**4. Sustainable product design**

#### **4.1. What is sustainable product design?**

#### *4.1.1. Sustainable development*

The World Commission on Environment and Development defined Sustainable Develop‐ ment in 1987 as 'A development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs' [28]. This definition has been taken over, reformulated and evolved over time by many. Other definitions on sustainability focus on the so-called 'triple bottom line': the three dimensions people, planet, and profit, also called so‐ cial equity, economic efficiency and environmental performance.The International Institute for Sustainable Development in conjunction with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development has defined sustainable development from a business perspective view. "Sus‐ tainable development means adopting business strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future" [29]. The stakeholders include shareholders, lenders, customers, employees, suppliers and communities who are affected by the organization's activities. This definition also highlights business's dependence on human and natural resources, in addition to physical and financial capital. The book "Sustainability by Design" by John Ehrenfeld is founded upon a new definition "Sustainability is the possi‐ bility that humans and other life will flourish on earth forever" [30].

McLennan [34] defines Sustainable Design as 'a design philosophy that seeks to minimize or eliminate negative impact to the natural environment through skillful, sensitive design'.

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Up till now, most attention has been given to environmental sustainability within the design

Usually, there's no one-single driver or barrier for Sustainable Design. A combination of several factors, both internal and external determines whether a firm chooses the path of sustainable design or not. For this, the firm policy needs to find a balance between environ‐ mental, social and economic needs. This section summarizes the main findings in literature

Extensive research on drivers for sustainable design has been carried out by research organi‐ zations and industrial companies in the last two decades with significant insights achieved [36] [31] [37] [38]. Charter and Tischner mentioned already in 2001 a growing number of

Van Hemel and Cramer [38] did a study on stimuli and barriers for ecodesign in SMEs and listed the most common and influential factors. The most influential internal stimuli were the opportunities for innovation, the expected increase of product quality and the potential market opportunities. The research revealed quite clearly that the most influential external stimuli for ecodesign are 'Customer demands', 'Governmental legislation' and 'Industrial

A recent study based on a survey conducted on 10.000 multidisciplinary professionals from Spanish innovation driven companies [37] shows that sustainability is a cardinal driver for innovation. Moreover, the study indicates that the main drivers for integrating sustainable criteria are environmental impact reduction, energy efficiency, marketing and brand value, and legislation adjustment. Internal drivers for practicing sustainable design can vary de‐ pending on the size of the company. The obtained results in the study show that for micro companies (1-10 employees), the driving element most considered is cost reduction, fol‐ lowed by marketing and brand value. On the other hand the driving elements less consid‐ ered for micro companies are legislation adjustment and to avoid economic sanctions. In the case of SMEs (10-250 employees) the main driver is the client demand and being fashionable and the least important is to avoid economic sanctions. Finally for macro companies (over 250 employees) the least important driver is cost reduction. The most important ones are to avoid economic sanctions and legislation adjustment. Nowadays there are a lot of EU direc‐ tives on a wide range of categories. These EU regulations determine common rules concern‐ ing responsibility and technical issues such as the end-of-life disposal treatment of equipment and financial issues for instance who has to pay for disposal treatment. By all the

on the stimuli and barriers for enterprises to practice sustainable product design.

process, both by academics as practitioners [35].

**4.2. Drivers and barriers for sustainable design**

drivers for sustainable design worldwide. [31]

*4.2.1. Drivers for sustainable design*

sector initiatives'.

#### *4.1.2. Ecodesign*

Ecodesign and Design for Environment (DfE) are terms for strategies that aim to integrate environmental considerations into product design and development. They involve life-cycle thinking, which means the integration of life-cycle considerations into product design. The overall goal is to minimize the consumption of natural resources and energy and the conse‐ quent impact on the environment while maximizing the benefits for customers [31].

