Achieving Sustainable Design Through Simulation

Faster, better, cheaper, safer. That’s been the mantra of product development for years as engineers have tried to squeeze time and costs out of design and manufacturing. Today, however, sustainable design is gaining prominence and expanding the goals of product development to: faster, better, cheaper, safer, and greener.

Traditionally, product design has concentrated on achieving fit and function—how a product will perform while in use—in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible. Today, as governments debate regulatory responses to global warming and climate change and as consumers become more conscious of environmental issues, manufac-turers are confronted with the need to also address the environmental impacts of the products they make and the manufacturing processes they utilize. The new reality of product design—no matter what your position on the global climate change debate may be—involves the application of societal, political, and regulatory pressures beyond your control that encourage the development of environmentally sustainable products.

Consumer demand for greener, cleaner, and more sustainable products is compelling manufacturers to focus on environmental impacts as a critical part of product development. Although renewable technologies—such as wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars—garner the majority of the media’s attention, the real potential for reducing negative environmental impacts lies in the design and manufacture of everyday products. Because manufacturing and consumption fuel the world’s economy, and will continue to do so, sustainable design represents our best opportunity to save the planet.
Consider the overall environmental impact of any product you find in retail stores. Imagine how the raw materials were produced. Were they mined or synthetically made? How far were materials or components transported? What processes were used to manufacture parts? How much energy will the final product consume throughout its service life? What will be the ultimate impact of the product’s eventual disposal on the environment?

Imagine multiplying the total environmental impact of that one item by the thousands, or even millions, of similar units on the market. Then multiply that number by every type of product produced for sale everywhere. The collective environmental impact is mind-boggling. However, if engineers can lessen this impact by even 10%, the environmental benefits will be dramatic.

This isn’t pie-in-the-sky thinking, because every product designer and engineer has the power to make a difference. Designing sustainable products requires a greater awareness of environmental issues when making decisions about product design in terms of the raw materials, transportation needs, production costs, energy requirements, and disposal profiles. Even small changes—such as making sheet metal a tad thinner or using less energy-intensive production methods—can make a substantial difference.

Manufacturers who anticipated this watershed transition to incorporating environmental impact assessments in product design are already leveraging new tools and technologies to help engineers embrace and practice sustainable design. One such tool we’ve developed is SolidWorks Sustainability software (solidworks.com/sustainability/), which utilizes 3D CAD and simulation technologies to perform a cradle-to-grave analysis of a product’s anticipated environmental impact—better known as a “Life Cycle Assessment.” This CAD-embedded sustainability product allows upfront sustainability analysis with real time feedback on the environmental footprint of the design. It enables engineers to become more environmentally conscious about product design because it allows them to analyze four important environmental factors while designing a product: (1) its carbon footprint, (2) total energy usage, (3) air acidification impact, and (4) water eutrophication (i.e., algae-promoting water contamination) profile.

For example, Ruud Lighting, Inc.’s BetaLED division uses SolidWorks Sustainability software to document its achievements in the development of greener lighting products, such as its BetaLED® 304 Series commercial outdoor lighting systems. The product uses less than half of the carbon-producing energy of a traditional metal halide lamp while providing better illumination. Over the lighting system’s operational service life, its carbon footprint, acid acidification contribution, and water contamination profile is 60% less than previous models. The BetaLED division (Sturtevant, WI) embraced sustainable design technology because the municipalities and large commercial buyers that make up the bulk of the lighting industry are increasingly demanding eco-friendly products. Los Angeles, for instance, is undertaking the largest LED lighting project to date by replacing 209,000 lights over a five-year span. According to the Bureau of Street Lighting, the project will pay for itself in energy and maintenance savings, and spare the environment 40,500 tons of carbon each year.

Another manufacturer that has adopted this approach is Denmark-based RAMAC A/S, a leading manufacturer of products for low-to-medium-volume combined semiautomatic blister-forming and sealing packaging solutions. RAMAC engineers used SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress software to conduct a part-by-part assessment of its newest packaging machine. The tool enabled the company’s product developers to realize that making a specific component out of plastic in Denmark, instead of machining it out of aluminum in Malaysia, would reduce CO2 emissions by
600 kg a year.

Use of tools like SolidWorks Sustainability software will continue to increase as market demand for greener products grows, because applications like these help engineers integrate sustainable design principles into their thinking. Some day all design will be sustainable, and product development will focus as much on environmental factors as on a product’s fit and function. Visionary manufacturers are already embracing this new environmental watershed in product development, and striving to make it faster, better, cheaper, safer, and greener.