Task 2C - Climate Change

In the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore explores the causes and effects of global warming, and even though climate change is such a detailed and complex topic, Gore presented the issues in a clear manner, and the film was eye-opening and extremely informative. The small animations made the presentation easier to understand, and also visually interesting.

Gore explains that it unethical human behaviour is what has raised the CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and within 50 years it will be off the charts. It was shocking to see how the effects of global warming on natural landmarks like Mt Kilimanjaro and the Himalayas, and it was also shocking to understand that so many natural disasters occurred as a result of the changes in the earth's atmosphere, particularly in the example of Hurricane Katrina.

Human behaviour is destroying the earth and as a result we are destroying ecological niches as well as each other. It is a change in human behaviour that needs to be undertaken, and we need to move away from the habits of unrestricted burning of fossil fuels and land clearing. We need people to be educated on the matter, and this lack of knowledge was shown with the skeptics that believe the notion of global warming is a hoax. It is this type of ignorant behaviour that needs to end.

Industrial designers and society, need to be conscious of these important issues to ensure a step in the right direction towards a better world.

Peer Comments

Danielle Taouk

Greg Shar

Rob Cervetto

Gleb Labazine

Julian Chow

Designing for Disaster

Rationale

The 1991 Bangladesh cyclone was a tragedy. With it, came over 138,000 deaths, and at least 10 million people were left homeless. Deaths were due to; not being aware of the arriving cyclone, slow support efforts unable to reach the area (which would bring foods, water supplies, and medical supplies), Injured unable to receive first aid and infected/disease in body and wounds afterwards. As a response to the immediate event, World Vision responded with Rice Grains, Fresh Water and basic medical supplies and teams.

This leaves the people of Bangladesh injured, stuck, more than likely drowning, and struggling to help injured, or remove the bodies of those who are deceased. This was the Inspiration for my Product, Levar.

Levar is a portable stretcher and flotation device. The Stretcher can be immediately deployed once the cyclone hits, either by local World Vision/Aid workers, or when resources are delivered to the affected area. Once released immediately after cyclone arrival, Levar can be rapidly be dispersed for those in need of a flotation device. In the aftermath of the Cyclone, the Product can then be opened and assembled, and used to collect injured or deceased people.

Levar

- Levar comes from the combination of the Words levitate and stretcher, as I wanted the branding to show the importance and ‘lift’ of this Product.

- The Product is compact, quick to assemble, light, durable, strong, and bright.

- The Product is a yellow shade, to help visibility, not only for workers, but also for its use as a flotation device for those in need.

- The exterior of the product is made from HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), and is made through Rotary Moulding.

- Interior Handle Brackets as well as extending clib brackets are made from Galvanized Steel with a PVC coating.

- The Fabric used is RipStop fabric, due to its high durability, waterproof nature and strength.

- All materials are low cost, so the products can be made available to not only the workers of the World Vision and other Aid organisations, but also for the residents of Bangladesh.

Reflection

I am very grateful for this project. Not only did it make me appreciate the social, helpful and humanitarian views of Design, but also made me, as a 3rd Year Industrial Design Student, appreciate the whole international Industrial Design community. It is with these products that we save people and lives, and create a better world.

The product has turned out very close to what I expected, but certain boards could have been presented with the presentation, including HOW the actual product disassembles then reassembles, and the scenario storyboard should have been more up to standard.

The design of Levar is Universal, and easily used by anyone worldwide. The form is simple, stackable/transportable, and basic ergonomic principles have been shown in the model, with the width of the entire object, the width of the handle grip and dimensioning ergonomics and the statures of the average Bangladeshi person, all being considered when designing this product.

I was very happy with the model as i have never done something of that scale and level in blue foam before. My only issue with the model was the finish. The spray Paint and Poly Filla reacted with the blue foam, which burnt away certain parts of the model and cracked slight sections on the top. I was happy with the colour, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to be. In future wi wont be making appearance models out of blue foam, without proper layers and epoxy use for the finish. i should have gone with layered MDF like I originally wanted to, but was persuaded to the use of blue foam.

The Material choice was appropriate, given all the weather conditions the product will have to withstand. HDPE is very durable and strong, and can withstand great impact. Galvanised steel is very strong, and with a PVC coating, is resistant to weather ability. The Fabric used is just right for the product, as it is highly durable and strong.

I wish I would have followed some of the ideas I had originally put forward, some of my concepts that were shut down by my tutor, involving the method of how the mechanism and product would work. The original idea was to have a collapsible all in one bed section, that folded out, and folded straight back in, almost like a Constantia fold, or a method similar to that of the metal fencing that we see so commonly around, which u can extend as far as you wish. The Handle ergonomics were originally meant to be alot more organic, but yet again, I was told to pursue another direction.