The European Parlement formulated one of the many other definitions of Ecodesign in 2005 in Directive 2005/32/EG. 'Eco-design means the integration of environmental aspects into prod‐ uct design with the aim of improving the environmental performance of the product through‐ out its whole life cycle'. There are lots of synonyms for the term Ecodesign. Bhander et al. [32] uses the following synonyms: Design for Environment (DfE), Eco-Design, Eco-innovation, En‐ vironmentally Conscious Design (ECD) and Sustainable Design. According to O'Hare [33] ECD is the umbrella term for eco-design, eco-innovation and DfE. Sustainable Design is any form of ECD that affects a social and an economic aspect as well as the ecological aspect.

#### *4.1.3. Sustainable design*

Sustainable product design (SPD) is more than Ecodesign, as it integrates social and ethical aspects of the product's life cycle alongside environmental and economic considerations, aiming for the so-called 'triple bottom line'. Sustainable product development and design is concerned with balancing economic, environmental and social aspects in the creation of products and services [31]. A framework that shows the relationship between the different disciplines is shown in Figure 6.

**Figure 6.** Relationship between ecodesign, sustainable design and sustainable development [31]

McLennan [34] defines Sustainable Design as 'a design philosophy that seeks to minimize or eliminate negative impact to the natural environment through skillful, sensitive design'.

Up till now, most attention has been given to environmental sustainability within the design process, both by academics as practitioners [35].

#### **4.2. Drivers and barriers for sustainable design**

Usually, there's no one-single driver or barrier for Sustainable Design. A combination of several factors, both internal and external determines whether a firm chooses the path of sustainable design or not. For this, the firm policy needs to find a balance between environ‐ mental, social and economic needs. This section summarizes the main findings in literature on the stimuli and barriers for enterprises to practice sustainable product design.

#### *4.2.1. Drivers for sustainable design*

shareholders, lenders, customers, employees, suppliers and communities who are affected by the organization's activities. This definition also highlights business's dependence on human and natural resources, in addition to physical and financial capital. The book "Sustainability by Design" by John Ehrenfeld is founded upon a new definition "Sustainability is the possi‐

Ecodesign and Design for Environment (DfE) are terms for strategies that aim to integrate environmental considerations into product design and development. They involve life-cycle thinking, which means the integration of life-cycle considerations into product design. The overall goal is to minimize the consumption of natural resources and energy and the conse‐

The European Parlement formulated one of the many other definitions of Ecodesign in 2005 in Directive 2005/32/EG. 'Eco-design means the integration of environmental aspects into prod‐ uct design with the aim of improving the environmental performance of the product through‐ out its whole life cycle'. There are lots of synonyms for the term Ecodesign. Bhander et al. [32] uses the following synonyms: Design for Environment (DfE), Eco-Design, Eco-innovation, En‐ vironmentally Conscious Design (ECD) and Sustainable Design. According to O'Hare [33] ECD is the umbrella term for eco-design, eco-innovation and DfE. Sustainable Design is any form of ECD that affects a social and an economic aspect as well as the ecological aspect.

Sustainable product design (SPD) is more than Ecodesign, as it integrates social and ethical aspects of the product's life cycle alongside environmental and economic considerations, aiming for the so-called 'triple bottom line'. Sustainable product development and design is concerned with balancing economic, environmental and social aspects in the creation of products and services [31]. A framework that shows the relationship between the different

**Figure 6.** Relationship between ecodesign, sustainable design and sustainable development [31]

quent impact on the environment while maximizing the benefits for customers [31].

bility that humans and other life will flourish on earth forever" [30].

*4.1.2. Ecodesign*

154 Advances in Industrial Design Engineering

*4.1.3. Sustainable design*

disciplines is shown in Figure 6.

Extensive research on drivers for sustainable design has been carried out by research organi‐ zations and industrial companies in the last two decades with significant insights achieved [36] [31] [37] [38]. Charter and Tischner mentioned already in 2001 a growing number of drivers for sustainable design worldwide. [31]

Van Hemel and Cramer [38] did a study on stimuli and barriers for ecodesign in SMEs and listed the most common and influential factors. The most influential internal stimuli were the opportunities for innovation, the expected increase of product quality and the potential market opportunities. The research revealed quite clearly that the most influential external stimuli for ecodesign are 'Customer demands', 'Governmental legislation' and 'Industrial sector initiatives'.

