Cards (18)

  • Sustainability of raw materials:
    • Finite (non-renewable) resources and fossil fuels are being used faster than they are naturally replaced
    • they cannot be synthetically reproduced
    • Includes coal, gas and oil
    • 84% of our energy comes from non-renewable sources
    • Governments are working hard to reduce this through harnessing more non-finite energy sources
  • Renewable energy:
    • Wind, wave, solar, geothermal, tidal and biomass
    • Energy is used in residential, commercial, industrial situations and for transportation
  • Non-finite materials:
    • Non-finite resources include those that are unlikely to be exhausted, or those that are replaced faster than we can use them
  • Non-finite materials include:
    • Oxygen
    • Fresh water
    • Timber
    • Leather
  • Responsible design:
    • Production techniques that may use non-renewable energy
    • Toxic by-products created in manufacture
    • Environmental impact of mining or harvesting
    • The product itself or production processes may emit CO2
    • Powering a product may require non-renewable energy
    • Transportation and distribution distance
    • Maintenance and repair costs
    • Welfare of workers in the material supply chain
    • Recyclability at the end of a product’s lifetime
  • Waste disposal:
    • The production and consumption of resources creates waste
  • Impact of consumption:
    • When waste is liquid, toxic or radioactive chemicals can leach into the soil and water courses
    • Some industrial waste may be radioactive, particularly that from nuclear reactors
  • Ecological and social footprint:
    • All materials leave a footprint in terms of the impact their production and consumption has on the planet
  • Life Cycle Assessment:
    • Conducting an LCA will evaluate the environmental impact on a product
  • Life Cycle Assessment
    A) extraction
    B) production
    C) distribution
    D) use
    E) recycling
  • Continuous improvement:
    • Continuous improvement is an approach that seeks to continually improve and develop products, services and procedures for the better
    • A Japanese approach called ‘Kaizen’ (Change for better) rewards employees who suggest and develop improvements, regardless of how small they may seem
  • Efficient working:
    • Efficient working aims to remove waste from any process
    • Wasted time
    • Over production
    • Wasted resources including power
    • Wasted activity
    Digital printing technology has enabled small publishing companies to benefit from printing books on demand rather than printing and warehousing large print runs.
  • Global warming:
    • Primarily caused by an excess of CO2 in the atmosphere that traps heat, warming the planet
    • Burning fossil fuels releases CO2 from the earth
  • Battery power:
    • Battery production uses finite and dangerous metals
    • Proper disposal of batteries is required to prevent leaching alkalis into the environment
  • Impact on the environment:
    • Plastic microbeads in exfoliating scrubs, body washes and toothpaste
    • recently plastic microbeads have been found inside deep sea animals
    • Plastics absorb toxins and fish then eat plastics
  • Helping the environment:
    • Hydrogen fuel cells produce only water as waste
    • Electronic paper could replace printed paper
  • Eco-friendly technology:
    • Old technology combined with new ideas can create excellent new products
    • The engine has become more and more efficient with refinements and technological developments
  • Reducing consumption:
    • Digitisation and consolidation of many devices in one
    • Reading a book, playing a CD and taking a photo can all be done with one device, without requiring any more raw material
    • Devices also combine Sat Nav systems, calculators, torches, watches, alarm clocks and more