a roadmap to sustainability_reap_ismail khater
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A roadmap to Sustainability
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................ 2
Table of Figures ................................................................... 2
Introduction ........................................................................ 3
Smarter LCA through transparency ...................................... 6
The consumer paradigm shift ............................................ 10
Digital vs. paper ........................................................................................ 13
Packaging ................................................................................................. 17
Transportation & Infrastructure ............................................................... 20
Green building certification ...................................................................... 22
Conclusion ......................................................................... 25
Bibliography ...................................................................... 27
Table of FiguresFig. 1: possible overshoot scenarios .......................................................................................... 4
Fig. 2: British attitudes towards green shopping ....................................................................... 8
Fig. 3: phases of a LCA ................................................................................................................ 9
Fig. 4: phases to a new paradigm ............................................................................................ 11
Fig. 5: the papermaking process .............................................................................................. 13
Fig. 6: paper vs. e-reader ......................................................................................................... 15
Fig. 7: Four levels of eco-design innovation ............................................................................ 19
Fig. 8: infrastructure disasters ................................................................................................. 20
Fig. 9: green building certification logos .................................................................................. 24
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Introduction
There has been a paradigm shift in humanity away from views of the Earth as an endless
source of resources to instead looking at it as a broader living ecosystem that we are slowly
destroying. The shift is evident in everything from popular movies to eco-friendly products,
from international political treaties regarding environmental policies to waste management
strategies within small communities.
It is hard to separate fact from fiction about what is considered truly sustainable. Every
business has a different take on what they deem to be the solution. Some are just twists
while others have real essence. In this paper I tend not to focus on the green but rather on
humans. Individuals have to change towards a new way of thinking that will enable them
to grasp the problems faster. By realizing the problems, they would be able to make more
intelligent choices, which will lower the need for adaptation through more environmental
mitigation. I believe the true beginning towards a sustainable way of living starts with the
social and sustainable awareness, where people can train their instinctive responses to
notice the slow and gradual ecological changes. We have no ready-made detectors for, non
instinctive response to, these hazy sources of harm. The human brain adapted to spot
dangers within sensory field. But to survive today we must perceive threats that are beyond
our threshold of perception. We must make the invisible visible. As Daniel Gilbert, Harvard
psychologist puts it scientists lament the fact that global warming is happening so fast, but
the fact is its not happening fast enough. Because we barely notice changes that happen
gradually we accept things we would not allow if they happen suddenly. [1]
Beneath disputes about defining, designing, or measuring sustainable consumption lie the
critical questions of how to actually motivate the public to consume more environmentally
and socially sound products and how to motivate producers to deliver these improved
goods and services. To date, life cycle assessments have had limited impacts on actual
consumption patterns. I believe this can be changed by supplying extreme transparency in
information, and also user friendliness and education of social and sustainable awareness.
Transparency would make consumers purchase greener products when they have credible
information that allows them to feel confident in their ability to evaluate whether or not
their choice is actually having an impact. Most consumers do not have access to information
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on the environmental or social impacts of the products they purchase, or do not trust the
information that is provided by firms, or simply find it hard to understand them.
Even, for some people, when they understand the impacts and consequences and savings of
their decisions and choices of consumptions, it is sometimes hard to do the right thing. This
is due to the human way of having habits, finding it hard to change even when knowing the
real cost. Ethical and cultural changes need to happen, where the link between the cost and
ecological impact need to be bridged. It is exactly like buying a stolen merchandize, ethically
most civilized people would reject to buy such commodities, knowing that they were stolen
and therefore offered with a cheaper price. So the same applies to all non-sustainable goods
and all non-sustainable makers, where the maker can be seen as a thief, when they steal the
earths ecosystem biodiversity, and next generations right to live the way we should have.
In the book Limits to Growth the authors talked about the concept, which is crystal clear
to any thinking human being, that there is a limit to the physical growth on this physically
finite planet. While pessimists say that the results of the ecological and economical
overshoot will cause a collapse, there is still hope for oscillation.
Fig. 1: possible overshoot scenarios
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We need certain ecological abilities to be able to survive these days. These must be a joint
intelligence, one that we learn and master as a species, and that exist in a distributed
fashion among a wide range of networks of people. We are faced with assured challenges
that are too complicated, too diverse and too delicate to be understood and overcome by a
single person.
