What can you change about your device to make it integrate better with the environment?
- Bill of Materials (BoM):
- Lower the parts count
- Choose components that are easy to replace (in terms of source and dis/assembly), and provide links or sell them yourself
- Build for versatiliy and list alternatives
- Enclosure:
- Fewer, more versatile, more efficient enclosure parts = less wasted material and less energy to print
- Can you design it to print without support?
- Simple design tweaks:
- Black paint on 1 blade of a wind turbine helps protect birds!
- Rumble strips: Can you build a feature into the design without adding extra parts or requiring power? We could pass laws requiring every car to have an alertness sensor, or embed powered sensors into the road, and wearables for this exist – but this low-cost mechanical solution provides automatic, instant, zero-power feedback when a simple pattern is stamped into the road surface. Brilliant!
- Design to prevent waste:
- Alpenglow’s SwatchMinder began as a way to repurpose waste material from another PCB!
- Prototypes don’t always work, so my own PCBs also work as jewelry and/or art objects. (And if they do work, they still look rad!)