Unito

Unito

Unito

Unito is a speculative design concept which considers a future where designers are helping to address the pressing challenge of climate change and CO2 emissions. In this project I propose that this can be done by making use of materials whose carbon footprint is negative. I refer to these as carbon-negative materials. Carbon-negative materials are materials whose use in products result in carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere, known as negative emissions or carbon dioxide removal. While carbon-negative materials are currently limited to unprocessed materials like wood, I suggest that the necessity for climate change mitigation and the global decarbonization effort will greatly increase the variety, complexity, and ubiquity of carbon-negative materials in the 21st century. Since processing of technical materials from feedstocks requires energy, and this energy is largely supplied by fossil fuels, bio-based materials still largely have net-positive CO2 emissions. However, a switch to renewable energy will mean bio-based materials will become ‘unlocked’ as a means to generate negative emissions and store atmospheric carbon. A wide range of materials derived from biological feedstocks or captured CO2 more generally are being developed at an increasingly rapid rate. For industrial design applications, I propose that bio-based carbon-negative polymers should be considered for widespread adoption in products.

By employing carbon-negative materials to create products, an interesting new dimension arises in design: in addition to considering typical product requirements, designers should additionally consider how this product will behave as a carbon sink. I refer to this more generally as the artificial carbon sink, where carbon is stored in anything of human origin (products, buildings, materials).

Considering the artificial carbon sink, several design drivers should be considered to optimize products for carbon storage:
1. The product should act to maximize carbon storage while maintaining the principal product functionality. Since carbon-negative materials sequester and store carbon relative to the mass of material, products should be designed for mass storage without compromizing functionality
2. The product lifespan must consider appropriate carbon storage timeframes. Since the timeframe for carbon storage necessitates timescales on several orders of magnitude larger than those of a typical product lifespan, product longevity must be reconsidered. This means designing for product life on the order of centuries or even millennia.
3. The product end-of-life must not reemit CO2 back to the atmosphere. This means avoiding incineration and decomposition that lead to a return of material carbon to atmospheric CO2.
In this project, these design drivers are embodied in an exemplary concept which aims to illustrate what such a product-system might look like. Furniture was selected as a choice product category for two purposes: first, as conceptual furniture pieces often serve to communicate ideas in the design profession; and second, as furniture objects are large and well-suited to mass storage.

Through an iterative research-through-design process, the Unito concept is developed. Unito is not a product in itself but a system architecture which can be used to construct products. This concept rests on the idea of building mass-units from carbon-negative bio-HDPE, each of which stores organic carbon. Commercially available bio-HDPE certified with a negative carbon footprint was sourced for the mass units, which are designed to last for hundreds of years. The units can be connected to one another by a family of angled connectors which enable modular formgiving and infinite design options. The products can be disassembled and reassembled to meet changing and unanticipated needs of future users. Several product end-of-life options are explored to keep organic carbon trapped in a circular material system or other long-term carbon sinks.

This project is intended to raise questions about the future of industrial design as it deals with the climate crisis. Beyond considering circularity and increases in production efficiency, is there a way for industrial designers to actively contribute to creating negative emissions? Carbon-negative products offer an exciting and optimistic means to design for people, planet, and profit without making compromises.

Introduction

Unito is a speculative design concept which considers a future where designers are helping to address the pressing challenge of climate change and CO2 emissions. In this project I propose that this can be done by making use of materials whose carbon footprint is negative. I refer to these as carbon-negative materials. Carbon-negative materials are materials whose use in products result in carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere, known as negative emissions or carbon dioxide removal. While carbon-negative materials are currently limited to unprocessed materials like wood, I suggest that the necessity for climate change mitigation and the global decarbonization effort will greatly increase the variety, complexity, and ubiquity of carbon-negative materials in the 21st century. Since processing of technical materials from feedstocks requires energy, and this energy is largely supplied by fossil fuels, bio-based materials still largely have net-positive CO2 emissions. However, a switch to renewable energy will mean bio-based materials will become ‘unlocked’ as a means to generate negative emissions and store atmospheric carbon. A wide range of materials derived from biological feedstocks or captured CO2 more generally are being developed at an increasingly rapid rate. For industrial design applications, I propose that bio-based carbon-negative polymers should be considered for widespread adoption in products.

By employing carbon-negative materials to create products, an interesting new dimension arises in design: in addition to considering typical product requirements, designers should additionally consider how this product will behave as a carbon sink. I refer to this more generally as the artificial carbon sink, where carbon is stored in anything of human origin (products, buildings, materials).

