Eco Design Manifesto

It is important when looking at aspects of eco design to keep the "The Eco-Design Manifesto" in mind, these points are from "The Eco-Design Handbook" by Alistair Faud-Luke.

An eco-concious designer will need to consider the following:

1. Design to satisfy real needs as opposed to transient, fashionable or market-driven needs.

2. Design to minimise the ecological footprint of the product/material/service product, i.e. reduce resource consumption, including energy and water.

3. Design to harness solar income (sun, wind, water or sea power) rather than use non renewable nature capital such as fossil fuels.

4. Design to enable the separation of components of the product/material or service product at the end of life in order to encourage recycling or reuse of materials and/or components.

5. Design to exclude the use of substances toxic or hazardous to human and other forms of life at all stages of the product/material/service product's lifecycle.

6. Design to engender maximum benefits to the intended audience and to educate the client and the user and thereby create a more equable future.

7. Design to use locally available materials and resources wherever possible (thinking globally but acting locally).

8. Design to exclude innovation lethargy by re-examining original assumptions behind existing concepts and products/materials/service products.

9. Design to dematerialise products into services wherever feasible.

10. Design to maximise a product/material/service product's benefits to communities.

11. Design to encourage modularity in design to permit sequential purchases, as needs require and funds permit, to facilitate repair/reuse and to improve functionality.

12. Design to foster debate and challenge the status quo surrounding existing products/materials/ service products.

13. Publish eco-pluralistic designs in the public domain for everyone's benefit, especially those designs that commerce will not manufacture.

14. Design to create more sustainable products/materials/service products for a more sustainable future.