Design house Cambridge Consultants' has developed a process to integrate environmental considerations into each stage of product initiation, design and life-cycle.
Called the 'Ecovation methodology', it includes the usual human-factors and technical performance considerations, and has been demonstrated with a vacuum cleaner called Stem.
"The approach employed in Ecovation can be applied to any type of product to reduce its overall environmental impact. Our methodology nurtures the non-obvious approaches by considering the system as a whole, analysing all aspects of a product's environmental impact during its life-cycle from material extraction to manufacture, product use and finally disposal," said the firm, claiming: "Stem would use 43% less energy than the average vacuum cleaner, whilst maintaining the same cleaning performance."
According to the firm, power consumption turned out to be the biggest factor in a vacuum's eco-impact rating, so Stem automatically varies its power usage depending on the job being done.
"Whether using the floor head or the hose attachment, with this concept the user gets the power they need when they need it. Secondly, it intelligently reduces the power usage when no cleaning is happening, for example when paused for moving furniture," said the firm.
Overall, it is claimed that Stem would reduce overall environmental impact over its entire lifecycle by 27% compared to the industry standard.
"Crucially, the environmental gains were achieved without impacting on consumer expectations of vacuum cleaners. The vacuum delivers the same cleaning performance as a conventional cleaner, is similar in size and weight to standard models, meets all regulatory requirements, and comes in at a price point comparable to premium models," claimed Cambridge Consultants.
Has the firm actually made one?
"No, it is just a concept. The same formulas were used that would be used in practice," a spokesman told Electronics Weekly
And, why a vacuum cleaner?
"Vacuum cleaners are a useful example of a product where consumers associate high power with high performance and, as a result, vacuum cleaners have rarely been looked at as eco products," said Cambridge Consultants' principal engineer Edward Brunner. "Ecovation, as demonstrated by the cleaner, has the potential to make a significant step change in reducing the eco-impact of almost any product."
Brunner is at IFA in Berlin this week to discuss the vacuum and the methodology.