Skip to main content

The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems (1994) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Greening the Telephone: A Case Study
Pages 171-177

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 171...
... The DFE effort at AT&T represents one of the first attempts to link industrial ecology concepts to specific industrial practices. The challenge of implementing DFE lies in the extreme difficulty of quantifying environmental attributes in a way that permits comparison among environmental effects and life cycle stages.
Read the entire page →
From page 172...
... It is important to extend our concern for minimizing the environmental impact of products beyond the traditional boundaries of design and manufacture to include such downstream considerations as use and end-of-life. It is in part to understand the implications of this paradigm shift that AT&T began a study to investigate what makes a product "green" from a life cycle perspective.
Read the entire page →
From page 173...
... All of the customers said that they would consider purchasing a product with refurbished or remanufactured components, provided the quality was as good as a "new" product, although the majority expected the price to be lower. Ninety percent of those polled said they would participate in a recycling program, and all of those polled said they would accept biodegradable packaging and documentation printed on recycled paper.
Read the entire page →
From page 174...
... It would be a useful way of evaluating the environmental effect of potential design changes. It would also allow evaluation of the "greenness" of a product family and could be used to track progress in each successive generation of product.
Read the entire page →
From page 175...
... should be evaluated for "greenness," it may be appropriate to consider them at a later date. In the interim, AT&T has used generic tools, such as contract and purchase order provisions, to impose clearly desirable baseline environmental standards on suppliers (such as not using packaging made with chlorofluorocarbons)
Read the entire page →
From page 176...
... The "green" design scoring system needs to be further developed and extended to other life cycle stages. An economical, realistic take-back program for telephones needs to be explored.
Read the entire page →
From page 177...
... . The development of environmentally preferable products is an evolving process, and it might now be said that work on a "greener" telephone has begun.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • demonstration project
  • green product
  • return policy
  • entire life
  • environmental standards

  • environmentally desirable
  • cycle analysis
  • feasibility study
  • various environmentally
  • potential design

  • environmental effect
  • cycle stages
  • recyclable plastic
  • phone feasibility
  • order provisions

  • preferable telephone
  • downstream considerations
  • called green
  • cycle environmental
  • assign numerical

  • product management
  • preferable attributes
  • desirable baseline
  • line using
  • preferable options

  • returned telephones
  • environmental aspects
  • practices defined
  • generate feedback
  • design changes


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.