Sustainable Design
Project Status
In all of my product development work, I use sustainability to make informed design decisions to minimise the product’s impact.
Sustainable Product Design
It was found that ~34% of EnviroBuild’s composite product’s carbon footprint was in its manufacture. Therefore I switched this manufacture from using grid electricity in China to entirely using wind energy. This had the effect of reducing the environmental impact by ~33%, for a cost increase of only £4 per tonne of material.
Lifecycle Assessment
I performed LCAs on each of the major product categories by sales at EnviroBuild, across their entire lifecycle from raw material extraction to disposal. I worked closely with the suppliers and with the team to understand the products manufacturing, usage and disposal. I used OpenLCA software with the EcoInvent database to perform the calculations for each product.
Environmental Reports
I have written three Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for EnviroBuild, two for their composite products (the first of their kind in the UK), and one for aluminium products. This is an official, externally verified report that validates the LCA data collected on a product, enabling objective sustainability related decisions to be be made on a product’s design.
Carbon Offsetting
I surveyed and analysed the data of EnviroBuild’s office, warehouse and homeworking emissions, aggregating the carbon impact of all work related activities. I then worked with a charity to “balance” these emissions from 2021-2023.
