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CHAPTER 9
DESIGN FOR ENVIRONMENT
If we are going to make the improvements necessary to make business sustainable we must focus on design because the greatest possibilities for reducing environmental impact are decided at the design stage. In the electronics and automobile industries, for example, 80% of product lifecycle costs are decided at the concept and preliminary design stages. Design determines if the materials, parts and components used in the manufacture of a good or the goods used in providing a service will be environmentally destructive or friendly. Design determines whether the processes used to make goods and services waste or conserve energy, or if they prevent pollution. Design determines how much energy will be used or pollution will be produced when a product is in use. Design determines how long a product will last and if a product can be recycled. Design, not only, determines how the product will be made, but also how it will fit into the existing industrial ecology and whether the product can help to improve the industrial ecology. Thus product designers have to consider the industrial sector’s capacity for recycling, the technological logistics of recycling and the regulatory and economic context of recycling.
We begin this chapter with an overview of design for environment, and then we will look at three examples of DfE. Most often the concept of DfE is applied to the design of manufactured goods and buildings. The service sector has received less attention. We reverse that order by looking at services first. Services comprise over 80 percent of most developed economies, and over 90% of Hong Kong’s economy. Most importantly services are the drivers of the increasing use of goods, buildings and other forms of physical infrastructure. In essence this course is designed around the idea that all firms are service providers and that they must redesign their business delivery systems to integrate environmental performance. Next we look at design of goods. The design of a good determines not only the processes used to make it, but also the material and energy efficiency of the product in use and also the relationships that connect each stage of the product cycle and the efficiencies of the processes used at each stage. Finally we look at the design of buildings because their construction and operation demand such a great proportion of the materials and energy we use.
9.1 DfE: FITTING MEANS TO ENDS
Design for Environment (DfE) is the attempt to bring diverse environmentally beneficial attributes together in the creation of a product. DfE is defined as “systematic consideration of design performance with respect to environmental, health, and safety objectives over the full product life cycle.” In essence DfE extends lifecycle analysis to the design of products, facilities, infrastructure and services. In lifecycle analysis the impacts of an existing product are determined as a basis for understanding the overall impact of a product and where different impacts are located in the product life cycle. In DfE designers try to minimize those impacts by incorporating new materials, new technologies, and designs into the product so that its environmental impacts are lowered in every stage of the product cycle. In other words, DfE incorporates environmental performance into design objectives such as: meeting the desired quality and cost attributes desired by customers; appropriate functioning of the product; or ensuring efficiency of production and distribution. New product design also likely
requires some changes to human resource allocations and management of them, and environmental concerns need to be incorporated in to these changes as well. There are three key means to achieving DfE. The first is practices. A comprehensive list of practices to improve the environmental performance of a product have now been developed by engineers, designers, architects, environmentalists, artists, and many others who take part in the design process. In goods design they include things like design for disassembly, waste minimization, energy conservation etc. In building design they include things like design for durability, adaptability, use of graywater, etc. The consistent development of these practices allows for the development of an accumulation of knowledge that can be shared and used as standards for people within and industry and between industries.
The second means is conceptual—whole system design. Whole system design optimizes the performance of all the parts working together to achieve a greater and more efficient result than one would get if each particular part is designed only for its own function. In the case of DfE a whole system can be designed to greatly reduce environmental impacts if the appropriate parts are put together in the right way. This means integrating the means for a desired objective into all the parts of a product so that the whole achieves the desired level of performance. Thus, the contribution of all the various parts must be accounted for. But to ensure superior performance they must be put together in the appropriate sequence. Thus instead of designing a car around an engine size, the fuel use of the car can be reduced by using lighter and stronger materials, capturing braking energy, streamlining and using more efficient tires. Whole system design requires that the designer be aware of any conflicts or trade-offs between system components, for example: heavy metals that improve the efficiency of motors, but are toxic when release to the environment or plants that are genetically modified to reduce pesticide use, but pose the threat of transferring the genes to natural plants. Various matrices, metrics and analysis methods enhance whole system design.
The third means is the product design team. Although the R&D department may take the lead on designing environmentally friendly products, it cannot do so by itself and must mobilize the expertise both within a company and between a company and its suppliers, distributors, customers, and other stakeholders.