A recent study based on a survey conducted on 10.000 multidisciplinary professionals from Spanish innovation driven companies [37] shows that sustainability is a cardinal driver for innovation. Moreover, the study indicates that the main drivers for integrating sustainable criteria are environmental impact reduction, energy efficiency, marketing and brand value, and legislation adjustment. Internal drivers for practicing sustainable design can vary de‐ pending on the size of the company. The obtained results in the study show that for micro companies (1-10 employees), the driving element most considered is cost reduction, fol‐ lowed by marketing and brand value. On the other hand the driving elements less consid‐ ered for micro companies are legislation adjustment and to avoid economic sanctions. In the case of SMEs (10-250 employees) the main driver is the client demand and being fashionable and the least important is to avoid economic sanctions. Finally for macro companies (over 250 employees) the least important driver is cost reduction. The most important ones are to avoid economic sanctions and legislation adjustment. Nowadays there are a lot of EU direc‐ tives on a wide range of categories. These EU regulations determine common rules concern‐ ing responsibility and technical issues such as the end-of-life disposal treatment of equipment and financial issues for instance who has to pay for disposal treatment. By all the directive requirements, companies are forced to constantly push their limits concerning sus‐ tainable development.

sibility they can't compete with the direct competitors. This may lead to a commercial

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One of the most important external barriers is the lack of involvement of consumers [37]. If they are not willing to pay for it, or simply aren't interested in an environmental friendly product, the whole project is doomed to fail. In general, market demand steers the compa‐ nies whether to choose for sustainable design. If in a certain product sector the demand for environmental products rises, the entire sector will develop toward these kinds of products. The other way around is also possible; companies will hesitate to implement sustainable de‐ sign if the market shows only little interest in these kinds of products. The influence of cos‐

From the study from van Hemel and Cramer [38] can furthermore be derived that three bar‐ riers must be characterized as 'no-go' barriers; their existence obstructs the ecodesign im‐ provement options in question from being implemented. These were the following barriers: 'No clear environmental benefit', 'Not perceived as responsibility' and 'No alternative solu‐

The main drivers and barriers found in literature to practice sustainable design are sum‐ marized in Table 4. A distinction in the table is made between the forces within and out‐ side the firm that gives the motivation whether or not to incorporate sustainability

Internal drivers and barriers are the internal factors that originate inside the company itself. External stimuli and barriers are the external factors that influence the decisions made to‐

In conclusion, practicing sustainable design is balancing between all the mentioned drivers and barriers. Every company needs to consider and determine its own specific requirements

Enhancing sustainable design does not only depend on finding alternative solutions for technical problems. Even more important are economical and social factors like the accept‐ ance of environmentally improved products in the market, and the way the market will per‐ ceive these products. Sustainable design is most successful when supported by several strong internal and external stimuli and not blocked by any no-go barriers. It only stands a chance, if it is supported by stimuli other than the expected environmental benefit alone. Contrary to prevailing literature on environmental management in SMEs, Van Hemel and Cramer [38] concluded in their study that internal stimuli are a stronger driving force for

Many drivers and barriers for Sustainable Design have their roots in the Front End of Inno‐

disadvantage.

tion is available'.

*4.2.3. Summary*

criteria in products.

ecodesign than external stimuli.

and goals.

tumers can be very decisive for Sustainable Design.

wards sustainable design from outside the company.

vation. This topic will be discussed in the next section.

According to Mathieux et al. [39] there are also some parallel benefits regarded from busi‐ ness perspective if a firm decides to practice sustainable design. The product design team is stimulated to see the bigger picture, as they need to make decisions based on life-cycle thinking. This can give a greater understanding in the complex chain of stakeholders of the company and acquire a global view of the market opportunities, cost saving and the product portfolio.

#### *4.2.2. Barriers for sustainable design*

Not all companies chose to practice sustainable design. Some of them are struggling to inte‐ grate this way of thinking into their current design process, portfolio and business structure. The main barriers found in literature are listed below.

