[MUSIC] Hello. My name's Carl Dalhammar, and in this video we will take a look at how eco-design can be a part of corporate strategy. If we look back at the history of environmental law and policy, we can see that a lot of new laws emerged during the 1960s. And from then we seen an increasing number of regulations that address production processes in factories. They include air and water emission standards, the banning of chemicals, permits for businesses, which put limits on their emissions and promote the uptake of new technologies. And these policies have had an effect. Air emissions from industrial countries have been reduced significantly in the last 50 years despite increased production levels. In fact, emissions of some pollutants are only a fraction of what they used to be. And today, we see an increasing focus on the environmental impacts of products, and their emissions over the entire product life cycle. All these stages in the life cycle have environmental impacts, and often social impacts as well. These can be, for example, emissions from mining operations in extraction and refinement stage. And poor working conditions in the production stage. It can also include emissions from energy generation when using the products in the use stage. And in the final stage in the product life cycle, the waste stage, we have contamination from hazardous substances and methane leakage from waste landfills. Another concern with products is that we use more and more products in our households, and these also often get larger in size. And this means that our energy use is increasing. So, more recently, governments have started to initiate what we can call more comprehensive policy packages to regulate more environmental impacts across the entire product lifecycle. This includes restrictions on chemicals used in products. For example, in order to enable better recycling, establishing standards for energy efficiency to reduce household energy consumption, and requirements on producers to set up systems for collection and recycling of products, so called extended producer responsibility. In the future, we can expect more policies to improve product life cycle performance. For businesses, it makes sense to improve the environmental performance of their products. And there are several reasons for why businesses may want to engage with what is called eco-design, which is the conscious efforts to improve the environmental performance of products. Businesses might have to do so in order to comply with present and upcoming regulations. Well, they can do it to save costs. For instance, being able to use recycled materials in new products. Further, businesses can do it to attract customers interested in products with green attributes. Some customers are willing to pay a price premium for green products. Therefore obtaining an Ecolabel can also be a relevant strategy for business who want to reach these consumers. Eco-design is actually an umbrella term that incorporates several sub strategies that companies can apply. And the key for the designer is to be aware of the life-cycle impacts of the products, and reduce all these impacts by smarter design solutions. Often, products have substantial environmental impacts when they are used, if they require energy. And therefore product design, to make products more energy efficient, can be very important. This could be done, for instance, by improving the magnetic properties of motors. So they need less energy, or to reduce the energy used when products are in standby mode. Recycling of materials in waste products can also be beneficial, and can be improved by design that makes product easy to disassemble and recycle, when they become waste. And product design can further dematerialization, for instance, by reducing packaging and using lighter materials. Further, a designer can choose materials that have the best environmental properties. Manufacturers can also design for longevity. And one way to achieve this is to make it possible to upgrade a product for instance, by modular design. And in some cases, the product may actually be replaced by a service. Some examples include, streaming films instead of purchasing DVDs, or Blu-Ray discs, or using 'thin clients' rather than buying a computer. Due to customer requirements and expected legislation, engaging in eco-design will probably become even more important. And it is likely that we will see more solutions like these in the future. [MUSIC]
