![\"L2R---Johnson,-Muenchinger,-Schultz\"](\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2015\/04\/L2R-Johnson-Muenchinger-Schultz.jpg\")
Johnson \u2013 who recently departed IDEO<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest design consultancy, after 14 years \u2013 has degrees in industrial engineering and material science from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in materials engineering from Cambridge University in the UK. But despite all the technical expertise, her focus tends to be on the emotional connection that materials make with people.<\/p>\n \u201cI love materials that people love, and I think those materials need to have their stories told. I started with felt, I\u2019ll do concrete next. But plastic has a story to tell, and the people and companies and suppliers who are here need to bring that love to life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that is what I think sustainability is about. If you can create materials that people love, and create products that people love, people buy less of those products. People keep those products; people will reuse those products. We don\u2019t want stuff that is useless or mindless, we want stuff that\u2019s loved and has a great story. That\u2019s sustainability, that\u2019s a better world, that\u2019s a changed world. We need to start by doing it ourselves and telling our kids about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Panelist Kiersten Muenchinger<\/strong> \u2013 director and associate professor of the University of Oregon\u2019s Product Design Program<\/a>, and a principal of its Green Product Design Network<\/a> \u2013 also likes exploring the emotional aspect of materials, as it relates to sustainability. A practicing designer before she became a teacher and researcher, Muenchinger was perplexed by a mystery related to plastics. She said she recognized both \u201chow fantastic polymers are at solving problems,\u201d but also \u201chow absolutely despised they are in any talk about sustainability.\u201d This was \u201ca real disconnect for me and it\u2019s a problem for me, and I want to know more about how this happens.\u201d<\/p>\n So in her studies she takes polymers and other materials, gives them to people and asks them to respond to them based on sliding scales about how sustainable they think they are. She employs different sustainability tactics that are used in design to help with the assessment \u2013 asking such things, for example, as: how long you would keep such a product, how precious is it to you, how luxurious does it feel, and when its useful life is done, does it seem like waste or like something that is recyclable?<\/p>\n She learned that people don\u2019t have a strong reaction to material samples, but they do have an emotional connection to specific products made from those materials. In her surveys, she provides similar products, such as drinking cups, made from different types of materials (aluminum, ceramics<\/a>, glass<\/a> and various plastics), and asks people to rank them (see photo and graphs – if you choose to use them).<\/p>\n She has discovered that various material characteristics tend to be more associated with sustainability than others. For example, the more transparent an object is, the more people seem to think it is sustainable. Another characteristic is naturalness. \u201cIf a material is seen as being natural, people respond to it much more positively as being sustainable.\u201d She also learned that people don\u2019t tend to factor into the sustainability equation how precious something is, or how long they are likely to keep it.<\/p>\n David Saltman<\/strong>, on the other hand, feels strongly about the chemistry of the materials he uses, and the resulting strength and longevity of the products his company makes from them. Saltman, chairman and CEO of the San Diego-based Malama Composites Inc., is an entrepreneur who now is aiming to disrupt how affordable homes are built.<\/p>\n Despite major advances in the fields of structural engineering and material science, Saltman claims the construction industry remains solidly rooted in the Stone Age. \u201cQuite literally,\u201d he noted, \u201cmankind is still\u00a0nailing\u00a0sticks and stacking stones. As a result our homes and buildings are resource- and energy-inefficient, and structurally unsound when challenged by earthquakes, storms, floods or fires.\u201d His favorite catch phrase is that \u201cit\u2019s high time that our homes match the IQ of our phones.\u201d<\/p>\n So Malama (pronounced ma-LAH-ma) has developed a line of bio-based, rigid polyurethane foams <\/a>that contain no toxic chemicals, are fire- and moisture-resistant, and can be easily recycled. The A side is still MDI<\/a> (methyl diisocyanate), but the B side consists of polyols derived from castor, soy, algae or recycled PET. Saltman\u2019s polyol of choice now comes from castor oil. He says Malama uses none of the toxic brominated or chlorinated fire retardants that are commonly found in urethane foams.<\/p>\n Malama has named its system ACASA, for Advanced Composite & Steel Architecture, and its mission \u201cis to create very high-performing, low-cost, rapidly deployable, architecturally design-agnostic facilities.\u201d Any shape of house can be made, he said \u2013from modern to traditional, from flat to peeked, from square to round \u2013 and can be constructed in one week.<\/p>\n Steel beams carry the loads and provide channels for power and water distribution, and panelized doors, windows and walls slide into the steel frames. Geo-composite surfaces are then applied both inside and out, and designs can be localized to meet climates, cultures and budgets of each community.