First of all, the board needs to be convinced of the goal they're setting. If there's a man‐ agement's lack of commitment, as stated in [38], [33], [37] or if environmental improve‐ ments are perceived as not their responsibility, then it's practically impossible to implement sustainable design in an enterprise. The fact that a firm sees no clear environ‐ mental benefit is also often mentioned as a very important barrier [38]. Another common reason is the lack of acquisition of tangible benefits. This refers to the absence of direct benefits in the short term, such as the growth of production or sales, fiscal incentives or client satisfaction [37].

Also the practitioners need to be convinced of the new method that they're going to imple‐ ment. The design team needs to be sure they can benefit from the ecological conscious de‐ sign (ECD) tools. It is possible that a new tool isn't useful from the first second, tools often requires patience and has to be customized to the specific need of the design team [33]. On top of all this, the design team has to have the attitude, appropriate knowledge and skills to design and develop sustainable products [40].

Another frequent obstacle is the fact that an ecological optimized product can be in conflict with its functional product requirement. It can be a challenge for the designers and design teams to integrate the sustainable requirements without compromising on the technical pos‐ sibilities and the functional needs.

For many companies, cost is a very important element when taking environmental ori‐ ented decisions [37]. Not only the costs for the optimization of the product need to be taken into account. Also the general costs to create an environment in a firm where it is possible to practice sustainable design. Maybe there is the need for a new team, includ‐ ing experts of the environmental or ecological sector, or a new structure, a new vision or an adjusted view on the business model. All this may cause a significant augmentation of the overheads. And that is what scares some companies to make the switch to a more environmental policy. Moreover, if the general cost of an enterprise rise, there is the pos‐ sibility they can't compete with the direct competitors. This may lead to a commercial disadvantage.

One of the most important external barriers is the lack of involvement of consumers [37]. If they are not willing to pay for it, or simply aren't interested in an environmental friendly product, the whole project is doomed to fail. In general, market demand steers the compa‐ nies whether to choose for sustainable design. If in a certain product sector the demand for environmental products rises, the entire sector will develop toward these kinds of products. The other way around is also possible; companies will hesitate to implement sustainable de‐ sign if the market shows only little interest in these kinds of products. The influence of cos‐ tumers can be very decisive for Sustainable Design.

From the study from van Hemel and Cramer [38] can furthermore be derived that three bar‐ riers must be characterized as 'no-go' barriers; their existence obstructs the ecodesign im‐ provement options in question from being implemented. These were the following barriers: 'No clear environmental benefit', 'Not perceived as responsibility' and 'No alternative solu‐ tion is available'.

#### *4.2.3. Summary*

directive requirements, companies are forced to constantly push their limits concerning sus‐

According to Mathieux et al. [39] there are also some parallel benefits regarded from busi‐ ness perspective if a firm decides to practice sustainable design. The product design team is stimulated to see the bigger picture, as they need to make decisions based on life-cycle thinking. This can give a greater understanding in the complex chain of stakeholders of the company and acquire a global view of the market opportunities, cost saving and the product

Not all companies chose to practice sustainable design. Some of them are struggling to inte‐ grate this way of thinking into their current design process, portfolio and business structure.

First of all, the board needs to be convinced of the goal they're setting. If there's a man‐ agement's lack of commitment, as stated in [38], [33], [37] or if environmental improve‐ ments are perceived as not their responsibility, then it's practically impossible to implement sustainable design in an enterprise. The fact that a firm sees no clear environ‐ mental benefit is also often mentioned as a very important barrier [38]. Another common reason is the lack of acquisition of tangible benefits. This refers to the absence of direct benefits in the short term, such as the growth of production or sales, fiscal incentives or

Also the practitioners need to be convinced of the new method that they're going to imple‐ ment. The design team needs to be sure they can benefit from the ecological conscious de‐ sign (ECD) tools. It is possible that a new tool isn't useful from the first second, tools often requires patience and has to be customized to the specific need of the design team [33]. On top of all this, the design team has to have the attitude, appropriate knowledge and skills to

Another frequent obstacle is the fact that an ecological optimized product can be in conflict with its functional product requirement. It can be a challenge for the designers and design teams to integrate the sustainable requirements without compromising on the technical pos‐

For many companies, cost is a very important element when taking environmental ori‐ ented decisions [37]. Not only the costs for the optimization of the product need to be taken into account. Also the general costs to create an environment in a firm where it is possible to practice sustainable design. Maybe there is the need for a new team, includ‐ ing experts of the environmental or ecological sector, or a new structure, a new vision or an adjusted view on the business model. All this may cause a significant augmentation of the overheads. And that is what scares some companies to make the switch to a more environmental policy. Moreover, if the general cost of an enterprise rise, there is the pos‐

tainable development.

