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Global concerns about climate change and resource management have escalated the need for sustainable consumer products. In light of this, sustainable design methodologies that supplement the product design process are needed. Current research focuses on developing sustainable design curricula, adapting classical design methods to accommodate environmental sustainability, and sustainability tools that are applicable during the early design phase. However, concurrent work suggests that sustainability-marketed and innovative products still lack a reduction of environmental impact compared to conventional products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has proven to be an exceptional tool used to assess the environmental impact of a realized product. However, LCA is a reactive tool that does not proactively reduce the environmental impact of novel product concepts. Here we develop a novel methodology, the PeeP method, using historical product LCA data with kernel density estimation to provide an estimated environmental impact range for a given product design. The PeeP method is tested using a series of case studies exploring four different products. Results suggest that probability density estimations developed through this method reflect the environmental impact of the product at both the product and component level. In the context of sustainable design research, the PeeP method is a viable methodology for assessing product design environmental impact prior to product realization. Our methodology can allow designers to identify high-impact components and reduce the cost of product redesign in practice.
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Looking at Participant Engagement for Product Design Through a Critical Lens
Human factors focus on taking the users’ capabilities, limitations, and environment into consideration when developing products. Thus, it is essential to have diverse perspectives and voices when designing products to be used by a variety of users. However, this is not always done and can be a missed opportunity in developing inclusive products. In this panel, we bring together researchers from different sectors to discuss challenges and strategies to engage a diverse research population at different stages in the product design process. Topics include research planning and the design process; data collection methods; and community- and participant-level recruitment. We hope that by sharing our experiences, we can prepare others to have the conversations needed that will allow them to successfully approach these topics.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1828010
- PAR ID:
- 10515565
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting
- Volume:
- 67
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1071-1813
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 884 to 887
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1177/21695067231193663
