A case study in environmentally conscious design: wearable computers

This paper discusses electronic product design for the environment and presents methods by which designers can evaluate the environmental implications of their design choices. The Environmental Attributes Matrix lists qualitative questions for designers to consider, such as the nature of the materials to be used and the interaction of components and subsystems within the product. The Product Specification Sheet is designed to enhance documentation procedures for current and future designs of a product with a goal of using these specifications when considering environmental impact, This specification sheet includes both qualitative and quantitative information, such as product weight and dimensions, characteristics of the power source, amounts of materials used, and the fasteners used. One important benefit of these methods is that they require the designer to explicitly address environmental issues early in the design process. The wearable computers design process at the Engineering Design Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University has been examined as a case study of a possible application of these design methods. While the design tools and recommendations herein are specialized for wearable computers, they encompass attributes of many diverse electronic products, and the design methodology could be extended to those products as well.