Monday 5 November 2012

3rd video reflection


For my final video reflection I chose to do it on ‘Who Killed the electric car?’ ‘Who killed the electric car?’ is a documentary about the introduction of the electric car in the nineties and then its sudden and mysterious disappearance in 2006. The documentary states that the internal combustion engine and hence oil is one of the main reasons behind global warming, pollution and unrest in the Middle East with the electric car being the solution.
The documentary raises many very interesting and shocking points, the main being that the car industry has a lot of influence over the government, so much so that it can effectively stagnate change in the auto industry. Another point I found very interesting is that GM dropped its environmentally friendly EV for the polar opposite Hummer, which the film states is to increase dependency on petrol because Car companies make to much money in internal combustion engines to facilitate a change.
I believe that all designers should watch this documentary as it gives insight to how markets can be manipulated and controlled, but as with global warming designers cannot really I believe have a direct strong impact on situations like that. But we can always look for alternative solution to petrol driven products we design. The problem is larger and needs governments and politicians that are not connected to the industry in question to influence change. An example it uses is that it took a law to get seatbelts, catalytic converters, and air bags so we need a law to change the pollution of cars.
Another insight that was new to me is that the government seemed to drop electric cars in favor for hydrogen fuel cell cars when EVs were already drastically improving in performance and hydrogen cars have the following draw backs: they are very expensive cars, the cars cant hold enough hydrogen to get the needed distances, hydrogen is expensive, and a new hydrogen petrol station infrastructure is needed.
The main three points I took from watching this documentary are as follows. Firstly, as designers we need to try not get taken in and influenced by manipulative corporations as much as possible. The second is that there are very viable alternatives to petrol driven cars and hopefully soon governments and motorcar producers start properly taking advantage of the available technology to its fullest potential. Lastly, the only way we can reduce our dependency on foreign oil is for all of us to reduce our own dependency on petrol driven products, and as designers always look for alternative solutions to it.

2nd video reflection


For our second video reflection I choose to watch ‘The Inconvenient truth’, this was because I had watched it before and remembered enjoying it but couldn’t remember its message. Al Gore who is a politician and an environmentalist with a scientific background presents the documentary. The documentary is full of frightful and disturbing statistics and predicted outcomes of our non-environmentally friendly ways. Very clear and well-presented arguments are made in simple terms so it’s easy to understand a very complex and scientific phenomenon.
One of the points I found most insightful was that America is the larges contributor to CO2 yet In the eye of the US government they choose to not accept global warming because it would cost to much money. An example he uses for this is that: America is behind the rest of the world in car petrol economy and their laws do not ban bad fuel economy because it’ll put to much strain on the manufacturers and will go broke.

I believe not only industrial designers but also the entire public should watch this documentary, just to help everyone realize what potential outcome is if we continue the way we are currently operating. But as designers I don’t believe we solely can help this problem as we may have an influence to what a product should be made from, hence letting us select the ‘friendlier’ options but the problem is much bigger than just us. The politicians and the governments of around the world need to make new laws and pass new legislations to help stop this problem of global warming.

Another very insightful point made by Al Gore is this one: We fixed the ozone by cutting down on CFC production; global warming like this can be fixed. This just gives up hope and a piece of mind that we haven’t yet ruined our planet only hurt it. It has the potential and ability to fix itself if we let it; we just have to let it…

The main 3 points I take away from this documentary are as follows. Firstly, I believe that people really don’t know what global warming is and that they should watch this to gain insight to the matter to form their own opinions. Secondly, we need to make our governments add more laws and guides governing the major contributors to global warming. Finally, even though changing the ruling around CO2 producers may cause and an economic downturn it is worth it over paying the ultimate price of killing our planet.

1st video reflection


The selection of ‘How it’s made’ videos we were required to watch were very interesting and relevant to us, there were seven in total. Designers need to have an understanding as to how different types of packaging are created to be able to utilize these objects and to be able to use them efficiently and most effectively. The construction of the following types of packaging was explained; cardboard boxes, packaging tubes, tetrapack, aluminum cans, glass bottles, and then plastic bottles and jars. Which is a wide array of the packaging types that are used today. I did know these processes and found it quite insightful. These videos are definitely a must watch any new designer looking to break into the packaging industry.
The next assigned series of videos to watch were titled ‘Giving packaging a new life” which consisted of 6 episodes. These explained the recycling process for the following materials: paper, tetrapack, tinplate, aluminum, glass, and plastics. There was also an episode on recycling sorting innovations. These videos like the first ones give a great overall idea as to how each material is recycled and the complexities of it. It was very interesting to know how they are mechanically sorted, broken down, and made reusable. It was also very insightful to me how different materials behaved in recycling, and which ones are easier and which ones are harder to break down, also what some recycled materials are used again in.
Watching both these series of episode provides a great insight to how products are originally made then how they are broken down and reused in the same product or something completely different. It also shows how long a product life cycle can be, and also how countries need to increase the levels of recycling needed and broaden there range of materials they can recycle to reduce the waste to landfill; with Germany setting the recycling benchmark.
The three main points I take away from watching all these mini episodes are; Firstly, designers need to be able to understand the processes of how materials and products are made and then recycled to be able to create the most sustainable and environmentally friendly designs. Secondly, that efficiency of the production and recycling of materials is very important, and is they key to making less materials being sent to landfill. The final point is that all designers should have a basic knowledge of production and recycling of most materials to not just help with making more ‘green’ products but also I believe industrial designers should just to have a mechanical understanding of these things as a foundation and background to our discipline.