The Eco-Meter at Public Sector Show Unveiled by Steelcase
Steelcase,
the world’s leading office furniture manufacturer and workspace designer,
will unveil pioneering software which will allow public and private sector organisations
to assess the environmental impact of their offices.
The ‘Eco-meter’ will be launched at the Procurement Solutions for
the Public Sector show in London, by Mark Spragg, Managing Director of Steelcase
UK and Professor Niki Bey, collaborating researcher from the Institute of Product
Development, part of The Technical University of Denmark.
Mark Spragg said: “The Eco-meter is more than just a tool to calculate
carbon emissions. It allows us to examine both economical and environmental
outcomes of running an organisation in order to optimise efficiency and productivity
while safeguarding the environment.
“More and more clients in the public and private sectors expect us to
be able to assess in detail the environmental impact of not just our products,
but their whole offices. We intend to use the Eco-meter as part of our workspace
consultancy projects.”
The eco-meter, currently being piloted with Nationwide in the UK, enables employers
to compare the various implications of a number of different office designs
across a number of different criteria, allowing them to tailor their working
environment to their needs and those of the employees, without compromising
environmental and ethical issues.
Professor Niki Bey, the environmental and sustainability expert behind the
development of the Eco-Meter, said: “For the first time, employers have
a truly comprehensive tool at their disposal, which offers them a holistic perspective
on the impact of the decisions they are making about the way they use their
office spaces.”
Steelcase and the Technical University of Denmark have been working together
since the early 1990’s, collaborating on a number of eco design issues
and developing the life cycle assessment method which has become a central part
of Steelcase’s product development process. More recently, the University
have worked with Steelcase on the design of the Think chair, and it is their
innovative approach to the development, analysis and synthesis of products,
from an environmental perspective, which has led to the development of the Eco-Meter.
Mark Spragg added: “Government targets of saving 1 million tonnes of CO2
by 2020 have placed environmentally and ethically sound solutions right at the
forefront of current and future business strategies.”
Posted 13th June 2007
