: How can you make a difference?

Contemporary Issues in Designing and Managing Sustainable Cities

Urban Affairs 1171:001

Lesson 4 • Industrial Modernization • Cradle to Cradle

Industrial Modernization

Key Terms:

Closed vs. Open Loop Systems

Cradle to Grave vs. Cradle to Cradle

Recycling vs downcycling vs upcycling

Waste = Food

Biological and Technical Nutrients

(Cradle to Cradle, William McDonough and Michael Braungart, 2002)

James Watt Steam Engine, 1775

conversion of heat energy to mechanical energy

Three waves of industrial economy

1) Coal - Steam (1800 – 1900) •  Small factory production, urbanized manufacturing •  Limited credit

2) Oil - electricity (1900 – 1980) •  Large-scale factory production, mass production •  Early credit-based system of consumption •  Money moves from gold standard to credit based system

3) Information technology (1980 - ?) •  Globalization, outsourcing, decline in real factory wages •  Lower real wages, increased debt through increased borrowing •  Money entirely based on debt

Robert J. Gordon (2012): "Is US Economic Growth Over?"

Walter R. Stahel, “Product life factor”, 1982

Traditional Industrialization linear or "open-loop" system Cradle to grave model need to continuously replenish system with new resources

.

Industrial Modernization Cradle to grave model: Linear "one-way street" approach - "open loop"

1. raw material -> (waste from extraction process)

2. manufactured as a product -> (waste from manufacture process)

3. sold/consumed ->

4. end of usefulness cycle: breaks or becomes obsolete ->

5. waste / landfill.

In this process little or none of the energy or material is reutilized

Industrial Modernization

Priority of Production: • Speed and efficiency to saturate market • Greater efficiency = cheaper goods = greater profit

Few "externalities" By-products of the design and production: pollution, toxic waste, damage to ecosystems, etc., people getting sick/dying, OR what to do the the product when done

Ford Motor Company Rouge River Plant

http://www.oil-electric.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Cradle to Cradle

Cradle to Cradle model

"...the questions of resource scarcity and sustainability are questions of design."

"humans don't have a pollution problem, they have a design problem; if they would from the start design intelligently, then we wouldn't have the same problems"

William McDonough

Walter R. Stahel, “Product life factor”, 1982

Cradle to Cradle Closed loop system - not relying on matter exchange outside of the system

.

Industrial Modernization Cradle to Cradle model: "closed loop"

1. recycled material or renewable resource (post consumer, industrial remnants) industrial nutrients biological nutrients

2. re-manufactured as a product ->

3. sold/consumed -> (what does consumer do with product/material?)

4. usefulness cycle? breaks or becomes obsolete? individual components disassembled -> repair / replace parts ->

5. recycled/returned to production process ->

Biological and Technical Nutrients

Design with advance understanding or product at end of lifecycle

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biological_and_technical_nutrients_(C2C).jpg

Monstrous Hybrids Mixtures of organic and inorganic substances, containing toxic compounds, difficult to separate and recycle.

ex: running shoes are assemblies of leather (organic) and various plastics (synthetic).

A Problem of Design

http://www.diabetesdaily.com/voices/2012/07/the-fastest-carbohydrates-for-hypoglycemia/

Recycle

Downcycle or Upcycle…?

a somewhat generic term used to describe what is conventionally understood as either "downcycling" or "upcycling".

often a subjective valuation of a product

The Less-bad scenario:

Recycling only takes into account a partial life span of a product, where its material substance will eventually make it to a landfill or out to sea

Downcycling

Conventionally known as recycling, material is transformed into products of lower quality

"Usefulness" of recycled product generally degrades

Food quality container transformed into a speed bump, or composite material (park bench) eventually ending up in a landfill.

Upcycling The process of converting an technical nutrient into something of similar or greater value, in its second life.

Aluminum and glass, for example, can usually be upcycled into the same quality of aluminum and glass as the original products.

http://www.sustainabilitydictionary.com/u/upcycle.php

Upcycling

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biological_and_technical_nutrients_(C2C).jpg

a substance that will bio- degrade back into elemental compounds and used by the natural ecosystem

http:// www.brooksrunning.com/ Green+Room/

a substance that can be reused, assimilated back into an industrial process

Technical Nutrient

"Closed loop" Industrial Production

Herman Miller, Inc.

Herman Miller, Inc.

Herman Miller, Inc.

Herman Miller, Inc. EQAT - Environmental Quality Action team

Herman Miller, Inc. - 2020 Vision

1993 2008 2020

Herman Miller, Inc. - 2020 Vision

• Zero VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions to air • Zero hazardous waste • Zero solid waste to landfill • Zero process water consumption • 100% renewable electrical energy use • 100% of sales from DfE (Design for Environment) approved products • 100% of owned or leased company buildings achieve USGBC (United States Green Building Code) LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver certification

Herman Miller – Mirra Chair

Walmart's Business Model

1. Carbon = Energy = Money

2. Waste = Money

3. Make Sustainability about health

4. Start with Quick wins

5. Listen to Kids

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-humes/wal-mart-eco-lessons_b_865786.html#s282184&title=Dont_Wait_For

Walmart's Business Model

6. Sustainability starts at the top

7. Everything / every part of company is fair game

8. Race to the top, not the bottom

9. Embrace critics

10. Don't wait for the market, create it and lead it

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-humes/wal-mart-eco-lessons_b_865786.html#s282184&title=Dont_Wait_For

Walmart's Business Model

bottom line: sustainability boosts profits, it pays to be green

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-humes/wal-mart-eco-lessons_b_865786.html#s282184&title=Dont_Wait_For

The Circular Economy