9.2 DfE in Service Businesses
Services are now the dominant sector in all economies and in developed country economies account for over 75 percent of all economic activities. Since the flight of manufacturing to Guangdong, the service sector has grown to account for more than 90 percent of economic activity in Hong Kong. Service sectors, according to conventional industrial classifications include the wholesale and retail trades; transportation, communication and other infrastructure providers; finance and real estate; and all the vast diversity of personal, business, and government services—every thing from hair cutting to engineering, tourism to universities, or restaurants to hospitals. In reality though, it is difficult to distinguish what is and what is not a service, especially in relation to environmental consequences.
All services use material products, facilities and infrastructures. Indeed the intensity of use of service industries of material and energy, and therefore their environmental impact is higher than manufacturing industries. One only has to think of
is used because that will reduce their costs, even while they still get paid for providing the service. In the same way an air conditioner company can supply the service of comfortable air, maintaining and recycling its devices and providing insulation and other means to keep the air comfortable rather than simply selling more air conditioners.
The vision of a company selling a service and maintaining control over the material is known as ‘servicizing’ or selling functionality. As we will see later, because of the segmented nature of the product cycle, it is a vision that provides an ideal that requires a lot of ingenuity to put into practice. The important aspect, however, is that service sector shows us that it is the service or function that really matters, and not the material product that represents the existing form of exchange. This reality, plus the fact that the service sector is by far the dominate area of the economy suggests that a we should place at least as strong an emphasis on greening the service industry as has been placed on material products, facilities, or infrastructure. Indeed, DfE in the service sector has to combine those other forms of DfE in a wholistic manner.
9.2.i Services Practices Just as a material good manufacturer brings together many different materials, parts and components in the design of its products, so does a service company. The small conceptual difference is that there is more emphasis on the use of facilities and finished products. In the figure below we can see how the major components of a service business fit together.
Figure 9.i Components of a Service Business (after Graedel and Allenby 2003, 260)
A service business’s first critical decisions usually include determining what type of building it is going to be in, where it is going to be located and what type of infrastructure it is going to use (1 in figure 9.i). These options may be constrained for a small retail store that locates in shopping mall, but are more open to DfE by the mall itself or any other business that sets up its own facilities and develops them. All
Site and Infrastructure
Providing Equipment
Facility operation
Performing service
Site & equipment decommissioning
business must also provide itself with some sort of equipment (2), whether that is simply a computer, fax and printer, or much more elaborate and specialized machines such as the MTR’s trains or kitchen equipment in a restaurant. Both the performing of the service (3) and the operation of the facilities (4) require constant inputs of energy and materials. In any company paper is used in printing, electricity for use in equipment, lighting, air conditioning. Most companies will have further specialist needs for their equipment and facilities, for example food and gas for the restaurant or special lubricants, cleaning solvents, replacement parts for the MTR. Finally, all equipment and facilities must someday be recycled, rather than disposed of (5).
The practices of service DfE are comprised of determining how these various components can be chosen and implemented in a company. The remainder of the course, therefore, is devoted to explaining and detailing these practices. In summary, they include:
Determining the environmental impacts of the various components in a service: Life-cycle analysis of products to expose their full environmental impacts; Environmental impact statements to expose the impact of facilities and infrastructures; Corporate audits to expose the overall impacts of a company.
Showing how environmental improvement can be integrated throughout all operations and jobs within a company: Green organization; Environmental management systems.
Focusing on specific programs to change practices within an activity that can enable improvement: Good housekeeping; Human resources training; Engineering; Accounting; Purchasing; Marketing.
9.2.ii Whole System Design The great challenge of service DfE is to put together the components and practices in an integrated and interactive manner to reduce the total environmental impact. The approach to this design would vary from one type of service to another, but would incorporate not only the same type of approaches used in material goods and facility DfE, but also include products and facilities designed for the environment. Indeed the processes could be considered a nesting of these approaches, where DfE products could be used in DfE facilities to provide a DfE service. Of course even when assembling DfE goods, facilities and services, it must be done so that there are synergies between the various elements, so that conflicts and overlaps are minimized, and so that overall environmental impacts can be reduced. Guiding the integration of these elements, should be the idea of a service or function that we began this section on. All elements need to be integrated so that function and environmental performance are optimized, without tying a business to the use or sales of materials, goods, or energy. A restaurant, for example, does not need to depend on selling lots of food or expensive
Operations (Good Housekeeping/ Engineering)
Conserve energy and materials through better awareness, practices, maintenance of equipment, and minor investments; work with suppliers, distributors, community on physical infrastructures
Contribute detailed knowledge of processes and opportunities for improvement; expand
Environmental, Health & Safety
Ensure safety and compliance to regulations, lead green management, and advise other departments on environmental issues; extend beyond company; understand local issues
Contribute environmental expertise to designers and R&D people new to environmental improvement objectives, advise on regulations, and local issues Accounting Assign hidden, contingent, and image costs to all activities of firm, including use of infrastructures
Provide true costing of alternative technologies to justify capital investments in DfE Purchasing Establish environmental policies and supplier selection criteria, select and collaborate with suppliers and NGOs
Find alternative technologies and infrastructures to be included in DfE, collaborate with suppliers on needed DfE Marketing Communicate company’s green products and environmental performance to buyers; communicate buyers’ needs and perceptions within company.
Communicate customers’ needs, expectations and potential needs, educate customers on usage, devise selling and pricing strategies for lifecycle based products; identify local environmental or infrastructure opportunities. Suppliers Supply products and run activities according to environmental criteria
Provide info on environmental impact of company, products and green alternatives; design new green products Distributors Buy product; provide info on green markets; advertise and educate
Provide info on environmental impacts of distribution; green demand; advertise and educate for green performance Community Relations Devise methods and interact with external stakeholders
Communicate concerns of external stakeholders; help create social and physical infrastructures Customers Buy product; feedback info on environment performance
Optimize environment performance (use, recycling, etc.); feedback info External Stakeholders (Gov’t, NGOs, Insurers, etc.)
Regulate, criticize, and hold accountable
Redesign regulations, provide suggestions, monitor, aid product-cycle system design Table 9.ii Integrating Environmental Improvement and DfE throughout a Company
9.3 DfE for Material Goods
Improving a product’s environmental performance over the whole product lifecycle makes DfE complex and difficult but also extremely beneficial to the environment. The objective of DfE is to reduce the total environmental impact of a product no matter where different impacts occur in a product’s lifecycle. In broad terms those impacts are produced by activities that result in 1) ecosystem destruction by the extraction of natural resources, 2) pollution caused by agricultural, manufacturing and service activities, and 3) the accumulation of wastes that are not recycled (figure 9.i). Of course a “product” can be developed at any stage in the lifecycle. A product may be an end-use product for a business or consumer but any product is an assembly of other materials, parts, components, and services that are used to make it up. A product can even be the recyclable waste from a business or consumer. A product can also be a
process that a company does for other companies. The diversity of processes span those of manufacturing activities such as machining or treating metals to service processes performed in restaurants and computer service companies.
Figure 9.ii DfE Objectives in the Product Lifecycle
We know from lifecycle analysis (see next chapter on impact analysis) that all the stages of the product cycle are connected together and because of their connection, they share in responsibility for environmental damage. DfE attempts to make the various stages share in reducing environmental damage. To accomplish this goal, companies at each stage must consider the direct impacts of their own product as it is produced and also its impacts downstream and upstream.
The objectives of a DfE program will vary depending were the company is in the product cycle. Companies producing materials will be more concerned about how they can use recycled materials, how they can make their products with the least pollution, how they can make their material recyclable and how their materials can fit into the function of more complex products. Companies that make more complex products such as computer components or computers will try to optimize the environmental performance of that device in its operation, extend its life and manufacture it for easy disassembly. Service companies, such as hotels or insurance companies, can ensure that their various types of equipment can be designed to work together in a more eco-efficient manner. For example, their office buildings could reduce energy needs through the choice of better insulating walls, windows that block heat transmission, passive ventilation, closing air leaks, and using office equipment that
Resource Extraction
Materials Processing
Parts Manufacture Product Assembly
Distribution
Consumption
Materials Collection
Recycling
Material & Energy Inputs
Pollution Outputs
Reduce Natural Resource Extraction, Pollution and Waste
Promote Recycling & Reabsorption
9.3.ii Whole System Design
One or a few of these practices can be used to improve the performance of goods. To design a truly eco-efficient material product, however, many practices should be considered according to how they interact and how they affect the product at the various stages of the product cycle. One practice influences another, for example: design for disassembly must be made to work with design for remanufacture and design for recycling. One practice can also influence several stages of the product cycle, as examples: reducing the number of distinct parts can influence the purchasing, assembly, use and recovery stages; use of recyclable or recycled materials can influence the purchasing and recovery stages; reducing packaging can influence the purchasing, assembly, distribution, use and recovery stages. Furthermore, some practices may lead to conflicting results or the need to determine tradeoffs. The paper versus plastic debate is a classic example of choosing a product for one environmental design attribute—recycling—that actually has an overall detrimental impact. Another example would be choosing a heavy metal to improve the energy performance of a machine, when that heavy metal is actually toxic when released into the environment. The complex interrelationships that need to be considered and balanced in DfE to achieve a net improvement in environmental performance are illustrated in figure 9.iii. An example of how these practices have been mapped out in the electronics industry is illustrated in figure 9.iv. The complexity of these relationships is the reason why several analysis methods have been developed to assist whole systems thinking in DfE.
Figure 9.iii Interrelationships among DfE practices
Figure 9.iv Examples of DfE opportunities in the electronics industry
Several methods are used to determine the effectiveness of proposed designs. The more detailed and quantitative the method, the more useful it will be and these are summarized below. Unfortunately it can be difficult and expensive to gather all the data from downstream and upstream stages.
a. Screening methods that stipulate upfront which products or suppliers cannot be used, thereby eliminating many hazardous or environmentally damaging materials, processes or parts.
b. Assessment methods: These methods try to predict what the actual performance of the design will be. These methods vary from non-quantitative checklists or matrices of the design’s environmental impacts to complex quantitative LCA analysis of the type of environmental burdens imposed at each stage of the lifecycle and the actual environmental impact.
c. Trade-off methods compare cost and performance of different design combinations. Total cost accounting is used to help these analyses.
d. Decision-making methods are used when the complexity of design considerations becomes very large and there is a need to narrow down to the most important criteria.
Table 9.vi Product Lifecycle Matrix
Lifecycle Stage
Environmental Impacts Air Land Water Noise Energy Material Choice
Local Habitat Resource Extraction Materials Processing Parts Production Production
Distribution
Use and Consumption Materials Collection Recycling
Metrics are measurements that allow designers to determine the environmental burden of a material, process or product. Metrics allow an objective comparison of alternative processes, fuels, materials and parts, and they also allow a comparison of resource use at the different stages of the product cycle. If possible they should be quantified to allow an objective evaluation of performance and they should be standardized to allow comparison amongst different alternatives. Metrics can be absolute totals or related to time or production (etc.) levels. Source metrics measure how much output there is from a particular activity or place (of pollution from a smokestack for example), while performance metrics measure what the actual impact on health or ecology is. Metrics make lifecycle analysis possible because they produce a statement of what the impact from any activity is at any stage of the lifecycle. Most importantly metrics also enable designers to determine if their new design actually produces a net benefit for the environment.
The table 9.v below shows how some metrics relate to the overall objectives of a company, by allowing useful measurements of specific objectives (targets in environmental management system [EMS] terms). Some metrics are absolute (e.g. solid waste emissions), while others are relative (e.g. total energy to produce one unit).
Table 9.v Environmental Goals and Corresponding Metrics
9.3.iii Design Teams
A material product design team draws on most of the same contributors as a service design team, but leadership is more likely to be located with the R&D or design departments. In some companies the process will be lead by marketing. Still several issues need to be addressed to assemble a material good DfE team. The first is simply the volition of top management to direct company priorities and resources to develop these teams. Second, engineers and others involved in product design usually need to be retrained or reoriented to recognize and develop impact reduction into design. Third, success of the team requires effort to overcome the mental, departmental, and distance barriers that may hinder working together.
9.3.iv Examples of Material Good DfE
By Practice Reduce device power consumption (for consumer use): energy star appliances; efficient lighting Design for material recovery: Color coding of disposable camera plastic parts; printed codes on computer parts
an environmental assessment. Environmental management is an integrated and routine part of Nokia's daily sourcing activities, not a separate exercise. This ensures proper and credible communication with suppliers.
Environmental Management Systems - All Nokia production sites have ISO 14001 certified environmental management systems (EMS). We also require this of our main contract manufacturers. In addition, Nokia expects suppliers to have a documented EMS in place. Nokia's main goals in EMS are decreasing energy consumption and improving waste management, combined with employee training in these areas. EMS brings significant environmental improvements and cost savings.
End-of-Life Practices - Effective recycling closes the life cycle loop and returns energy and materials back to circulation. At every stage of the product life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to the end of use phase, Nokia is looking for ways to reuse and recycle materials as well as dispose of waste safely. In product design we begin with the end. Clearly, greater eco-efficiency can be achieved when product design teams work closely with recyclers and others involved in end-of-life treatment.
DfE is Based on a Comprehensive Understanding of the Product and its Impacts over the Lifecycle: Close up of the Nokia 6110
Nokia and the German Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) investigated the environmental impact of a Nokia 6110 mobile phone. The aims of the project were to estimate the material content and potential toxicity of the phone, to identify the environmentally relevant parts and components, and to identify targets for environmental improvements. Battery and accessories were not included in the study.
Using the environmental assessment toolbox developed by IZM, more than 90% of the material content of the phone was determined. The weight percentages of the main material groups and the components containing them were as follows:
Plastics 56%: Covers; Key mat; Printed wiring board (PWB) and components Metals 25%: PWB; Components; Mechanics Ceramics and glass 16%: Glass in liquid crystal display (LCD); Ceramics in components; Glass fibre in PWB Others 3%: Liquid crystal in LCD; Flame retardants; Components
The phone contained several different types of plastics, with the largest type, ABS-PC, accounting for 29% of the total material content. Of metals, copper and its compounds accounted for 15% of the total. Other main metals were iron, nickel and its compounds, zinc and its compounds, and silver and its compounds. The lead content of the phone was under 1%.
Based on the material content of the compound, the toxic potential indicator (TPI) of the products was evaluated. The TPI is the result of a fast environment-related evaluation method developed by the IZM. Components with the highest TPI are indicative for replacement or improvement. The highest TPI scores were for metals and their compounds - copper, nickel, silver, tin and lead.
In evaluation of the recycling potential of the phone, the material content in combination with the product structure was used to estimate the optimal recycling strategy. The criteria required minimum quantities of valuable materials for standard recycling processes and tolerable maximum quantities of interfering or noxious substances. The conclusion was that precious metal refining and copper smelting are the optimal options for the assembled PWB and also for the complete mobile phone.
The environmental impact at Nokia's phone assembly points is a small part of the overall percentage. For mobile phones, the upstream stages of raw material extraction and component manufacture account for the biggest part of the overall environmental impact. All Nokia products contain a lot of integrated circuit (IC) components. IC-fabrication processes involve extensive side streams of material, resulting in significant volumes of non-recyclable waste. There are also hidden material streams that do not issue in the product.
Energy consumption is the principal cause of environmental impact in the use stage. In the disposal stage, recycling of metals and plastics and removal of potentially harmful substances from landfill waste streams are the central issues.
DfE Focus Areas
Nokia’s focus areas for mobile phones include: disassembly, material substitution, end-of-life (EoL), recyclability, energy efficiency of power supplies, dematerialization, and immaterialization. Disassembly, material substitution, and end of life are discussed below. Please note the reliance on bringing external consultants into the design process.
Heat Separates a Mobile Phone Emerging recycling legislation, demands for recycling, pollution, health and safety issues and cost efficiency are all factors, which require electronic equipment producers to think about new ways to make their products more recyclable. In Nokia, this work is a part of the ongoing DfE program, which aims to minimize material and energy use whilst maximize recovery and recycling of our products.
At the moment used mobile phones are mainly shredded in the recycling process. First, the battery is removed manually, then the device is shredded and ferrous metals, aluminum and plastics are separated. The metals are recycled, the plastics are used mainly as a source of energy. Printed wiring boards are handled in metallurgical process. The method is applied to all electronic products and is cost effective, but the material recovery is limited. Rough dismantling before shredding could increase the amount of cleaner fractions for recycling.
Nokia Research Center, together with a student group from Helsinki University of Technology, the Finnish School of Watchmaking and the University of Art and Design Helsinki have developed a process for heat disassembly of portable devices. The idea is to disassemble a mobile phone by a heat-activated mechanism without any contact. By using a centralized heat source like laser heating, the shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator is activated, and the mobile phone covers are opened. The battery, display, printed wiring board (PWB) and mechanical parts are separated and can then be recycled in their material specific recycling processes. The required temperature for
the environmental impact sustained in the earlier stages of the product's life. Example: recycling metals helps cancel out the major part of original impact of extraction and refining. DfE and EoL methods influence each other. Decisions made at a product's design stage have a direct bearing on how easy it is to disassemble and recycle. Supplier information on the raw material content of the products is important for sound EoL treatment.
Nokia has drawn up strict criteria for its EoL partners to make sure certain materials are handled and disposed of carefully and responsibly. It is, however, dependent on different countries developing different ways of dealing with waste - according to legislation and local conditions.
Measuring Effectiveness
The weight of mobile phones has shrunk considerably over recent years whilst talk-time has increased dramatically (therefore achieving the dematerialization objective of getting more function out of less material). On the network side, the power needed to serve a growing customer base has increased at a much lower level than customer numbers with the effect that energy consumption per service has decreased significantly.
What these positive trends mean in terms of the environment is harder to demonstrate, but Nokia follows the development of new eco-efficiency metrics and has taken part in two studies that used the Material Input Per Service (MIPS) method. The method was developed by the Wuppertal Institute, Germany, to show the environmental effects of all material flows caused by a product or service throughout its life cycle. In 2001, Nokia took part in two MIPS exercises to determine the value of both a base station and a mobile phone.
The results of a study on a Nokia base station showed a difficulty calculating the MIPS values for the major part of the materials used and, as a result, some data had to be estimated. Subsequently, Nokia took part in the Finnish Factor X project which aimed at showing that the eco-efficiency of a product could be improved by a factor of X if informed choices could be made between alternative materials. Although material data on the 6110 was readily available, the consultant decided that there were more values missing than present. It was not possible, for example, to determine the energy used in the manufacture and recycling of complex alloys even though values were available for their constituent parts.
Nokia believes that the MIPS method is capable of highlighting the differences between making a simple product - for example, a container - from a choice of two different, commonly used materials, such as metal or cardboard, it needs to be further developed before it can be applied to complex electronics products. In using MIPS, independent studies were unable to prove a meaningful measurement for complex electronics products which reach the marketplace at the end of long supply chains. This was due to lack of reliable data for a major part of the materials used in electronic products. From Nokia (nokia.com)
9.4 BUILDING DESIGN
Buildings are a product themselves, and thus should logically be considered as an objective of DfE. The importance of this product, however, lies in the simple facts that buildings account for a very large proportion of total environmental impacts and that virtually all business use buildings. Buildings account for 50% of all CO^2 emissions in Hong Kong, but the more extensive impact of buildings can be gauged from these figures on the US building industry:
Environmental Impacts of Residential and Commercial Buildings in the US
36.4% of total primary energy
Electricity consumption
65.2% of total U.S. electricity in 2000
Global warming
36% of CO2 emissions and 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions
Waste generated by construction and demolition
136 million tons is the total annual; 92% from demolition and renovation; only 20 to 30% recycled or reused
From these figures it is easy to gain some idea of the importance of buildings in terms of direct consumption of energy and materials. Buildings are also responsible for a great deal of indirect impact through the materials and energy used to make materials and energy. Concrete production, for example, is responsible for 7% of the world’s CO^2 production and a large portion of the rainforests are lost for wood to make the forms for the concrete poured in construction.
The impact of buildings on the environment, however, is much more complex than the figures above indicate. The choice of site will have a great impact because it will necessarily displace what was there before it. Sites, however, can be appropriately chosen and a building can be designed to fit into its site in a complementary or minimal impact manner. Construction can greatly disturb the surrounding area, consume excessive amounts of energy and materials, and cause significant pollution, or it can be managed to reduce these impacts and to save money. Not only do buildings consume huge amounts of materials and energy, but also they are responsible for the release of the largest amounts of pollutants such as VOCs (volatile organic compounds in paints, glues, etc used in materials, walls and furnishings), ozone depleting gases (particularly from air conditioning systems), and sewage. These pollutants are released to the environment, but the entrapment of indoor air pollution in the place where we spend over 90% of our time is of special concern for human health. Buildings of course are also an environmental concern when they have to be torn down and disposed of.
In saving on energy, materials, and disposal costs, etc. buildings can also offer increased savings and profits to companies that sell or rent buildings and to the