Their acknowledgment and solution require intense efforts by an enormously diverse range
of experts, business people, and activists; by all of us. We need to learn what dangers we
face, what their causes are, and to see the new opportunities these solutions offer. We need
the collective willpower to do all this as a group. Whether among friends or family, within a
company, or through an entire culture, a collective, distributed intelligence spreads
awareness. One approach to boost our joint ecological intelligence is to become familiar
with a wider range of ways to classify and think about impacts from products. Ideally, we
want to understand an items unpleasant consequences in three interlocking spheres, the
geo (soil, water, air and climate), the bio (our bodies, those of other species and plant life)
and the sociosphere (human concerns such as conditions for workers). [2]
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Smarter LCA through transparency
A life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique to assess all impacts related with all the phases
of a process from-cradle-to-grave. It starts from raw materials through materials processing,
manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling. LCAs can
help avoid a narrow point of view on environmental, social and economic concerns, through
compiling a list of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases,
evaluating the potential impacts associated with identified inputs and releases and
interpreting the results to help you make a more informed decision. [3] There are many
variants of LCAs. The most commonly known one is from cradle to grave, which is a full
assessment of a product from start of manufacturing to the disposal phase. This type could
include a cradle to gate, which means from start of manufacturing to the factory gate. This
type could be for instance a windshield wiper blade, which will be added to the cradle to
grave assessment of the whole car. Within the production of the same blade, a gate to gate
partial LCA could be looked into. This means that for example the rubber part would be
evaluated separately, which would result an assessment of only the added value of it. There
is also the cradle to cradle LCA, which is kind of a cradle to grave assessment, but the end of
life disposal step of the product is a recycling process.
Furthermore, with the help of life cycle assessments producers tend to make better
decisions regarding the environmental protection. All the different stakeholders, ranging
from industry, governments, researchers and customers to other groups, get a better
structured stream of information between them while sharing LCA outcomes. This
information could then be used to improve industry processes internally, and then utilized
for marketing strategies externally. [4]
There are significant benefits of having LCA done by manufacturers. They would be able to
tackle the weak points in the cradle to grave process by pointing them out from the LCA
analysis. One good example is what Procter & Gambles (P&G) global sustainability
department did a couple of years ago. They aimed to integrate sustainability into their
strategy, and found out through the LCA of laundry detergents, that by far, the biggest
contributor to the products entire energy footprint was the consumer himself. This is due
to the need of using heated water to do the laundry. As a result, the companys R&D unit
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developed Tide Cold Water (known in Germany as Ariel Kalt-Aktiv), a laundry detergent
that cleans clothes without consumers having to heat the water in the washing machine.
This would result savings of 34 million tons of CO2 emissions annually if every U.S.
household used the product, according to Len Sauers, VP for Global Sustainability at P&G.
[5] This innovative technology also comes with no trade-offs, as Sauers puts it, as the money
saved from not having to heat the water pays for the price difference of a box of detergent.
Other examples can be seen in packaging sizes and products compaction, the list is never
ending. Each and every detailed step of an LCA is an opportunity to explore whether some
industrial upgrade, a different chemical or a novel process might improve the products
overall footprint.
LCAs are one of the pioneering tools to create transparency in the ecological revolution,
getting hands on the analysis makes us able to compare and judge products. But how would
the regular citizen do that? What does it require to be able to comprehend such an analysis?
The answer is: a lot of knowledge and education. I honestly think that the majority of the
population would not even bother reading through the never ending steps and cycles of a
LCA. Dara ORourke, an industrial ecologist, saw that problem and had a visionary project to
bring transparency to the marketplace in the form of a software innovation calledGoodGuide. GoodGuide provides the worlds largest and one of the most reliable source of
information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of consumer products. [6]
GoodGuide integrates hundreds of complex databases that evaluate everything from
companies policies on animal testing to the carbon emissions in its supply chain to the
specific chemicals concern in its products. It does that by drawing a huge amount of data on
products and companies. By telling the story of a product in a convenient user friendly way,
GoodGuide provides the information that customers need. If a customer wants to explore
and go into more details of a product, and see how they came up with the summary rating,
lets say the specific environmental impacts of a product during manufacturing, transport,
use or disposal, it is possible, by simply opening the drop down menu of a category.
A survey of 25,000 customers by Marks & Spencer found that about a quarter of shoppers
are simply not interested in whether an item is or isnt green. Ten percent, on the other
hand, will go out of their way to get a more ethical item. The most telling group in that
survey was the large majority of shoppers who lie somewhere between the two extremes.