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*4.2.2. Barriers for sustainable design*

client satisfaction [37].

The main barriers found in literature are listed below.

design and develop sustainable products [40].

sibilities and the functional needs.

portfolio.

The main drivers and barriers found in literature to practice sustainable design are sum‐ marized in Table 4. A distinction in the table is made between the forces within and out‐ side the firm that gives the motivation whether or not to incorporate sustainability criteria in products.

Internal drivers and barriers are the internal factors that originate inside the company itself. External stimuli and barriers are the external factors that influence the decisions made to‐ wards sustainable design from outside the company.

In conclusion, practicing sustainable design is balancing between all the mentioned drivers and barriers. Every company needs to consider and determine its own specific requirements and goals.

Enhancing sustainable design does not only depend on finding alternative solutions for technical problems. Even more important are economical and social factors like the accept‐ ance of environmentally improved products in the market, and the way the market will per‐ ceive these products. Sustainable design is most successful when supported by several strong internal and external stimuli and not blocked by any no-go barriers. It only stands a chance, if it is supported by stimuli other than the expected environmental benefit alone. Contrary to prevailing literature on environmental management in SMEs, Van Hemel and Cramer [38] concluded in their study that internal stimuli are a stronger driving force for ecodesign than external stimuli.

Many drivers and barriers for Sustainable Design have their roots in the Front End of Inno‐ vation. This topic will be discussed in the next section.


**5. Conclusions and insights on the importance of integrating**

High-quality up-front analysis is essential to effective and efficient product development. Various authors have pointed out the importance of the Front End of Innovation. Over de last decade, the number of publications on the Front End has increased, providing more in‐ sights on the characteristics, process, activities, functions, and patterns in the Front End. However, from a sustainable product innovation perspective, the Front End literature does not explicitly explain how sustainable design considerations can be integrated into these

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Notwithstanding the logic behind integrating sustainability in the early stages of an innova‐ tion process, in practice it is flawed. Front-end innovation is a hot research topic, but there is still little research done on its relationship to design for sustainability. There are a number of tools available to guide designers, engineers and managers in the design process when the specifications of the product or service are already set. However, methods supporting target

In light of the increasing attention to sustainability, sustainable product innovation and pre‐ development activities in new product development, various authors have recently pointed out the importance of integrating sustainability in the front end [41], [42], [43], [33], [44],

This sections aims to give an overview of the main reasons why integrating sustainability in

The international research literature on Sustainable Product Development (SPD) identifies the need to move beyond incremental change (e.g. redesign of existing products) to more fundamental, systematic changes. These are described as 'function innovation' or 'system in‐

Brezet's model of 'eco-design innovation' [46] defines four types of environmental innova‐ tion, characterized by product improvement, product redesign, function innovation and sys‐ tem level innovation, according to the environmental impact reduction or eco-efficiency that

The vertical axis expresses the eco-efficiency or environmental impact improvement. For ex‐ ample, factor 2 equates to half the overall environmental impact of a product, or a factor 2 performance improvement in material and energy efficiency. The horizontal axis corre‐ sponds with the time that a company or industry needs to progress through on the way to

The first two stages of 'product improvement' and 'redesign product' focus on lower sys‐ tems levels and deliver small to moderate improvements in environmental sustainability.

**sustainability in the Front End**

identification for sustainable innovations are rare [41].

**5.1. Tackling sustainability problems at higher system levels**

early stages.

[31], [45].

novation' [46].

the front end is so important.

can be achieved, shown in Figure 7.

achieving environmental sustainability.

**Table 4.** Drivers & Barriers for Sustainable Design
