Eco-design workshop: Delivering new concepts for future designs

This It is estimated that over 80% of all product environmental impacts are determined during the design phase of a product and eco-design methodology is the right tool to avoid these mistakes during the design process. In 2011, the ISO brought out a new standard (ISO 14006:2011) that provides guidelines to assist companies in managing eco-design. As the combination of eco-design and energy labelling is considered as one of the most effective policy tools in the area of energy efficiency. In that year, we set up a new kind of workshop at University of Oviedo, open to all companies, students and people interested in learning eco-design issues. Every week we join together to discuss, learn and practise issues related to eco-design. The goal is to spread eco-design concepts in order to prepare SMEs to get that certification and overall take into consideration energy efficiency in environmental issues. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of eco-design for empowering energy efficiency and the way we are spreading and teaching eco-design in our region.