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Roughly two-thirds of shoppers care about ethical choices but want the decision to be easy,
or are vaguely concerned about ethics but feel their shopping preferences wont matter. [7]
Radical transparency targets that two-thirds by making ethical choices easier, offering a
shopper relevant data in a neat summary as he or she holds the item in their hand. This has
been possible through new technologies such as the apps downloadable on Smartphones,
such as the one by GoodGuide. One could get the info downloaded by simply taking a
snapshot of the barcode of a product, that easy it is. While older shoppers may not have or
want to use this technology, or are simply too set in their habits, younger generations are
far more motivated to embrace it. A New York teen online survey, that polled a random and
representative sample of 767 U.S. teens (13 to 19 years old, the mean age was 14.6), there
are some of the most remarkable findings.[8] The survey shows us that teen awareness of
environmental issues is on the rise. Seventy-four percent of teens, nationally, believe its
their responsibility to help save the environment. Teens see themselves as part of the
problem and as part of the solution83% agrees that if someone showed them how they
could help the environment, they would do it if it was easy. Teens want to be
environmentally conscious consumers: 69% nationwide say they would buy products or
services that help the environment if they were more widely available; an even greater 85%
of New York teens concur.
Fig. 2: British attitudes towards green shopping
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Another upcoming technology and tool is Earthster. Earthster is the first free open source
web based platform designed to provide the most current data and sophisticated
assessment tools to measure and manage a products social and environmental impacts
throughout the supply chain. [9] Their aim is to accelerate supply chain innovations that
improve social and environmental impacts, with far reaching benefits for companies,
consumers, and the planet. Its concept is based on collaboration, as an example, a company
publishes its information on its product, lets say glass, then another company that produces
windows and use this glass can take this information and plug it into their analysis. Once a
part of a process is upgraded, there would be no need to re-do the whole analysis, every
manufacturer would update their part that will show up automatically in other products
that use the network. While these technologies are creating the means to be able to
evaluate and choose, it is up to the purchasing power to give their preferences, driving all
industries into sustainability.
Fig. 3: phases of a LCA
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The consumer paradigm shift
What is a paradigm change? Think of a Paradigm Shift as a change from one way of thinking
to another. It's a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis. It doesnt just
happen, but rather it is driven by powerful forces of change. When there is a product that
we buy that is pricier than their competitive because of its lower impact on the
environment, a lot of people do not see the benefit as an incentive. When people cannot
make a direct relation between what they buy and what they get, there lies the problem. If
the information was available, if the data was given complete and in an easy way to
understand, that would probably change the way people act on the global environmental
problems. This is the core essence of the paradigm shift that needs to happen in the
consumers mind, through radical transparency.
In my opinion, in order to fasten the process of solving the global ecological problems
(before its too late), we need to change our habits and attitudes. Education and sustainable
awareness form the spirit of ethical and cultural change. How would you feel about the next
t-shirt you buy if you knew that the cotton it was made of had a load of pesticides, which
harmed the land and the workers? Cotton crops alone account for about 10 percent of the
world's use of pesticides. To prepare soil so that fragile young cotton plants can grow,
workers spray the soil with organophosphates (linked to central nervous system damage in
humans), which kill off any plant that might compete with the cotton or any insect that
might eat it. Once soil has been so treated, it can take up to five pesticide free years before
even Earthworms return, a fundamental step in recovering soil health. Then there's the
paraquat (herbicide) sprayed by crop dusters on cotton just before it's harvested. About half
of those chemicals typically miss the cotton and ends up in streams and fields nearby. [10]
If I can afford, I would buy one organically grown cotton T-shirt rather than two non-organic
ones. But how would I know that I am doing the right thing? Could it just be another
greenwash? What if this organic T-shirt, so to claim to be green had been through the
same process right after harvesting? For example getting bleached and dyed and finished
with industrial chemicals that include toxins, which are known not to stick to the cotton and
get rinsed off into the factories wastewater, which ended up in the nearby local river and
caused higher rates of leukemia. The more complete analysis of the hidden impacts reveals
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multiple ways in which the T-shirt may not be so green after all. Although an organic shirt is
all to the good, when undesirable impacts of a product stay hidden, the organic part at
best marks the first step towards a business becoming more socially responsible or
sustainable.
