EcoDesign and The Ten Golden Rules: generic advice for merging environmental aspects into product development

The most important moment in product development is when demands and specifications are decided for the product that is being planned. The specification defines the goal for the product development process. It is a very important steering opportunity for the continuing work and for environmentally driven demands that are to be addressed in the product development phase. The designers are said to have the key to sustainable product development through EcoDesign. Many tools have been developed in order to help them to achieve this objective. However, most tools are seldom used primarily because of a lack of sustainability oriented requirements in specifications for products. If there is no demand for improved environmental performance, then there is no need for EcoDesign tools. The lack of market demand for environmentally improved products is therefore, a crucial factor. In other words: It makes no sense to grab a screwdriver from your toolbox if you have a nail in your hand. On the other hand if you have a hammer in your hand you tend to see everything as nails! The hypothesis of this paper is that there is a strong need for a tool to facilitate the integration of reasonable environmental demands into the product development process. The presented tool, “The Ten Golden Rules,” can be helpful in this effort. A helpful tool must be well adapted to the task and therefore it is important that the individual product developer/designer can develop personal versions from the generic guidelines. The Ten Golden Rules provide such a possibility. They provide a common foundation, for all in the team, which can be used as a base and guidelines for development of situation specific product-design challenges.