<\/p>\n This combination of steel framing with Malama\u2019s structural foams \u2013 which are Class A fire-rated, zero-emission, carbon-negative material \u2013 yields incredibly strong, lightweight structures that can be built up to three stories high.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you\u2019re giving the homeowner a much higher-quality home that won\u2019t blow down, it won\u2019t burn down, and if you detached it from its foundation it would literally float,\u201d claims Saltman. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly foam, but it doesn\u2019t feel<\/span> like that. It feels like cement. These panels are 9mm bullet proof. So you want to make sure that, culturally, you\u2019re giving people concrete and not a plastic house \u2013 very, very important.\u201d<\/p>\n Malama plans to build its first 11 such homes in 11 different climatic regions of the U.S. this year. And the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory<\/a> will measure their performance. \u201cSo we\u2019ll let the genie out of the bag this year — all 11 have to be built this year,\u201d Saltman said.<\/p>\n Diane Turnwall<\/strong>, vice president of materials innovation at office furniture-maker Herman Miller Inc.<\/a>, shares Saltman\u2019s keen interest in the origin of the materials used in HMI\u2019s final products.<\/p>\n \u201cAt Herman Miller, we used to look at materials, now we look at chemistries,\u201d she told the 80-strong audience at this panel session that preceded the Industrial Designers Society of America\u2019s South District Design Conference. And HMI also is working hard to drive closed-loop recycling.<\/p>\n HMI\u2019s Design for the Environment (DfE) team has initiated a protocol to guide this effort, which aims to manufacture 100 percent DfE-approved products within 10 years. In the Environmental Advocacy section of the company\u2019s website, it also states: \u201cOne of our design tenets is durability. We design for repeated use, repair, maintenance, and reassembly using standard parts, as often as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Referencing the focus on product chemistry, Turnwall said, \u201cThe goal is to get to recycled and bio-based materials, and long-term, have that be 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n Herman Miller is well known for the rigorous environmental scorecard that it insists all of it vendors complete thoroughly, so that it can accurately track the entire life-cycle impacts of the materials it uses \u2013 down nearly to the molecule level.<\/p>\n Such metrics are vital to help guide good decision making by society\u2019s leaders as well as product developers, noted Tobias Schultz<\/strong>, manager of environmental sustainability services for SCS Global Services<\/a> in Oakland, Calif.<\/p>\n Schultz, who works with the firm\u2019s Life Cycle Assessment team, told the audience that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<\/a> projects in the next 20 years that we\u2019re going to see as much global warming as has occurred in the past 200 years. Some results will be rising sea levels, destabilization of the Arctic climate, and an increase in extreme weather events.<\/p>\n As a result, Schultz argues, we need to get to a world with net-zero or even net-negative environmental impact levels as quickly as possible. But that is challenged by the fact that the metrics we use now to guide actions are woefully inadequate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are engaged in a process to have a complete set of metrics that are going to satisfy some of these concerns that I\u2019ve talked about. It\u2019s going through a standardization process in the U.S. and it will soon be going to the international standardization process. I think that at least is a starting point to help designers and engineers\u2026 to help guide their effective actions.\u201d<\/p>\n And increasingly, Schultz noted, greater scrutiny of sustainability claims is likely to lead to more regulatory actions on this front, which in turn will put more pressure on designers and engineers to pay close attention to such factors in the product development process.<\/p>\n Near the session\u2019s end, moderator Gaylon White<\/strong>, who formerly served as director of design programs for Eastman Chemical Co. and now heads his own Atlanta-area consultancy called Orbiting Creative LLC, circled back to the storytelling theme espoused by Kara Johnson. He pointed out how forest products giant Weyerhaueser has developed a practical method for incorporating cellulose fiber into its Thrive brand of thermoplastic composites. The firm tells the story in this compelling YouTube video<\/a>.<\/p>\n White told the audience, which included plastics executives as well as a number of professional and student designers, to seek out compelling \u2013 and environmentally responsible \u2013 combinations of materials, to tell your material\u2019s story, and to strive to connect emotionally with your customers. But, above all, he stressed: \u201cYou need to be passionate about what you\u2019re doing. Maybe you can\u2019t change the world, but maybe you can change something in your hometown, or in your home, or with your children.\u201d That, the panel concurred, is the essence of sustainability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2015\/04\/Muenchinger_cups-photo1.jpg\")
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![\"Diane](\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2015\/04\/L2R-Turnwall-Saltman.jpg\")
![\"Gaylon_White_head-shot\"](\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2015\/04\/Gaylon_White_head-shot.jpg\")