I was very happy with my concept and presentation apart from being ridiculed for ideas I should have done, when I originally did design them, and suggest them. I have enjoyed this projects outcomes, and area.

The world needs alot more help from designers.

Task 2B - Sustainable Consumption

The rate we consume, replace and throw away products is far to excessive for a safe and sustainable world. This is driven by Companies who design electronics, who every 12 to 18 months produce a new and improved product, which makes its predecessors obsolete. This persuades consumers to purchase the product in order to stay current with trend or to have a new feature on their phone or device. Designers should be enforced to design products which are long lasting or which can be upgraded, and this can be done using high quality materials and designing products that can be upgraded using a modular design.

The idea of modular design will greatly reduce the impact of electronic waste, as only broken parts will need to be replaced, instead of the entire device ending up in landfill where a replacement is sent to the customer. It can also be said that, fixing broken electronics is not made easy and usually the cost of repair exceeds the cost of a buying a new product. Another simple actions can be taken by electronic companies such as Sony for example to have a universal charger which can charge the majority of their products, reducing resources, energy and the amount of waste ending up in landfill. They don't need to produce custom accessories that only fit one model of their range.

Designers should also be required to design with product End Of Life in mind. This takes into account the life of the product after its use and how recycling, reuse or disposal will be carried out. Material choice, material coupling and modular design are very important in producing a sustainable product and should be of high consideration by designers. Material choice, such as the use of aluminum, should be considered carefully as the embodied energy used for the extraction and production of this material is of a high level.

If the use of aluminum in the design is necessary, using recycled aluminum will greatly reduce the sustainable impact of the product as the energy used is only 10% of that of virgin aluminum. The choice to use toxic chemicals such as flame retardant, solvents and PVC in products will later be released back into the environment during use and disposal of the product, poisoning consumers and the environment.

Correct and educated material coupling is also a way to greatly reduce environmental impact as is always for the product to be disassembled at the end of its life where parts can be recycled or reused in the manufacture of other products.

EcoREDESIGN - Tiffany Kettle Disassembly

- With the help of www.greenflyonline.org, we disassembled a 3 year old Tiffany brand cordless Kettle, and analyzed the products environmental Foot print and impact.

- The day to day use of the Product, using large amounts of Water and Electricity, was the most resource intensive part of the Product Lifecycle.

DisassemblyTeam Members

http://gleblabazine.blogspot.com/

http://njbaroni.blogspot.com/

http://patgates.blogspot.com/

http://ryandaugherty.blogspot.com/

Task 2A - Understanding Recycling

After watching the videos on recycling technologies and practices in “Giving Packaging a New Life” by Duales Systems of Germany, I am amazed by the recycling methods and techniques used in current day recycling.

The use of infrared sensors in order to differentiate and automatically separate different types of plastic, astounded me, and included such plastics as PS, PE and PET, as well as the use of chemical solvents and rotary kilns to remove any impurities from PET chips. From sorting by color, to sorting by size, to removing metals from plastics with industrial magnets, a lot of thought has clearly been given to the recycling efforts by institutions that run recycling plants. I think about the effort that went into building these plants and the machinery, but also the effort that went into designing the stages of organized recycling.

The plants shown in these videos didn't just happen, with alot of effort is being put into reusing consumed materials. Technology such as the Opto-Electronic scanners combined with the use of highly accurate compressed air jets to pinpoint pieces of glass, and blow them out, showing the growing importance and advancement of technology in relation to Recycling. Such tools are without a doubt designed with these sole recycling uses in mind, and the fact that they are designed specifically for recycling plants shows to me the dedication that governments and companies have for the cause of sustainability.

Hearing that we can limit the need to mine and drill for natural resources in the earth is promising, as it has been proven in existing plants that recycled products, can in many cases, be completely reused for new products. Processed and reused aluminium, for example, according to the video is no problem for manufacturers; aluminium sheets made via recycled aluminium only uses one twentieth of the energy needed to create new aluminium goods by other means.

Even with all of this technology, however, sorting and reusing materials in plants is still an issue. How much would ordinary people in society know about recycling plants, then? I want to believe that people can change, that information will spread about what technologies are out there to make it happen, but yet, we still see such large amounts of trash around in public areas. It will take a lot of effort and a long time for people to change, and I hope we’re moving in the ecological direction.

My Foot Print Results. Shameful.

As you can tell by this title, I am extremely suprised with these results.

Even with all the current options currently installed in our house, such as Water saving shower fittings, electricity/energy saving light bulbs, i would still apparently consume 7.35 planets.

Society has started to realise the resources they abuse are not all renewable, and attitudes have changed, to switching off appliances that aren't in use, solar power, and renewable and recycled materials being used in the building of alot of houses, along with energy and water saving appliances.

The renewable and recyclable revolution is here...