Another example would be which hot drink cup to choose in your nearby local coffee shop.
A paper cup consumes 33 grams of wood, while a polystyrene one uses about 4 grams of
fuel oil or natural gas. Making the paper cup consumes 36 times the electricity and 580
times the volume of wastewater, compared to plastic. But the plastic cup produces pentane,
a gas that increases the ozone depletion and greenhouse gases. When we add the human
health to the equation it gets even more complicated for a comparison. [11]
So the answer to Paper or Plastic cup should be, none! Bring your own cup, that way you
really avoid the problem and save the earth without creating a problem, and that is what I
mean by paradigm change.
Fig. 4: phases to a new paradigm
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When it comes to our shared conservation objectives, the group integration rules might be
summed to knowing your impacts, favoring improvements and sharing what you learned.
Such a crowd intelligence would result in an ongoing upgrade to our ecological awareness
through knowledge of the true consequences of what we do and buy, the decision to
change for the better and the spreading of what we know so others can do the same. If each
of us in the human flock follows those three simple rules, then together we might create a
force that improves our human systems. No one of us needs to have a master plan or grasp
all the essential knowledge. All of us will be pushing toward a continuous improvement of
the human impact on nature. Signs of the emergence of this shift in collective consciousness
are noticeable globally, from executive teams working to make their companies operations
more sustainable to neighborhood activists distributing reusable shopping bags to replace
plastic ones. A good outcome is seen wherever people are engaged in creating a way of
interacting with nature, where there is transformation of our short term habits into a long-
term trends. Sophisticated investigations into the countless dangers human activity
generate to our planet's ecosystems, like the growing study of global warming, are only just
a beginning. Such efforts help raise our sense of urgency, educate us more on the problemand showing us what the end result needs to be in order to be sustainable. But we cannot
stop there. We need to shift our ways of thinking, which will require some sacrifices of
habits and lifestyles. We need a paradigm shift to our economic understanding, which is not
based on consumption and growth. We need to continue and improve our pursuit of
environmental intelligence.
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Digital vs. paper
Each year, the world produces more than 300 million tons of paper. Americans use
85,000,000 tons of paper a year. [12] In todays society people rely significantly on
electronic devices. The print industry is trying hard to stay in business, and find it very hard
to keep up with the weekly released technologies and gadgets. The debate of whether
paper or electronic devices have a smaller environmental footprint did not come to an end,
with people standing on both sides of the dispute. In my analysis I will try to stay as
unbiased as possible, even though I have made my decision and find it an unfair
comparison.
Fig. 5: the papermaking process
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The carbon footprint of the industry that the Book Industry Environmental Council (BIEC)
announcement referred to was 12.4 million metric tons of carbon equivalent, or 4.01 kg CO2
per book. The largest contributor to this footprint, according to their report, is the logging
and manufacturing of paper, which constitute 87.3% of total carbon emissions. [13] E-
reading is certainly paperless, but it doesnt mean it is has no carbon footprint. For example,
Apples iPad, according to the company, has a carbon footprint of 130 kg (carbon
equivalent), which is equal to the footprint of 32.4 paper books. [14] When I wanted a fair
comparison I thought the best way is to look at a LCA analysis between paper books versus
an e-reader. Fortunately I found one, which veiled that on a yearly basis the equivalent of
the carbon footprint of an e-reader equals to the use of about 4,000 paper prints in an
office. [15]
Electronics are rechargeable and reusable, and no trees were harmed in their makings.
Forests are chopped down to print bills, books and newspapers, which are typically used
only once and tossed aside. But on the other hand papers dont create e-waste or use toxic
substances like arsenic, lead, mercury and polyvinyl chloride.
The reason I have made my decision is that regardless of how efficient paper can become, it
is not able to replace the use of electronics. You have many aspects into consideration,
which are not accounted for in any LCA. For instance, any of the new gadgets (take the iPad
for example) are not only designed for reading books. In most cases this is just an
application extra on the device. Think of all the other types of media used on these devices,
ranging from static web browsing to movies and audio playing. You connected to the
internet with instant and mobile access to all forms of information. Convenience has
typically dictated the decision. So to be fair you have to count these functions too. If I
already have one of those devices, or even a laptop, wouldnt it make more sense to use it
than buy a printed book?