Considering the artificial carbon sink, several design drivers should be considered to optimize products for carbon storage:
1. The product should act to maximize carbon storage while maintaining the principal product functionality. Since carbon-negative materials sequester and store carbon relative to the mass of material, products should be designed for mass storage without compromizing functionality
2. The product lifespan must consider appropriate carbon storage timeframes. Since the timeframe for carbon storage necessitates timescales on several orders of magnitude larger than those of a typical product lifespan, product longevity must be reconsidered. This means designing for product life on the order of centuries or even millennia.
3. The product end-of-life must not reemit CO2 back to the atmosphere. This means avoiding incineration and decomposition that lead to a return of material carbon to atmospheric CO2.
In this project, these design drivers are embodied in an exemplary concept which aims to illustrate what such a product-system might look like. Furniture was selected as a choice product category for two purposes: first, as conceptual furniture pieces often serve to communicate ideas in the design profession; and second, as furniture objects are large and well-suited to mass storage.

Through an iterative research-through-design process, the Unito concept is developed. Unito is not a product in itself but a system architecture which can be used to construct products. This concept rests on the idea of building mass-units from carbon-negative bio-HDPE, each of which stores organic carbon. Commercially available bio-HDPE certified with a negative carbon footprint was sourced for the mass units, which are designed to last for hundreds of years. The units can be connected to one another by a family of angled connectors which enable modular formgiving and infinite design options. The products can be disassembled and reassembled to meet changing and unanticipated needs of future users. Several product end-of-life options are explored to keep organic carbon trapped in a circular material system or other long-term carbon sinks.

This project is intended to raise questions about the future of industrial design as it deals with the climate crisis. Beyond considering circularity and increases in production efficiency, is there a way for industrial designers to actively contribute to creating negative emissions? Carbon-negative products offer an exciting and optimistic means to design for people, planet, and profit without making compromises.

Optimizing for Carbon Storage

Carbon-negative materials flip the script when it comes to thinking about material use. Typically in product design, designers minimize material use to meet the functional requirements of the product at the lowest cost and environmental impact. However, with carbon-negative materials, more material means more CO2 is sequestered from the atmosphere. Increasing material use is beneficial from a climate standpoint. While the production of material may have other adverse effects unrelated to climate (eg. water and land use), these issues are being addressed by material scientist. The development of materials from second, third, and fourth order feedstocks – biomass waste, algaes, and artificial photosynthesis – is promising. These higher order feedstocks aim to reduce the adverse effects of using food crops for material production. As these production side effects will be increasingly addressed and considering the severity and timeliness of climate impacts, it makes sense to prioritize negative CO2 emissions. As such, increasing carbon-negative material use is a worthy short-term goal.

To illustrate this, unito rests on the idea of the unit of carbon. Each unit contains 1kg of organic carbon. The material choice is bio-HDPE, sourced from sugarcane feedstocks. The manufacturer of this material certifies its carbon footprint as -3.09kgCO2/kg material. This design approach serves two functions. First, it aims to create a visceral understanding of what a kilogram of carbon is when converted to material. The choice of 1kg helps to communicate the scale of the climate problem, and the quantity of carbon emissions we produce every year. Second, it helps to explain the idea that mass is beneficial when it comes to carbon negative materials. The units are heavy to hold. Their weight is surprising to people. They ask the question – why are they so heavy? Well, mass is mass, and more mass means more CO2.
However, I stress that this project is not about the material itself, but about the way of thinking about products given the existence of carbon-negative materials more generally. As previously stated, they are slated to become ubiquitous as we switch to renewable energy. As such, we need a framework to derive maximum benefit for these materials in general.

Optimizing for longevity

Unito is a system architecture built from mass-units and connectors, which enable the mass units to be combined to produce functional objects. This is meant to demonstrate the wonderful idea that carbon dioxide removal can serve a functional purpose. However, since carbon is now trapped in the Technosphere, it is critical that it remains trapped. Therefore, the product should remain functional for as long as possible. Intrinsic to the system architecture design are the circular principles of lifetime increase, reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing. We do not know what future needs might be. By allowing products to be changed, modified, and adapted to unanticipated needs, we open up the system to evolve with user needs and preferences. Another way that the product lifetime is extended is by allowing users to develop their own pieces. Typically, products are discarded not because of functional obsolescence, but because of emotional obsolescence. By enabling people to create their own designs, the attachment between individual and product is increased.

