Sustainable Innovation

Definitions

Sustainable

• Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
• The concept of sustainability is composed of three pillars: economic, environmental and social.

Innovation

• The business of putting an invention in the marketplace and making it a success.
• The stages of innovation are:
  • Developing an idea into a viable product.
  • Manufacture the product in the most economical way.
  • Launch of the product (marketing and sales).
  • Maintain the market position
    • (re-design the product in response to customer feedback and technological development).

Sustainable Innovation

• Sustainable innovation facilitates the diffusion of sustainable products and solutions into the marketplace.

• Sustainable innovation yields both bottom line and top line returns as developing products, services and systems that are environmentally friendly lowers costs through reducing the resources required.
• Designers should view compliance with government legislation as an opportunity for sustainable innovation.

Characteristics of Sustainable Innovation

Complexity

Stakeholders

• Sustainable innovation relies on cooperation between different stakeholders.
  • A stakeholder is a person, group or organization that has interest or concern in an organization.
  • This is often difficult as different parties have different views.

Costs

• Sustainable innovation requires a radical change which is time-consuming and expensive.
• Manufacturers are often not very willing to consider sustainable innovation.

Time Scale

• Sustainable innovation is a hugely complex concept that requires a long time for implementation.
• It can typically take 20 to 40 years depending on the nature of the innovation.

• The huge time scale means that sustainability is difficult to maintain as conditions or criteria can change significantly.
• For example, a length period of economic downturn or political events might make an innovation no longer feasible or desirable.

Sustainability Strategies

• To become sustainable, a company will require sustainability strategies.

Top-Down Strategies

• A top-down strategy means that the leadership level will determine the goals and how each department and/or individual employees will contribute to meet those goals.
  • For example, Apple uses a top-down strategy, as disruptive innovations such as the iPod require support and leadership from the top.
• When considering sustainable innovation, designers are usually more comfortable with top-down strategies as it means investment and resources are more predictable and reliable.

Advantages

• Decisions are made relatively quickly.

Disadvantages

• Management believes it has a monopoly on good ideas.
• Top-down denies the power of “opt in”; when people are far more enthusiastic when they take on projects they volunteer to do.

Bottom-Up Strategies

• A bottom-up strategy methodology means that the leadership level will determine the overall goals, but the workforce will assist in developing the mechanisms and ideas to meet that goal.
  • For example, Google uses a bottom-up strategy, as employees are allowed to spend 20% of their working time on their own ideas and innovations.
  • This innovative strategy encourages new thinking.

Advantages

• More motivational for those involved.

Disadvantages

• Time consuming as it is sometimes difficult for individuals in an organisation to make a decision.

Government Intervention

• There are various strategies that governments use to promote sustainable knowledge exchange and technology transfer.

Intervention Methods

• To remember all the most important methods of government intervention, think of the acronym REST.

Regulation

• Setting and policing rules to avoid or limit environmental issues caused by undesirable technologies.

Education

• Providing consumers with information and guidance in the choice of products and services that are more sustainable.

Subsidies

• The government can use subsidies (government funding) in certain sectors to stimulate and support sustainable innovations.

Taxation

• Taxes increase the price of certain products, making them less desirable for companies and consumers.
• This can be used to penalize environmentally damaging technologies and influence consumer choice of sustainable products and services.

Energy Sustainability

Macro Energy Sustainability

• Macro energy sustainability involves large scale energy generation from non-exhaustive sources for international, national or large community use.
  • Examples include hydroelectric power, wind- and solar parks, wave and geothermal energy generation.

• Macro energy sustainability concerns can be influenced through:
  • international treaties
  • international energy policies
  • and national systems changing policy when government leadership changes.

Micro Energy Sustainability

• Micro energy sustainability involves small scale energy generation from non-exhaustive sources for individual, household or small community use.
  • Examples include roof mounted solar power or water heating panels, combined solar and wind turbine generated power for illuminated traffic signs and wearable thermoelectric materials.

• Micro energy sustainability can be influenced by governments:
  • through their role in raising awareness and changing attitudes related to energy use
  • and through the promotion of individual and business action towards energy sustainability.

Energy Security

• Energy security is the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price.
• Energy security can be influenced by:
  • energy demand/supply trends and forecasting
  • smart grids
  • Political/ international events/relations.

• For example, there would be a huge surge in energy demand in the UK, after popular television series stopped airing and people would go to start their kettle for tea.
• Innovations such as on-demand video players like Netflix and BBC iPlayer have led to a reduction in the amount of people simultaneously going for tea.

Energy Demand

• Energy demand is rarely constant.
• This puts a responsibility on those that generate and manage the flow of energy to understand when peaks and troughs of energy use occur over the course of days, weeks and years.
• It is really difficult to store massive amounts of electricity.
  • So generated energy that is not used is often wasted.
  • Therefore demand/supply trends need to be predicted carefully to create a responsive and efficient energy supply.

• During the day there is a lot of sustainable solar power generation.
• This kind of renewable energy can only be generated during the day.

Using EVs as an Energy Storage

• Often there is more solar energy generated than needed at that time.
• It is difficult to store this extra electricity.
• So generated energy that is not used, is then wasted.
• You want to prevent that at all times.

• Batteries are used to store electricity.
• Yet a battery large enough to store nation-wide amounts of electricity would be unfeasible and very expensive.

• That’s where EV’s come in!
• Electrical cars all have large batteries in them, allowing them to function as one huge battery when working together.
• Because they can be charged during the day with renewable solar energy and then sell this back to the grid at night.
• This means that at night there is less need to switch to non-renewable resources, such as coal and gas.

• Vehicle to grid (V2G) technology enables electric vehicles (EV’s) to sell electricity from their batteries back to the grid or store their excess charge in household batteries that will light homes and power businesses.
• EV’s have a collaborative use when plugged into the grid because they can support traditional energy suppliers and networks in making the grid more sustainable and more stable.
• Essentially, they can put power into the grid, reducing reliance on power stations during peak demand.

Smart Grids

• A modernized electrical grid that uses analogue or digital information and communications technology to gather and act on information (such as behaviors of suppliers and consumers) in an automated fashion to improve the efficiency, reliability, economics and sustainability of the production and distribution of electricity.

• They can be national or international.
• International grids allow electricity generated in one country to be used in another.