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The electricity used for reading on an electronic device is the same amount used from a
conventional light bulb, which is needed to read a book. In this argument I would say that
both can be replaced with renewable energies.
More notably is the human behavior, which is always in need of change, and the main
aspect that can make the shift in any industry. The majority of the population prefers the
use of a printed book, with arguments like convenience in reading on a train or crawled up
in their bed. An electronic reading device can do the same; it is just a matter of adjustment
and breaking the habit. I had this as a goal myself four years ago and managed to get rid of
the use of paper 98% of the time, the 2% are when I cannot find a soft copy or when I have
to print a ticket or deliver a hard copy when requested to. Even in Architectural design,
where I have been trained the old school way using ink and paper for sketching, I managed
to change the habit and use computer software directly to design. The outcome was slightly
slower in the beginning, but after some practice it turned out to be much faster, as the
results had to be converted into a digital form anyway. It also opened design possibilities
that are far more advanced than designing on paper. Designing on paper seamed after those
years as a ridiculously inefficient tool, and I encourage anyone in any design field to put the
effort and try it out for a month and see if they can ever turn back to the old habits.
Back to reading books, all the above can apply there as well. When you read a scientific
article or book and stumble upon a word that you do not know the meaning of, what would
Fig. 6: paper vs. e-reader
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you do? The old way would turn to a scientific dictionary. But as it turns out, looking the
term or phrase online would give you better results, as you can see examples and explore
the meaning until you really understand it. So at the end you did use a computer or
electronic device. Most e-readers, if not all, provide a thesaurus integrated in the device or
connects you to one online, by only highlighting the word you wish to look for while reading.
Newspaper production starting from the paper manufacturers to ink manufacturers,
printing equipment manufacturers, printing and publishing companies, individual and
corporate consumers, waste collection and sorting companies, municipalities, material
recovery facilities, to recycled paper goods manufacturers is just not worth it, when the end
customer usage is restricted to a maximum of a few hours for two to four users.
Are eBooks really greener than physical books? The debate is still going on and the final
word hasn't been said yet. In my opinion we need to start thinking of ways to reduce the
footprint of e-reading if we want to make sure the industry will meet the goal of carbon
neutrality. Right now it looks like the best chance would work with e-reader producers and
get them to green up their devices, as manufacturing is a major contributor to the carbon
footprint of these devices 58% in the case of the iPad. Wouldnt it make sense to shift the
efforts into that?
There are definite outcomes associated to bringing paper use to an end. A paperless office
or library means less space, changing the building design into a more compact arrangement,
and therefore having less impact on the environment. Waste transportation would be
reduced significantly. Transfer of documents would be much easier and faster, in fact, this
would eliminate all the single journeys of individuals to bookstores once all books are
available online, saving tons of carbon emissions. Trees would be cut down less. But most
importantly, no more paper cuts.
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Packaging
Packaging is an essential for most products, but serves no purpose after retail, making it the
most common type of waste. The uses of the three Rs (reduce-reuse-recycle) have been the
main elements of the waste hierarchy in any packaging product development. [16] Even
when doing so, there is still a lot of room for improvement in package design and material
use. If you take a cereal box for example you could wonder why it has so much volume. Why
does it have so much air in it, and is it necessary to have it? The impact of this type of waste
does not only narrow down to the fact of using too much material, it also creates a
difference in how much can be transported on the back of a truck, which means more
transportation for less goods and increasing its environmental impact. Another example
would be toothpaste tubes, which are sold in carton boxes. Are those extra boxes
necessary? What is the marketing difference compared to the ecological impact? In most
cases the ingredients and marketing data printed on the outer paper box are repeated on
the tubes anyway.
Obviously there are many companies that have invested in packaging R&D and have done
significant improvements, but unfortunately it is not enough. The core of any development
of packaging development should start with trying to eliminate the package and preventing
the waste. Packaging should be used only where it is needed, and when it is, with minimized
material, mass and volume. The next step would be reusing. If the package can be reused, it
would lower its environmental impact over its life cycle, making it more favorable than the
last resort, recycling. Recycling in my opinion has been a shift from the main goal
(prevention), which made the public think that recycling is definitely a good thing. Recycling
is relatively good, which is when compared with energy recovery and disposal. Now think
about recycling compared to not using the package from the first place, which one would
make more sense?
In my argument I am not pointing at the packaging industry as a whole bad thing, in
contrary, I am arguing that the industry should use better and more expensive materials!
