Yves Behar: A MATTER Interview
by Richard J. Lombard
Richard Lombard: As this is our “green” issue, it seems appropriate to start out by asking you what your stance is on the topic.
Yves Behar: For me it’s one of the basic tools in the toolbox of the designer. I don’t look at green as a specialty or as the sole aspect of a project; but, at the same time, green is part of every project that we work on. So it’s like saying esthetics or function has to be part of a project, that same level. It’s got to have emotional appeal, it’s got to have function, it’s got to have green component, it’s got to have a response to a green challenge as well. It’s just one of the criteria but every single time it is included there.
RL: When you worked on the Leaf lamp, was addressing environmental concerns a specific directive from Herman Miller?
YB: Well, Herman Miller has a strong tradition in design for the environment and they have a lot of standards there. I think the final solution came from a mix of technological advances and, at the same time, the technological advances were going to solve a number of issues. Principally, needing a lot less energy for the light; and, at the same time, using a long-lasting bulb, one that will last seven years and does not put harmful compounds into landfills when it does get disposed of.
Thirdly, the main challenge with heat dissipation from the LEDs themselves was solved by using aluminum as the almost sole material of the entire light. In addition to being recyclable, the aluminum we used has 35-37% recycled content in it already.
RL: What was the prime directive on that project? Was it to create an LED-based light?
YB: The prime directive was to rethink lighting. We could have gone to any light source.
But a little bit like they had rethought the office chair with the Aeron, they wanted a light that really was going to be a very big step forward. We looked at every light source. We looked at compact fluorescent, we looked at halogen, we looked at every possible light source. The project was not directed towards an LED light, especially if you consider we started on this about, now, five and a half years ago, on leafs. LEDs were very iffy back then.
With compact fluorescents, you get good efficiency, but there is the the whole chemical problem that compact florescent bulbs have is coming to light, you know? The mercury in the actual bulb makes it impossible to completely safely dispose, making it a chemical hazard.
But within a year into the project it became clear that while we were taking a lot more risks by going with LEDs, and there were a lot of questions, that they are the future of lighting. We had to put a stake in the ground as far as creating the very first U.S. contract LED light.
RL: It wasn’t launched as a contract product, though, right?
YB: No, actually it was launched as a product that is both contract and residential. So in a sense it’s very unique for Herman Miller. This was a really big leap of faith and also a very interesting approach to say, hey, this product is going to work in an office and it’s going to respond to the criteria needed in an office as far as light performance.
RL: One of the main topics in this issue of MATTER is the Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy. When you speak about the issues with compact fluorescents, you think of a lot of solutions that, in and of themselves, cause other problems. With a more holistic approach, these might be avoided
YB: Right. Exactly. A lot of the choices and the challenges that we have in design - when it comes to considering design for the environment and manufacturing for the environment element - are that you can find very short-term solutions (and a good tagline for a product) very quickly as far as being green or using a green material. Fortunately, in analysis of what happens to that material, for example, after use; you realize that that environmental solution may not be the most efficient or the smartest one to use at that particular time. I’ll use an example: Y Water, these water bottles we just launched.
We used an Eastman version of a PET material. We struggled for like six-months; I was looking for pouches because I felt pouches were a more efficient way of shipping and we absolutely could not find a pouch on the market that was environmental and that was easily available and you could actually do something nice with.
Then we looked for something that really pushed the envelope and were trying for PLA but then the recycling stream of PLA doesn’t exist. If you put it the recycling stream it basically gets put into the incinerator because the recycling stream doesn’t know what to do with it.
So what we did instead is we went back to PET and instead we turned the bottles into a game — a little bit like an education game, a little bit like a Lego game - so kids can build things, do constructions that are great and fun and educational. My goal with that is that kids like these bottles and they realize, “hey, there is a second use for these bottles,” then hopefully they will never see, want, or accept another bottle, which doesn’t have a form of reuse.
So mitigating these types of challenges and not just going for the green label because it’s an easy sell, but really looking at what the challenge is and how something like that can be reinvented is part of that creative and design exercise around environmental concerns.
RL: How did you bring all of this to bear in perhaps one of the hardest areas to be green, computer technology, when you were selected to create the XO laptop (formerly, “the $100 laptop)?
YB: We basically started work on the project two and a half years ago. It was really when the XO laptop was a concept, kind of a show car, and there was a need to bring it to production in a way that would be very dramatic and very memorable, from a design standpoint, but also completely manufacturable and completely mindful of the price point.
Then, throughout the project, the environmental concern came about so we designed it in a way — it basically uses a singular material — that we passed all the European environmental standards. The laptop is completely disassembleable and completely recyclable. There’s also no dangerous chemicals, no heavy metals in it at all, which is pretty amazing for a computer.
RL: That’s one of the biggest issues with computers: when they are thrown away, many of the substances leech into the ground.
YB: Exactly. And another thing - and the biggest feat of this - is that the laptop consumes ten times less energy than the most environmentally friendly laptop in the market. In fact, last week they just issued a press release saying that by far the Excel is the greenest and—no pun intended here since it’s colored green as well—it’s the greenest laptop in the world. It can be human powered; it can be solar powered.
RL: We’ve also heard about some other projects that you are working on in a holistic and civic vein.
YB: I think for me, with Green, there is also a whole civic element or a health element to the projects that we do.
It’s all connected. The two projects we’ve done are the New York City Helmet, which is a helmet for cycling in New York to encourage healthy activities as well as remove cars off the road. New York has a large Department of Health and Transportation and they have a large initiative around cycling.
The mandate was low cost so that they would be available to the largest number of people possible - Some of them were given away for free
The helmet is made out of an internal component which is a classical foam component which is the best protection you can get and not expensive to produce at all. To that is added these different covers that include the straps and regulate how much air goes through the helmet and allow you to create different caps for the helmet. We showed very low cost ones and we showed also some winter and fall versions, which were a lot more sophisticated from the material and from the functional use; with ways to cover the back of the neck for when it gets colder.
It sort of turns biking into a lifestyle and I think it’s important to see it that way. In fact, I see it a lot more now as a lifestyle, something that some people decide to do, make choices in life such as living not too far from their work, etcetera, which are important Green choices to make.
Interested in finding out more about how sustainable materials are revolutionizing the electronics industry? Contact us.