When it comes to automotive sustainability, we often immediately think about driving emissions. With the argument against EVs encompassing the environmental impact of battery production, the conversation must be shifted to encompass the entire environmental footprint of a car, from production through its life cycle and eventually its demise. Design thinking has been around a long while, but its recent resurgence as a more holistic approach has allowed product designers (including but not limited to the auto industry) to think about how their products impact both the end-user and the planet.
Sustainable design thinking incorporates looking at waste streams and analyzing how they can be either eliminated or exploited to form energy or new materials. It also encompasses a holistic approach to the design of a product, thinking not only about how its produced and used but also how it is disposed of at the end of its useful life cycle, as well as the environmental and economical sustainability of the materials and energy used to produce it. For example, in 2002 Subaru launched an initiative to make their Lafayette, Indiana production plant entirely zero-waste. In just two years they met that goal, and have sent nothing to landfill since 2004 (Guynup). Their efforts included convincing suppliers to ship in reusable containers so as to eliminate Styrofoam waste, turning cafeteria waste into compost, recycling all plastics and metals, and incinerating the remaining non-recyclable materials to create energy.
BMW has also launched a major sustainability effort as well, using their vast engineering and design research to investigate sustainable and biodegradable materials for use in automobile construction. Daniela Bohlinger, Head of Sustainability in Design for BMW Group, described this in an interview for BMW’s Sustainable Stories website, “At our company, there’s quite a change in thinking underway at the moment. Everybody is looking critically at their own work and across their department with an awareness of raw materials and their potential. Scrap materials are not waste products; they are the new raw materials.” In 2013, BMW launched the i3 and subsequent i8 as part of their i-Project, a program created to design eco-friendly electric and plug-in hybrid cars with a focus on sustainable future mobility. The i3’s construction consisted of 20% recycled materials, but Bohlinger believes that is just the beginning. She goes on to describe that environmental responsibility is not a marketing ploy, but a fundamental value of the company. Trends in design thinking towards sustainability and renewable resources help to reduce the overall carbon footprint of our cars from manufacture to disposal, and set a precedent for other industries and companies to follow suit.
References
“BMW Group – Responsibility – Sustainability Dialogue.” Responsibility – Sustainability Dialogue, BMW Group, www.bmwgroup.com/en/responsibility/sustainable-stories.html.
Guynup, Sharon. “The Zero-Waste Factory.” Scientific American, Springer Nature, Inc, 13 July 2017, www.scientificamerican.com/custom media/scjohnsontransparent-by-design/zerowastefactory/.