Packaging can be designed to be an asset after use, rather than a liability, for customers. It
can be designed at the outset to travel in either a biological or technical closed loop. A
customer would pay more for the package if he knows for fact that this money will be
returned to him if he follows the return instructions on the product, of course it must be
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convenient. Besides, investing more in a package design and the materials used in it would
also benefit the marketing of it. Costumers would definitely choose the nice reusable
package over the eco-friendly ugly cheap one. It would be so valuable that the manufacturer
would buy it back. So instead of buying the cheapest possible package, you would buy the
best one knowing that you would get it back. Cradle to grave design makes the package
unwanted waste that must be dealt with at some cost to the end user. Cradle to cradle
would mean either the same reuse or a direct transfer into another product. I am sure that
most people are aware of the first type, like the reuse of bottles. But imagine a whole
different scenario that is far more integrated, where a shipping company like UPS would
create a low priority transportation system for packaging. It would make more sense to
travel back loaded rather than empty. Qualified designed damper foam for transporting
electronics could be then used in the construction industry as an insulation material with
minimum energy for reshaping.
There are polymers that have been tested and can be reused up to 90 times with the same
performance characteristics. And paper based packaging can be designed for reuse too.
Designing with washable ink makes this easy and possible. Another way of package design
would be using it as a biological one rather than a technical nutrient. When more than 35%of linear polyesters are added to PET, the material becomes biodegradable. [17]
The bottom line the consumer is the ultimate decision maker. They have to like the
environmental story told with the product packaging. There are multiple solutions to every
environmental packaging problem. There is no universally right answer, and there are
answers that may not satisfy the consumer. Some solutions are better than others. Each
attacks the problem and solves it in a different way. The key is to focus on the ecological
education first, so the costumer can recognize and appreciate the efforts and designs and
encourage the paradigm shift to a cradle to cradle attitude for it to be swift. A transparent
production line, openly stating the whole methods, materials, and LCA of a product would
make the education process possible, as well as a costumer friendly way of comparison that
does not require a PHD in chemical engineering. So there is a need to define any products
green actions in terms of meaningful, quantifiable results for the buyer. Just because it says
it on a package doesnt mean shoppers will believe it. Vague, complicated, or obscure
product packaging claims should be secluded. Statements should be simple, short,
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understandable, and to the point. Carbon footprint issues should be considered. Can the
shopper make the connection between the given data and saving the environment?
Fig. 7: Four levels of eco-design innovation
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Transportation & Infrastructure
Transportation, and specially emissions from vehicular transport, is considered a major
contributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs) and energy use. A big percentage of the worlds
petroleum is burned in transport. Indicators commonly used to demonstrate this include
vehicular usage in terms of the extent of travel, and type and amount of energy used to
provide such travel. Transport is the fastest-growing emission sector. By subsector, road
transport is the largest contributor to global warming. As for aviation, the rapid growth of
air travel contributes to the pollution, and besides the emissions it is also causing long wave
heat trapping through their vapor trails, contrails. In the EU, greenhouse gas emissions from
aviation increased by 87% between 1990 and 2006. [18]
Reducing our unsustainable way of living by finding energy efficient alternatives and
technologies is one way looking into the transportation problem, which will not help us
while there is growing population, trips and mobility. The approach in which some industries
are handling the dilemma is just another dead-end. [19] Whats the use of running a 20%
more efficient vehicle, where theres an increase of 25% in the number of automobiles. By
now this is called the conventional way. This just means the exact same quantity of carbon
emission. The same calculation concept can be applied to growing travel distances and the
infrastructure expansion. With the rising number of suburbs comes high car dependency.
Due to the insufficient population in suburbs it is not feasible to provide them with standard
cultural, health, educational and other facilities, which makes them lose time and
productivity as well in commuting. In addition, inefficient street layouts cause high per
person infrastructure cost, which can also be converted into high per-capita use of energy,
land and water. Another health aspect caused by these types of developments is higher
rates of obesity due to less walking and biking.
Fig. 8: infrastructure disasters
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Already some pioneering teams have avoided the conventional outdated ways of solving the
problem, using the old patching up and repair methods. Instead, they jumped into thinking
of innovative systems that handle and tackle the core of the crisis. However, the real
solutions require collaboration and integration of many sectors and expertise, ranging from
vehicular designers to city planners. Decision makers should put an end to the urban sprawl.
