Cleantech and design for sustainability
Cleantech
The term “Cleantech” is used to describe products, services or technologies that help to reduce or eliminate emissions, waste and the use of natural resources by utilising renewable materials and energy sources throughout the product life-cycle. To be sufficiently attractive to motivate people to want to make change, sustainable technologies must also offer a genuine advantage over traditional alternatives.
As product designers we strive to combine innovation with sustainability. For us, sustainable product design provides an attractive balance between form, function, cost and it’s impact on the environment throughout the total lifecycle.
In a major project spanning some three years we worked on the development of technologies that are poised to bring a radical change to the way consumers deal with house-hold recycling of plastics, metal tins / cans and glass. Watch this space!
Design for sustainability
At the very basic of levels, some people only consider Bill of Materials (BOM) costs. Others account for assembly costs through the consideration of assembly “minute” times, often measured or derived from DfMA simulation. However, modern Lean Design initiatives (such as Six Sigma Lean) encourage the consideration of all waste or costs associated with materials, their processing, waste management and their recyclability from start to finish.
Warley Design has the detailed knowledge of sustainable technology, materials and manufacturing processes required to support your cleantech design initiative. We have recently designed low-power cooling devices for the computing industry and low power/low weight (mass) products for high-performance military applications. We have also supported the development of high-volume electronic modules for the control of Photo Voltaic (PV) solar panels.