When does green design become more than just a “nice to have?” What is driving the many advancements in environmentally friendly product design? A panel discussion at today’s Greener By Design conference brought together experts on
carbon regulation, product toxicity, and sustainable product certification to discuss.
For starters, how will carbon regulation impact product design? Steve Gutmann, Senior Commercialization Manager at EcoSecurities, explained that a cap and trade system will impact companies indirectly by raising the cost of energy. “95 percent of entities will not be directly affected by cap and trade, but their product design processes will be impacted by more expensive energy.” Gutmann advised companies to push on energy efficiency to position themselves strategically as carbon regulation develops.
In the voluntary carbon market Gutmann described a trend of more seamless ways of purchasing credits. Consumers are facing more and more options to make “micro-contributions” of 1 percent of their purchase price to go towards carbon offset projects. Another trend is the emergence of more local offset projects to choose from.
Toxics have recently become a renewed source of consumer concern. Dr. Richard Liroff, Executive Director of the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) speaks of a “toxic footprint” that companies need to understand. “If you want to sell to Wal-Mart and others that will follow their lead, you better know what chemicals are in your products. And ask yourself how to get rid of them,” Liroff advised.
