Friday, July 1, 2005

Here's that Business Week 'design' link http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/05_27/B3941magazine.htm 2:27:19 PM    comment []  trackback []

Nike Considered PS: Ottman's summary of NIKE's Considered Boot: Nike designers chose to do 'more with less'. A typical Nike light hiking shoe contains 30 different materials - the Nike Considered Boot contains 14. By weaving parts of the upper on the Boot, designers used only the length of material required. To improve recycling, metal eyelets were eliminated. The two-piece outsole was designed to snap together, reducing adhesives and simplifying recyclability. Where possible, materials were sourced locally to reduce transportation energy use. The result? The Nike Considered Boot generated 61 percent less waste in manufacturing than a typical Nike light hiking boot. The use of solvents has been cut by 89 percent. And a stunning 35 percent less energy was required to create a pair of boots. Does anyone know whether that woven top is waterproof? 8:31:52 AM    comment []  trackback []

Innovative Product Design Jackie Ottman suggests: Before you head out for the July 4th weekend, pick up a copy of BusinessWeek. INNOVATIVE PRODUCT DESIGN is on the COVER. What's not evident from the story is that environmental criteria were included for the first time in selecting the IDEA award winners. One of them is the NIKE 'Considered' Boot. It demonstrates the potential to drive innovation by considering environmental impacts in the design stage rather than in the manufacturing stage where most efforts currently focus. Jackie's also got a recent article arguing that Eco-Design is a potent Lever for Innovation. Bingo. 8:26:31 AM    comment []  trackback []

'Inclusive Wealth': A New Economic Measure of Sustainability [WorldChanging]: Alan AtKisson offers a terrific summary of recent developments in ecological economics, and the challenge of figuring out how well we're doing at creating and maintaining real wealth, despite our woefully limited economic tools -- and introduces some exciting work on Inclusive Wealth - a reform of neo-classical economics, using accounting prices (i.e., substitution prices) to put a monetary value on key capital stocks in nature, the manufactured economy, human welfare, and human knowledge. The core idea: manage all those stocks so that they don't decline over time, and you get sustainability. When Inclusive Wealth matures, it could become the 'balance sheet' to GDP's undifferentiated 'cash flow statement', and tell us something we desperately need to know: whether our economies are headed in a sustainable direction. (I'll have more to say on this subject, but right now I'm choosing sleep over intellectual challenge.) 12:05:18 AM    comment []  trackback []