Jan Carel Diehl

From ecodesign of products to sustainable systems design: delft's experiences

The paper presents ten years of experience with the integration of environmental aspects in product development from the Design for Sustainability (D@) program of TU Delft. It describes the lessons learnt from the different phases in the DjS research, starting with project based ecoredesign, followed by the integration of the Ecodesign methodology into a business management perspective and ending with nowadays experiments with the design of sustainable systems. Particularly, a new model for the development of “sustainable satisfaction delivery systems” is being proposed, that will be tested in further experiments of the Deyt University with entrepreneurs, industrial designers and environmental specialists. The model focuses the systems design team’s attention on three aspects: ihe device, the institutional or infrastructural context, and on user practices. These three aspects are displayed in a Sustainable Systems Triangle to facilitate the conceptualization process. Examples are being given of an ex-post analysis of sustainable systems examples, to show how the triangle model could work as a guidingprinciple for development teams.

The Evolution of Design for Sustainability Courses

The goal of this paper is to point out the challenges of integrating sustainability issues in a regular industrial design curriculum, and to provide insights how this is addressed at Delft University of Technology. It also aims at stimulating the discussion on the issue of offering sustainability education separately from or integrated in regular courses. Special attention will be given to ways in which the reality of industry and business - anywhere in the world - can be (and is) brought into academic courses

Developing for developing nations: Exploring an affordable solar home system design

Developing technological solutions for the developing nations is more than simply re-sizing a prevalent solution from the developed world. Not only the environmental conditions, but also the technology usage varies greatly between the developing nations in sunnier latitudes around the world and the developed nations of north-western Europe. This paper sheds light on the various technical and non-technical factors to be considered for designing a standalone PV system for low-income households in emerging economies. The significance of the battery in a low-cost PV system is examined and the role of power electronics in such a system design is highlighted. Finally, the paper proposes a system design methodology. This paper presents an overview of the current initiatives in the Solar Home System landscape, and identifies gaps that can be potentially filled by technology.

Understanding the present and the future electricity needs: Consequences for design of future Solar Home Systems for off-grid rural electrification

Solar Home Systems (SHSs) can fulfil the basic energy needs of the globally unelectrified population. With costs as one of the biggest barriers for SHS uptake, optimizing the system size with energy needs is crucial. Where most solutions focus only on the present needs, this work also addresses the future energy needs. The methodology includes extensive mapping of the current electricity needs in rural Cambodia through data analysis on existing SHSs in the field. Additionally, a 2-month field research was carried out in Cambodia to assess the qualitative state of electricity usage and investigate the future (2021) energy needs. A data analysis was performed on 111 SHSs (100 Wp, 1200 Wh). SHS users were found to have a mean energy consumption of 310 Wh/day, with σ = 159 Wh. Most energy was consumed at night. The field research showed a clear demand for more energy and more appliances. The appliances attached to SHS in the future will be more diverse in power consumption and usage duration, resulting in a wide variety of energy consumption and high power peaks, causing fast and deep battery discharges. Three load profiles are presented. Solutions are discussed that can be applied to ensure the SHSs fit with future energy needs.

EcoBenchmarking for All

In the new UNEP ecodesign manual (called D4S manual, which is soon to be released), environmental benchmarking of products is propagated as an important tool for generation and prioritization of environmental product improvement options. The new methodology called EcoBenchmarking was developed by Delft University of Technology, and extends current knowledge about environmental benchmarking to include aspects that serve the interests and opportunities of in principle all product manufacturing industries of all sizes, in all regions of the worlds, in particular developing countries

Ecodesign methodology development within the Indian European Ecodesign Program

During the last decade (1991-2001), Ecodesign has been tested and implemented successfully in West and Northern Europe, Japan and parts of the United States. However, in many parts of the world, particularly in the newly industrializing countries in Asia, Latin and South America and Africa, experiences with Ecodesign are scarce. The Indian European Ecodesign Program (IEEP) is a three-year collaborative project that aims at the promotion of Ecodesign, exchange and development of Ecodesign knowledge, methodology and expertise in India involving people from scientific and business backgrounds. The paper discusses our experiences of introducing the Ecodesign concept and Ecodesign methodologies within the Indian context.

Ecodesign Knowledge Transfer: How to take the Economical and Cultural Context of the Receiver into Consideration

Since the beginning of the 90s Ecodesign Education and Knowledge has been built up based upon Ecodesign methodology developments and experiences in education and in practice in demonstration projects. During the end of the 90s first attempts took place to transfer the created Ecodesign education and knowledge from Europe to other parts of the world like Central & Latin America, India and Africa. Because of the differences in economical, social and cultural contexts the European Ecodesign approaches had to be adapted to the local situations in order to become effective and successful. Based upon these experiences we came to the conclusion that in order to transfer Ecodesign knowledge in an effective way to the local receivers (students, consultants, professionals), the specific background and characteristics of the receiver and the local context should be taken (more) into consideration

System Design For Sustainable Energy For All: A New Role For Designers

We understood in the previous chapters that Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS) applied to Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) represents a win-win opportunity to extend the access to sustainable energy to All.

Sustainable Product-Service System Applied to Distributed Renewable Energies

We argued in previous chapters that Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) generation is a promising approach towards sustainable energy for All.

Practical Examples of Application of SD4SEA Approach/Tools

This chapter illustrates two practical applications of the SD4SEA design approach and tools, describing how they have been used by companies, practitioners and academics in different countries as part of the LeNSes project.