Unit 2Sustainable Design

Year 10

September 2010

In Year 10 you will do an exam paper which will consist of questions that focus on sustainable

design.• 20% of your final GCSE grade• 1hr written exam paper• 60 marks• Section A: consists of 15 short answer

questions• Section B: consists of 3 questions

requiring answers that may involve sketches, annotations, short sentences or extended writing.

Why Sustainability?

• We want our candidates to be aware of the world they live in.

• They can be at the forefront of making the world a better place to live in.

• Every product that is around us has been designed by someone.

What is sustainable design?

• We need to consider the impact we have upon the world in which we live. We need to increase our use of sustainable resources to ensure that our activities today do not have an adverse impact on others currently, or upon future generations.

• During the last century humans have used new and increasingly powerful technology to exploit the earth’s resources. As a result supplies of natural resources like coal, oil, minerals and fresh water are likely to run out unless we take action. The world’s population is expanding and feeding the world is an increasing problem. Many people are starving whilst others are overeating and throwing away large quantities of food.

• In order to support sustainable food production, manufacturers must find ways of using more energy-efficient processes. They must reduce the consumption of water, avoid waste and use sustainable resources.

Why is sustainable design important?

• Over consumption- we throw away over 20 billion worth of unused food every year

• Wasteful energy use- mobile phone chargers produce over 250,000 tonnes of C02

• Design for short life- the average lifespan of a computer is 2 years, a mobile phone 18months

• Climate change- is now accepted as the biggest threat to all people on the planet.

The 6 R’s

• What are they?– Rethink– Reuse– Recycle– Repair– Reduce– Refuse

• What do they all mean? In pairs, link each word to the definition you think fits best.

The 6 R’s

Recycle - Take an existing product that has become waste and re-process the material for use in a new product.

Reuse - Take an existing product that’s become waste and use the material or parts for another purpose, without processing it.

Reduce - Minimise the amount of material and energy used during the whole of a products life cycle.

Refuse - Don’t accept a product at all if you don’t need it or if its environmentally or socially unsustainable.

Rethink - Our current lifestyles and the way we design and make.

Repair - When a product breaks down or doesn’t function properly, fix it.

Activities

• In pairs, put them in order of importance.

• As a class discuss these orders. Is there a correct order or do all 6 need to be in place to make a change?

• Look at the images and suggest which R word or words would best fit each image and why? Write these down and then we will discuss them as a class.

Sharing lifts to school with friends

Darning Socks

Chair made from recycled bike parts

An Apple iPhone

This lampshade was made from old photographic slides

Packaging of a bottle on a supermarket shelf

Bags for life

6 R’s linked to Food Technology

• Write clear definitions / ideas of how Food Technology can apply the 6 R’s to designing food products.

• Write as many examples as you can for each R, we will then discuss them as a class.

• For example: Rethink…rethink our diet. Rethink the use of healthy ingredients in creative designs.

Exam Questions

• The role of a designer of sustainable products is to:– Create innovative sustainable designs– modify existing designs– Use traditional designs– Design products that can be bought cheaply

Exam Questions

• With reference to the 6 R’s select and describe two ways in which that packaging for your product could address two of these issues.

Exam Question Answers

• Recycle – use recycled materials• Materials which can be recycled• Compostable materials• Reuse – plastic containers to store other things• Reduce – minimal amount of packaging• Refuse – don’t use the bags to out your fruit and

veg in• Rethink – the purpose of the packaging

Homework

• Get an A4 folder for next lesson.