design odyssey beyond 2010

[by Cindy Gordon] The 2010 Greener Gadgets Conference unveiled the truth. As much as we want to behave in a green manner we do not yet understand green product development. However, ANDREA and a few other products presented at the conference could still find a way into our lives.

The third annual 2010 Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City was a disappointment. One might have believed that the high-profile keynote speakers, such as Yves Behar of fuseproject or Robert Fabricant of frog design, could open an interesting and engaging debate on sustainability and product design. Instead, the conference turned out to be more a place for people to market their companies and new gadgets under the green guise.

As far as the current trend goes, the industry seems to capitalize on consumers who want to believe that they can make a difference and improve the environment by buying add-on electronics to reduce vampire energy and on-line applications to remotely monitor in-home power consumption. While these may be good ideas, they only account for small improvements to energy and cost savings in comparison to heating and cooling improvements to the home (such as adding adequate insulation, installing high-efficiency ‘Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning’ (HVAC) systems, geothermal heat pumps and Biomass Stoves). Homeowners can also reap monetary rewards through Federal Tax Credits for such energy-efficient improvements made to their existing, primary homes. Nevertheless, a few products are worth mentioning – Labogroup’s ANDREA plant filter, Ecovative’s EcoCradle™ packaging material, and MIT Media Lab’s online Sourcemap™ product tracker.

ANDREA – A HIGH-END AIR FILTRATION FOR THE HOME

ANDREA / photo: www.andreaair.com

ANDREA is a new air filtration product developed and designed by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur with Harvard professor David Edwards. A large plastic bubble-like enclosure amplifies the air filtration of a regular plant placed inside it. The bubble increases air flow, and the exposed roots and foliage filter out toxic gases.

When I saw ANDREA and heard the system could speed up the removal of formaldehyde from the air ten times faster than a natural plant, I immediately thought I could use this in place of a standard unsightly HEPA filter which is beneficial for asthma and allergy sufferers because it is able to trap very small particles such as pollen, dust and pet dander. With ANDREA, I could actually enjoy having plants in my home that my cats couldn’t attack and eat. I wanted one! However, as I was reading through the marketing materials, I realized this product shouldn’t be compared to a standard HEPA filter. The ANDREA system and HEPA filters have different uses. While ANDREA seems very efficient at removing formaldehyde, it doesn’t hold up to standard HEPA and carbon-filter systems for cleaning pollens, dust and other non-gaseous particles from the air. Likewise, HEPA filters do not remove toxic gases. My further research also yielded US patent 5201860 issued back in 1993  for an air purification planter that seems to rival ANDREA for being greener.

Possibly as beneficial, consuming less plastic resources, and for less money (ANDREA sells for around $200), one could buy a self-watering pot with exposed grate bottom suspended over a water dish with a wick to draw water to the roots, and open the window. While this DIY way of cleaning your indoor air doesn’t look sexy, it could work in your home. We could, however, take this filtration idea a step further and use it as a modified scaled up version in manufacturing plants where work is done in polluted environments, such as areas with high quantities of medium density fiberboard (MDF).

designer Mathieu Lehanneur with Harvard professor David Edwards / photo: andreaair.com

EcoCradle™ – A PACKAGING MATERIAL TO REQUEST

A company that delivers a much greener product is Ecovative Design. Their packaging material called EcoCradle™ is exemplary of the cradle to cradle mindset (C2C) where they’ve thought the product through from the start to its end.  Reminiscent of familiar Styrofoam, EcoCradle™ is made of naturally occurring waste products – like rice hulls or cotton burrs, in the region where it’s manufactured. With the help of a fungi bonding agent, it is grown rather than produced. The production uses about ten times less energy than the production of other types of synthetic foams. Unlike Styrofoam, EcoCradle can literally disappear when you don’t need it anymore. Because it can quickly decompose, you can use it as mulch in your garden or just throw it away. Ecovative Design doesn’t limit this thinking only to their products. They embody the green business model – their pilot plant runs on hydroelectric power and their office is composed of repurposed furniture discarded from local businesses. In the office, they even drink loose-leaf tea versus using tea bags.

EcoCradle™ is a great packaging material in the right direction. However, unless consumers can overlook the slightly dirty appearance and request their new appliances be shipped with EcoCradle™, it won’t reach the market. If the pilot manufacturing plant expands, I hope Ecovative Design will be able to keep up their green standards and practices in future manufacturing locations.

EcoCradle by Ecovative / photo: www.ecovativedesign.com

Sourcemap™ – BE AWARE OF THE PRODUCTS YOU BUY

Raising awareness of consumers about what exactly they buy, and making them responsible for their environmental decisions was another trend discussed at the Greener Gadgets Conference. Ultimately, consumers will be in charge of what is produced – through their demands. In order to make such educated decisions though, it is important to provide consumers with trustworthy tools. An existing system that helps buyers select electronic products based on their environmental attributes is the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). Product ratings are based on 51 environmental performance criteria that address the product’s entire life-cycle such as toxics reduction, recycled content, product longevity, energy efficiency, or end-of-life management. Amazon.com has recently partnered with EPEAT to display the rating system on related electronic products.

However, the EPEAT system only covers desktop and laptop computers, thin clients, workstations and computer monitors – a portion of electronics and an even smaller portion of products available on the market. The US Environmental Protection Agency additionally covers paper, glass, cans, carpet and tires, but one new website strives to cover it all in one place.

Leonardo Bonanni, designer, artist and PhD Candidate of MIT’s Media Lab, presented Sourcemap™ – a newly launched online resource to help create transparency of supply chains behind all everyday products. This open source platform is founded on the principle that ‘people have the right to know where things come from and what they are made of”. Visitors to the site can either contribute or trace a variety of objects such as their iPhone, IKEA bed or Nike shoes down to their individual parts, and find out their corresponding CO2 footprint. The carbon footprint relates to greenhouse gas emissions caused by a product, organization or event and represents our behavior indirectly affecting global environment. Imagine, even consuming information technology by searching on Google produces a footprint!  Jonathan Leake and Richard Woods in their article ‘Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches’ warn that recent research demonstrates how much energy Google consumes:

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2. Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental impact.”

The site for Sourcemap™ is still in conceptual development. Visitors should participate and give feedback to improve its real use and comprehension. For instance, it lacks a definition of CO2 footprint for the less knowledgeable. The site also needs to introduce comparison tools to show what the CO2 of one product means in relation to another. Sourcemap™ will be even more valuable when products are mandated to have Quick Response (QR) codes instantly scannable by mobile phones. QR codes embedded with data could redirect potential buyers to a URL address providing the necessary information to compare products on the spot. They are currently recognizable by most Japanese mobile phones with cameras and iPhones with a QR application. Besides the consumer having more knowledgeable purchasing power, perhaps the real impact of Sourcemap™ will ensure companies be more responsible since they won’t be able to hide anything anymore. Multiple sources are always needed to challenge and verify the truth.

As much as we want to go out and quickly buy new green products with minimum environmental impact, we should research each one – how they are made, where they come from, what will be their end result and in how much time’s use. Only that way we can make sure we make the right choice – the greenest choice we can at the moment.

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Cindy Gordon is a practicing interdisciplinary designer with a focus on branded interactive environments. She is a true adventurer and information junkie. Originally from the West Coast (the Bay Area and Seattle), she has recently moved to New York City to continue exploring new places and to seek further design inspiration. Constantly seeking balance, she spends as much time in nature surfing, snowboarding and traveling as well as attending various events in the city including her favorite–Dorkbot meetings.

Filed under: Design, New York City Tagged: | Design, Design mind, Green design, New York City