Cities should focus on concentrating its growth and development, for example through
vertical expansion and use of brownfields. Within a structurally efficient limit, vertical
expansion creates higher densities, which require less infrastructures. While the inefficient
street layout of the suburbs depend on cars, has high per capita infrastructure and energy
cost, the short distances in compact cities can be managed by alternative transportation
methods, ranging from walking, cycling to public transportation options. Moreover, this will
result in a huge amount in pollution reduction, less health damage, is also less time
consuming and most importantly decreases the overall energy consumption of the city.
If we are able to achieve the concept of a compact city, a lot of doors for innovative solutions
can be opened, where complete elimination of GHG emissions is achieved. A ground-breaking
technology that fulfills the mentioned prerequisite is the Personal Rapid Transit system (PRT).
PRT, also called personal automated transport, is a public transportation mode featuring small
automated vehicles operating on a network of specially-built guide ways. Those paths are set in
a network, where stations are on sidings. These sidings are reached through merging and
diverging points, allowing other cars to travel non-stop, avoiding in-between stations. While the
typical PRT cars or pods are designed to carry 3-6 passengers, the network can also support
larger vehicles for peak hours and regular routs. [20]The system needs no asphalt therefore the
natural water cycle can be realized through rainwater infiltration and no runoffs. Conventional
transportation methods require a lot of space for human error and maneuverability, whereas
the automated PRT system on the other hand uses significantly less space. In addition to being
accessible 24/7 that can be compared to a taxi service or vertical elevator, the system operates,
in contrary of conventional public transportation systems, only when occupied. Compared to
noise pollution produced by car movement on asphalt, PRT has least noise levels. Due to its
operating mechanism, it is considered as one of the most efficient systems in the world and
therefore it is feasible to run on renewable energies with the current technology advancement.
An existing operating example is the PRT system in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, which is a car free
city. [21]
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Green building certification
The use of energy in buildings accounts for about 40% share of the total end use of energy.
[22] This includes energy used for controlling the climate in buildings and for the buildings
themselves, but also energy used for appliances, lighting and other installed equipment.
One of the longer-term cycles can be seen in the green building movement. We are nearing
the end of that long era in the building business where, to maximize their revenue,
developers set their budget for a buildings costs as low as possible, and architects,
contractors, engineers, and everyone else who will construct a piece of the complete
building compete for their share of that fixed budget. That system encourages bidders to
find ways to cut their costs to the bare minimum to increase their profits. For instance, the
subcontractor for the heating and cooling system has every reason to install the cheapest
installation he or she can find that will do the job and just meet building codes, rather than a
higher priced one that will save energy and money over the long utilization of the tenants,
the real customers of the building.
Disclosure of the ecological downside of commercial buildings has arrived in the
construction sector in the form of a green building certificate, for instance LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design). LEED is an internationally recognized green building
certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was
designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics
that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved
indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
LEED is flexible enough to apply to all building types commercial as well as residential. It
works throughout the building lifecycle design and construction, operations and
maintenance, tenant fit-out and significant retrofit. LEED for Neighborhood Development
extends the benefits of LEED beyond the building footprint into the neighborhood it serves.
It promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in the
key areas of sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and
resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, location and linkage, awareness and education
and innovation in design. The rating system of LEED is divided into platinum, gold, silver and
just certified. [23]
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As a result, like any other product scoring system, LEED gives the consumer a sense of how
the building is performing in all the above mentioned criteria. While some post-occupant
studies have shown improvements in energy and resource use in buildings, they have yet to
be conducted on a very large scale, providing for weak statistics on the matter. Once a LEED
certification is granted, it does not have to be renewed. If the energy use of a building does
not change even after certification, should the building be allowed to call itself LEED
certified? One large problem lies in the fact that post-occupancy results do not play a role in
granting the certification. This may allow many individuals to market their properties as
green without the building having any significant reduction in electricity usage.
