What is sustainable design?

Also called green design, environmentally conscious design or eco-design, sustainable design is intended to deliver long-term design solutions that reduce negative social and environmental impacts. A key driver of sustainable design is the sense of urgency in society to take action against accelerating climate change and protect the natural environment for future generations. The concept often involves three components: reduce, reuse and recycle.

The three components of sustainable design are reduce, reuse and recycle.

• Reduce: Sustainable designs reduce the amount of new material and energy consumption required for production.
  
  
• Reuse: A reusable product or material is designed to be used again or repurposed into something else.
  
  
• Recycle: At the end of its lifecycle, a recyclable product or material can be turned into a new product or biodegrade.

Rising societal interest in mitigating the effects of climate change on Earth and its ecology has made environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors increasingly important to shareholders and stakeholders in a variety of organizations.

For organizations, achieving ESG goals often includes initiatives to reduce the negative impacts of the business on the environment and society. Embedding sustainability into the design phase of products, services and buildings can improve energy efficiency, elevate quality of life for inhabitants and community members and reduce waste and pollution—including carbon emissions.

Lowering carbon emissions and meeting other ESG criteria—such as achieving net-zero emissions—also help align organizations with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Achieving these goals can improve living conditions and meet human needs without compromising the planet.

The design of sustainable buildings is called sustainable architecture. The objective of sustainable architecture is to minimize a building’s negative impact on ecosystems or natural resources. Sustainable architecture approaches consider the production of building components, the construction process and what resources might be required throughout the lifecycle of the building, like heating and electricity use.

For example, to reduce the collective environmental impact, building teams can leverage renewable energy or use sustainable materials, while the building plans can optimize for energy efficiency and conserving water. Sustainable architecture requires collaboration among the entire building team, including designers, architects, engineers and the future inhabitants. The Sustainable Design Checklist, available through the U.S. General Services Administration website, can help teams track new construction or renovation projects’ compliance with the 2020 Guiding Principles for Sustainable Federal Buildings.¹

Another factor of sustainable architecture centers on creating a productive environment. This includes location selection: even if a building is designed with an overall smaller footprint, if it is located in an area far from workplaces and services, the pollution caused by people traveling back and forth are a direct result of that building’s design. A productive environment also ensures indoor environmental quality, meaning an emphasis on indoor air quality, acoustics, natural lighting and thermal conditions for a comfortable and healthy indoor space.

Product design determines 80% of a product’s lifetime emissions.² Sustainable design practices embed sustainability into the entire product life cycle, from planning to disassembly and the end-of-life stage. Sustainable product design also keeps materials in a value flow, which is otherwise known as the circular economy.

A sustainably made product is constructed from low-impact components, which are non-toxic, made from recycled materials or otherwise produced in an environmentally friendly way. In addition to these environmental benefits, the reduced use of materials and energy efficiency associated with the use of low-impact components results in cost savings.

During manufacturing, the product is made using renewable energy or energy-efficient processes. This helps lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce resource depletion and minimize pollution throughout the product’s life.

When the product is ready for delivery, efficient packaging and supply chain logistics strategies minimize transportation emissions and costs. Using lighter packaging, for example, reduces fuel consumption.

At the end of a product’s life, the product is easy to reuse or recycle. Multicomponent products are made while avoiding material diversity—meaning made of different kinds of materials—to better promote disassembly and recycling. For instance, a plastic water bottle with a label that is made from the same type of plastic is easier to recycle than a plastic bottle with a paper label. This can help a company meet or exceed environmental regulations, avoid fines, save on disposal costs and leverage potential subsidies and environmental incentives.

The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, reusing, repairing and recycling materials for as long as possible. By extending the entire lifecycle of products, it promotes sustainability, reduces waste and minimizes carbon emissions.

The model is defined in contrast with the traditional linear economy, where raw materials are extracted from the natural environment and turned into products. The linear economy is unsustainable because it is based on planned obsolescence, which means a product is designed to have a limited lifespan to encourage consumers to buy it again. The circular economy model has increasingly been the subject of government, academia and business case studies demonstrating ways to increase sustainable consumption and combat global warming.

In a linear design system, producers are not involved in the end-to-end product life cycle and do not take responsibility for products or packaging after sale. Product stewardship puts sustainability at the center of the design process. In this system, producers consider the entire product lifecycle, throughout production, use and disposal.

Product stewardship can be done voluntarily, where companies work to circularize production, like through a product-service systems (PSS) model. A PSS model fulfills customer needs by fulfilling a product and a service together—such as bike or car sharing. Because a PSS model is a cohesive mix of products and services, it incentivizes companies to design products that are long-lasting and durable. Product stewardship can also be encouraged through government policy. For example, the European Union (EU) incentivizes better product design through the Ecodesign Directive (Directive 2009/125/EC), a framework for sustainable products regulation.

There are several ways companies can follow sustainable design principles:

• Reduce materials: Technology applications and services can reduce the amount of material, energy use or fossil fuels needed during production.

• Implement modular design: Subdividing complex processes into simple modules can make the design process more efficient.

• Design for longevity: Integrating business knowledge, market conditions, company capabilities and technical possibilities into design concepts can extend the durability and usefulness of products.

• Invest in simulation: Computer-generated models and simulated environments can be used to test parts and assembly methods before production begins.

• Design for recycling: Manufacturers and designers can consider the end of a product’s life during the design stage and development.

There are several standards and rating systems for sustainable design. Some evaluation systems are used to rate landscape architecture, interior design or products, like Energy Star or C2C Certified (Cradle-to-Cradle). There are also green building certifications, which are generally awarded on the basis of design choices and manufacturing in built environments.

The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certification is the world’s most widely used green building program. A LEED certification is the recognition that a building or community has met certain standard for sustainable design and energy efficiency. Sustainable buildings that meet LEED standards produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, use less energy and renewable resources, typically have lower operational costs and provide a higher quality of life for inhabitants.

Some certifications or ratings systems are self-awarded, or the exact requirements necessary to meet the standards are not readily available to consumers. This can sometimes lead to greenwashing, which is the act of making false or misleading statements about the environmental impact or carbon footprint of a product.

Many companies are integrating sustainable design into their business practices: