WhiteLight Design is a long standing, professional member of IDSA (1992) which stands behind the policies and practices of IDSA. These principles ground and allow WhiteLight Design to reach for the stars with confidence, be socially and environmentally responsible, and lets our clients put their faith in us. The following is the IDSA policy “Ecological Design Practice & Principles” and philosophy we practice:
Ecological Design Practice & Principles Based on IDSA Policy Manual 15 Revised June 2009
IDSA recommends using eco-design strategies appropriate to the product by: reducing overall material content and increase the percentage of recycled material in products; reducing energy consumption of products that use energy; specifying sustainably grown materials when using wood or agricultural materials; designing disposable products or products that wear out to be more durable and precious; eliminating unused or unnecessary product features; designing continuously transported products for minimal weight; designing for fast, economical disassembly of major components prior to recycling, and; designing products so that toxic components (electronics, etc.) are easily removed prior to recycling.
IDSA recommends comprehensive environmental assessment by: considering all of the ecological impacts from all of the components in the products over its entire life cycle, including extraction of materials from nature, conversion of materials into products, product use, disposal or recycling and transport between these phases; considering all ecological impacts including global warming, acid rain, smog, habitat damage, human toxicity, water pollution, cancer causing potential, ozone layer depletion and resource depletion; striving to reduce the largest ecological impacts, and; conducting a life cycle impact assessment to comprehensively identify opportunities for improving ecological performance.
IDSA encourages new business models and effective communication by: supporting product ‘take back’ systems that enable product up-grading and material recycling; leasing the product or selling the service of the product to improve long-term performance and end-of life product collection; communicating the sound business value of being ecologically responsible to clients and commissioners; Discussing market opportunities for meeting basic needs and reducing consumption, and; presenting superior product quality claims (‘energy saving’, ‘contains less toxic waste’, etc.) along with other performance features.
IDSA recognizes the following ecological design principles: Human society and the biosphere are interdependent. Nature can survive without humanity but society is dependent on the biosphere for crucial services. Society’s systematic destruction of the biosphere threatens nature’s health and its capacity to sustain human society; our biosphere requires protection on several levels. Destructive substances from the Earth’s interior must not accumulate in the biosphere (toxic metals, CO2 from fossil fuels, etc.). Persistent synthetic substances must not be allowed to accumulate in the biosphere (PCBs, CFCs, radioactive isotopes). The Earth’s major habitats, productive natural cycles and biological diversity must not be destroyed.
Enabling people in all societies to meet their basic needs is needed to slow population growth and to protect habitats. Fair and efficient use of resources can enable all people access to water, food, shelter, basic health care and education. Environmentally friendly technologies can be developed to both meet basic needs in less industrialized societies and to reduce resource consumption in more industrialized societies.
(www.idsa.org)
