this new trend will ensure the companies sustainability in the long run.
Product longevity
The main goals are to reduce chemical material, maximise energy efficiency during production and promoting recycling.
Life Cycle Assessment – Product design
Life cycle assessment enables designers to reduce their aggregate energy waste levels. Computer product design is a crucial element since it is during this phase in the manufacturing process that companies can reduce their overall costs. Moreover, computers can be designed in a manner that accelerates the "dis-assembly" method, facilitated the recycling process that is involved at the end of the product life cycle.
What’s in it for companies?
By increasing the expected lifetime of their products, companies could increase their overall market share and position themselves as a "premium" product producer. Consequently, consumers will value the expected longer product lifetime. Moreover, companies can increase their current market shares by promoting “value for money, not cheapest price”.
Sony - Wandular Project
Sony developed new methods to counteract the threat of resource scarcity that many companies face in the current economy. One of Sony's main projects, "wandular", focuses on increasing product longevity. Head of Design Rodrigo Bautisa said, "Wandular is about making technology more human and mitigating consumer behaviour for wanting new stuff through the use of emotionally durable design and cloud service trend". Hopefully, this project will result in a decrease in consumption and an increase in production contributing towards improving and decreasing the negative effects on our society and ecosystems. The computer manufacturing process accounts for most of the natural resources used in the life cycle of a computer. By improving the manufacturing process, companies will be able to reduce cost whilst also reducing in the long term their carbon footprint levels.
Sources
"Life Cycle Assessment." Life Cycle Assessment. Department of Ecology , 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. <https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/p
Chen, Yuh-Shyan . "Green Computing."Green Computing. National Taipei University , n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.csie.ntpu.edu.tw/~yschen/course/2011-1/Green-ICT/Chapter%2011.pdf>.
Sarwar, Muhammad . "Green Computing: From Current to Future Trends ." Green Computing: From Current to Future Trends . N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v63/v63-105.pdf>.
"Sony explores futuristic ideas on product longevity." edie.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://www.edie.net/news/5/Sony-explores-futuristic-ideas-on-product-longevity/22738/>.
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