Transcript Research Presentation Day

Research Presentation Day
Tuesday 17 January 2006
Design for Sustainability: Systematic
Generation, Evaluation and Quantitative
Performance Appraisal of
Design Alternatives.
Oluwadare Awobiyi
(The PhD Researcher)
Supervisors:
Prof. Neal Juster & Dr. Angela Stone
Presentation Coverage
 Research Problem
 Research Questions & Goal
 Design Research Methodology Overview
 The DfS Research Work so far
 Summary
 Further Works
Research Problem!
Ultimately, what defines and set the reality boundary for sustainable
development?
How can this be incorporated into design process for creating
sustainability compliant products.
Research Questions and Goal
1.
What is Sustainability in the context of design and product development?
2.
What is the ideal design for sustainability model and consequently the ideal
criteria, attributes and features needed to fulfil sustainability goal?
3.
What would be an ideal quantitative method upon which sustainability
appraisal framework could be based?
4.
What performance measurement system would ensure a systematic generation,
evaluation and quantitative appraisal of design alternatives?
i.
How can DfS Efficiency (DfS) of a product be determined and measured?
ii.
How can DfS Effectiveness (DfS) of a product be determined and measured?
iii.
What measures the overall DfS Performance of a product?
Research Goal:
The goal is to develop a Performance Appraisal System for Quantitative Evaluation of
Sustainability Design Alternatives.
Overview of Adopted Design Research Methodology
Basic Method
Literature Survey
& PhD Thesis
Focus Activities
CRITERIA
Results/Output
Measure



Observation &
Analysis
DESCRIPTIVE STUDY I
Influences


Assumption
& Experience
PRESCRIPTIVE STUDY
Methods


Observation
& Analysis
DESCRIPTIVE STUDY II
Applications


Figure 1 [ref.1]
Fundamental issues.
Relation to design process.
An Ideal model.
Develop Performance
framework
Testing and validation.
Application to design
processes.
Analysis of test results
Interpretation of findings.
Evaluation and conclusions
The DfS Research (Current Stage):

The 3 Sustainability Circles: Environmental, Economic and
Social.

Sustainability Definitions:
1.
2.

defined it as ‘meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs’ [ref.2].
as ‘improving the quality of human life while living within the
carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems’ [ref.3].
Planet (Environmental)
For purpose of this research and with respect to design,
Design for Sustainability (DfS) is defined as the:
“systematic creation of products and services that meets the
social, economic and environmental needs of current human
generation such rate of consumption of renewable resources is
governed by rate of their replenishment, rate of consumption of
non-renewable controlled by rate of developing renewable
substitutes and of pollution is determined by rate of conversion
into harmless state that is friendly with the environment ”.
People (Social)
Profit (Economic)
Figure 2. [ref 5]
Sustainability Triangle
Current Stage – cont’d
Sustainability Triangle
PLANET
The Stability and Viability of any approach are
dependent on criteria developed around the 3
sustainability legs.
PEOPLE
PROSPERITY
Dependency between the 3 principal elements
required in evaluation of design solutions.
Figure 3.
Planet (Environmental)
Collective Knowledge
(Intelligence/Cognition)
People (Social)
Profit (Economic)
Figure 4.
Observations and Logical Deductions:
•Prosperity is dependent on People.
•Human existence is dependent on the Planet.
•And stability and viability of prosperity is dependent
on appropriate application of knowledge.
[Sustainability Dependency] Current Stage cont’d
Highest Level
1
PLANET
(Environment)
2
PEOPLE
(Social)
3
COGNITION
(Applied Knowledge)
4
PROFIT
(Economic)
Lowest Level
Figure 5.
Sustainability Dependency:
PLANETPEOPLEKNOWLEDGE  PROSPERITY
Hence enable the future generations to meet their
needs under sustainable development conditions:
•Economic activities should be based on proper application of
knowledge of the requirements, inter-relationships and
interactions between the 4 levels, taking cognisant of overriding
priorities and dependency.
•Social and cultural growth should conform to the nature’s laws
on sustainability.
•The continual existence of the earth with its eco-diversity
should form overall guiding principle for sustainable
development.
This forms the foundation of the DfS Performance
Framework.
Applying Dependency to the Definition - Current Stage – cont’d
Reality of Supply and Demand Relationship:
SUPPLY
DEMAND
Space and
land
Nature
(Earth)
Resources
and energy
Products
Built
Environment
Services
Society
Figure 5.
1.
2.
3.
For Renewable Resources:
Cr  Rr…….. (i)
where Cr = rate of consumption (man/nature)
Rr = rate of replenishment (nature/man)
For Non-renewable Resources:
Cr  RAr ….. (ii)
where Cr = rate of consumption (man/nature)
RAr = rate of finding Renewable Alternatives (mankind)
For Pollutants:
PRr  PCHr
where PRr = rate of Pollutant Release (mankind)
PCHr = rate of Pollutant Conversion to harmless
state (by nature or man).
•
The flow of resources across the
supply and demand boundary.
•
Applied to the E2 Performance
model [ref.7].
•
Timescales involved leads to 2-tier
sustainability strategy.
Summary
 Covered the research problem and questions.
 Gave a quick overview of the design research methodology
being used.
 Presented the definition of sustainability in relation to design.
 Developed the case for sustainability dependency based on
the sustainability triangle
 Applied this to create the global sustainability limits and
consequently constraints.
 This would now be taken further by the introduction into E2
performance model to develop a quantitative DfS appraisal
system for evaluation of design alternatives.
Further Works
 Develop this into performance metrics and indicators for use
with an appraisal system to evaluation products and design
solutions.
 Test the system on a number of products and design process
to collect test data.
 Evaluate and validate the results.
 Interpret and extract meanings from results.
 Summarise and write-up in contribution to knowledge.
Thank You!
and
Any Questions?