Ecological Intelligent Design - Definition

The Ecological Intelligent Design strategy of Michael Braungart, an ecological chemist, and Bill McDonough, an architect and designer, applies to both products and buildings. It is touted as a way to achieve better environmental management by simple distinctions instead of big "systems".

EID defines three product types: consumables, service products or durables and unsaleables:

• "Consumables are products that when eaten, used or thrown away literally turn back into dirt and therefore are food for other living organisms."
• "Durables including cars and television sets are called service products because what we want as customers is the service the product provides – food, entertainment, or transportation. To eliminate the concept of waste, service products would not be sold, but effectively leased to the user." This approach is also championed in Natural Capitalism and other sustainable development methods. See service economy for a generic treatment of this strategy of eliminating commodity and product status and treating everything delivered as a set of services.
• "Unsaleables are toxic products that no one should buy, or in many cases, that users do not realize they are buying. These must cease to be produced and sold and those already on the market should be stored in warehouses until we can figure out a safe and non-toxic way to dispose of them." This includes both the toxic products during production, and after final use that are subject to waste disposal.

External links

• | report at cleanproduction.org (http://www.cleanproduction.org/BioSociety/Intelligent.htm)