Another major downside of the LEED certification is its globalization strategy. While the
certification may have good results in one climate, which does absolutely not indicate that it
can be used anywhere. Therefore, local systems of performance based rating are
encouraged to be created for every region and country, to aim for its climate, culture and
economy. In the course of my stay in the UAE I have seen cases of buildings that were
designed to meet the standards and get accredited with LEED, under the appeal of the
developers. In my opinion, using LEED in the Emirates caused more harm than good. Clients
were charged more for the design, the certification itself costs a lot of money, energy valueswere set to U.S. standards and water saving points were too little for the desert
environment. Other examples are like having bicycle racks and shower facilities integrated
in the building design for the purpose of achieving its credit points. Those add-ons are a
total waste, as they are not used because of the regions climate and its culture. But
afterwards, a new and local system was created called Estidama, which means
sustainability in Arabic. They focused more on integrated design principles that helped
reducing the extra costs of construction. Estidama had the credit load distribution set to
mirror the regional vernacular requirements, for instance having a larger number of credits,
prerequisites and standards for water conservation.
While these examples are relatively easy to understand, there is another set of radical
changes that need to happen in both the design and the marketing industries. To sincerely
create a sustainable design, one has to start from within, in this case the design, up to the
marketing phase till operation and maintenance. All members and actors have to be
involved from the beginning of a project. Whole systems thinking needs to replace isolated
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conventional systems to adapt sustainable processes. Interactive processed will have to
replace linear ones. Time and energy will have to be loaded in the earliest stage possible.
Life-cycle costing will replace the emphasis on upfront costs method.
As for the accreditation, all systems I have been exposed to, LEED, BREEAM, GreenStar and
Estidama, have the same 3 to 5 rating stars, points or pearls. These ratings do not translate
directly into customers needs and understandings and therefore loose a part of their value
through their ambiguity. A home buyer would want to see those ratings divided into
categories like energy saving, water conservation, and so on, also accompanied by the
optimal use setup and configurations, like that you get when you buy a new laptop. In order
to speed up and encourage the improvement of the building sector, transparency has to
exist, in abundance. The construction industrys bar for green is in continuous upgrade.
Industrial designers envision a coming generation of living buildings that will operate like
an accessory to nature, producing more clean energy and water than they use.
Fig. 9: green building certification logos
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Conclusion
At present, consumer concerns have relatively little effect on the ingredients in products
and how they are manufactured. But in a radically transparent marketplace, that equation
shifts, allowing shoppers to make more informed decisions based on information that
previously have been hidden. Companies may decide for a number of reasons to use
ingredients of concern, but once shoppers know what items contain those ingredients, they
are less likely to buy them. And that will ultimately tip the scales of how things are made.
One can start acting on the situation now; by doing what we already know is best. Buy the
refills, not throw-away. Get the larger size, not the single use. Buy from a stand, rather than
plastic wrapped. These minor things do make the difference, similar to the incident when
trans-fats disappeared from the market after publishing their side effects to the public.
Additionally, use virtual conferencing tools to dispose of your transport footprint.
There is no doubt on the role of governments to regulate and direct the market towards
the right path. There is a need to continuously upgrade their policies, on a faster pace.
Codes need to be more stringent, environmental taxes need to be higher, ecological
violations need to be dealt with harsher. Changing electricity prices according to peak hour
consumption will increase cautious use by the consumers. The world governments like for
example the Kyoto protocol or the World Bank and other major stakeholders need to have a
more substantial role in implementing their views and policies. In the past supporter groups
concerned with everything from saving the rainforest to hunting down sweatshops would
approach governments to pass regulations to promote their plans. Recently many have
changed their strategies, trying to persuade consumers to boycott products that contribute
to harming the environment. This strategys core is creating joint consumer action to shift
markets to the kinds of products aligned with what they endorse. Such a market strategy
can be far more effective and work much faster than regulation.
Even though current marketing strategies can be very tricky, it is everyones responsibility to
educate themselves and avoid being a victim of selling tactics, such as the contrast effect.
The contrast effect is known among marketers to manipulate consumers minds into
perceiving a product to have a better profile only by inducing a kind of dislike for a
comparable product. In order to make a product look good, they show the shopper an
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inferior product first. This is achieved by shifting their scales for computation of value with
the basis for comparison; all value is in contrast to something else. Individuals, who tend to
think of themselves as helpless victims and blame the corporations for their own
misjudgments should utilize the upcoming era of transparency to become active agents in
achieving the desired improvements. Everyone should feel that their decisions matter.
Everyone is able to make a difference. We all bear the responsibility to deliver a sustainable
future to the next generations. You are valuable not only to your family, friends, race, nation
but you are valuable to Earth. In order to achieve this ecological revolution everyone should
participate. Its all in our hands.
With greattransparencycomes greatresponsibility
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