Considering end-of-life

Carbon was stored in geological sinks in the form of fossil fuels for millions of years. In the last 400 years we extracted and burned some of these fossil reserves, undoing fossilization processes of biomass that occurred over millions of years. To restore a stable atmospheric carbon balance, we must essentially re-fossilize the excess carbon that now exists within the atmosphere. Carbon must hence be stored in stable fossilized form in artificial carbon sinks – either functionally or non-functionally.
The choice of HDPE in unito serves to communicate the re-fossilization of carbon. These units are extremely durable and non-biodegradable, which is beneficial from the perspective of carbon storage. Biodegradation means re-conversion to CO2. HDPE is a highly recyclable polymer, meaning that the material inside the units could remain functional for an extended timeframe. Ultimately, the units can also be stacked up in geological storage, returning fossil carbon to where it originated.

Relevance to the theme

The current approach to production and reliance on fossil fuels has led to the destruction of ecosystems and negative impacts on front-line communities where resource extraction takes place. Shifting to bio-based carbon negative materials will have several benefits for stakeholder groups involved in the production and consumption of goods. Firstly, by requiring long life in objects, we veer away from mass-consumer items with low value. Meaningful items are favored. Carbon-negative materials also favor localized production systems using available carbon supplies – biomass – while minimizing transportation. By localizing production, we will consider the implications that supply chains have on different stakeholders. Consumers tend to favor healthy production systems if these systems are in their vicinity. Finally, since carbon-negative materials base production on the natural systems of the earth, they also offer the potential to reconnect with the natural ecosystems we rely on in a visceral way, learning that we are all shaped by the same natural processes of the earth.

The unito concept has been fabricated in various degrees, based largely on the resources I had available during the project. Below is a list of what has been made to explore the concept:
1. Bag of bio-HDPE injection moulding pellets has been purchased for display purposes. (25kg bag)
2. 1:4 Scaled wooden version of the system architecture, used to explore form-giving options in both functional and sculptural form. (sculpture 30x30x80cm
3. 1:1 HDPE blocks (2), including 2 straight connectors (10x10x10cm)
4. 1:1 3D printed PLA connector family
5. 1:1 geometric model of 42kg[C] lounge chair, fabricated from MDF, aluminum, and 3D printed components. This model serves to demonstrate what something built from the system architecture at 1:1 scale might look like. (approx 1x1x1 meter, size of typical lounge chair)

The unito concept has been fabricated in various degrees, based largely on the resources I had available during the project. Below is a list of what has been made to explore the concept:
1. Bag of bio-HDPE injection moulding pellets has been purchased for display purposes. (25kg bag)
2. 1:4 Scaled wooden version of the system architecture, used to explore form-giving options in both functional and sculptural form. (sculpture 30x30x80cm
3. 1:1 HDPE blocks (2), including 2 straight connectors (10x10x10cm)
4. 1:1 3D printed PLA connector family
5. 1:1 geometric model of 42kg[C] lounge chair, fabricated from MDF, aluminum, and 3D printed components. This model serves to demonstrate what something built from the system architecture at 1:1 scale might look like. (approx 1x1x1 meter, size of typical lounge chair)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhQVZv9h6jI

https://www.rielbessai.com/

This project gives an optimistic and meaningful solution to the existential problem of climate change. By consuming waste – in this case waste CO2 that is diffuse in the atmosphere – we harness our production and consumption systems towards positive ends. To best harness this opportunity, we need to not only switch one material for another, but rethink how and why we produce products. The idea of producing products from carbon and ultimately creating a synthetic carbon cycle that reflects the circularity of natural growth cycles is our best chance to achieve sustainable human societies.

The current approach to production and reliance on fossil fuels has led to the destruction of ecosystems and negative impacts on front-line communities where resource extraction takes place. Shifting to bio-based carbon negative materials will have several benefits for stakeholder groups involved in the production and consumption of goods. Firstly, by requiring long life in objects, we veer away from mass-consumer items with low value. Meaningful items are favored. Carbon-negative materials also favor localized production systems using available carbon supplies – biomass – while minimizing transportation. By localizing production, we will consider the implications that supply chains have on different stakeholders. Consumers tend to favor healthy production systems if these systems are in their vicinity. Finally, since carbon-negative materials base production on the natural systems of the earth, they also offer the potential to reconnect with the natural ecosystems we rely on in a visceral way, learning that we are all shaped by the same natural processes of the earth.