acrobat JSPD 8 - The Centre for Sustainable Design

REVIEWS
Ecodesign Navigator:
a key resource in the
drive towards environmentally
efficient product deign
Matthew Simon, Stephen Evan,
Tim McAloone, Andrew
Sweatman, Tracy Bhamra
and Steve Poole
Manchester Metropolitan
University and
Cranfield University, UK
ISBN-871315-743
£50.00
151 pages
Book
62 THE JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE PRODUCT DESIGN · JANUARY 1999
The Ecodesign Navigator is the outcome of a three-year research
project called DEEDS – Design for Environment Decision Support.
The partners were Manchester Metropolitan University, Cranfield
University, EPSRC, Electrolux, ICL. and ICER.
The project was grounded in the electronic and electrical industry
and aimed to create methods of practical benefit to these industries
in achieving increased environmental and product performance.
The core of the work, 85 out of 151 pages, lies in a very comprehensive
survey of Eco Design tools: these range from Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
tools through to higher level strategic tools. This chapter is recommended
to anyone wanting an up-to-date overview of the offerings in
this field. The details of each product include brief pros and cons, price
and contact details where appropriate.
The remaining materials generate less enthusiasm: the ‘Navigator’
attempts to serve too many different client groups, from complete
novices in the field of eco-design to experienced managers; furthermore,
it relies very heavily on a single strategy, the ARPI framework –
Analyse, Report, Prioritise and Improve. This approach is similar to the
well-known idea of continuous improvement – an iterative cycle of
analysing the existing state of affairs, setting targets and making
improvements. It is a comfortable, safe way of gaining steady small
improvements. However, different approaches are necessary to bring
about uncomfortable, revolutionary changes. There are those in the
field of eco-design who feel that only the second, uncomfortable,
approach offers the prospect of change fast enough to save the planet
from unacceptable climatic perturbation.
The Ecodesign Navigator is at its weakest when it reaches out into
descriptions of the ideas that lie at the core of environmental studies.
Nowhere is this more misleading than the guide’s treatment of sustainability.
The authors appear not to be aware of the difference between
‘sustainability’ as crystallised in the Brundtland Report of 1987 and the
more political agenda of sustainable development encapsulated in the
Rio conference of 1992 and Agenda 21.
The statement of sustainability on page 1: ‘In essence, sustainability
is a simple notion: a product process or system is sustainable if it can
continue forever. Therefore, something that consumes even a tiny
amount of fossil fuel is not sustainable’ is worryingly misleading,
especially to the naïve reader for whom the guide seems to be written.
Bio-diesel, bio-alcohol petrol and other renewable energy sources
form a viable long-term solution to the provision of modest amounts
of liquid fuel.