Page 90 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

CHAPTER 5

Managing

Environmental

Innovation

Disruptive technologies, though they initially
can only be used in small markets remote from
the mainstream, are disruptive because they
subsequently can become fully performance-
competitive within the mainstream market
against established products.
clayton christensen [1]

The Rise of Green Markets

There was a time, not so long ago, when environmentalists were
derided as “tree-huggers” and products with environmental bene-
fits appealed only to a fringe market of true believers. The generally
accepted wisdom was that mainstream consumers were primarily
cost-driven and would not tolerate the higher cost of environmen-
tally beneficial products. A classic example of an environmental
product was the pioneering “green PC” introduced in 1993 by IBM.
Despite its thoughtful, energy-efficient design, the premium price
tag prevented it from capturing any appreciable share of the market.
Fifteen years later, “green” has become a ubiquitous marketing
buzzword, not just in personal computers but in virtually every prod-
uct category. (Sadly, green language is often overused to the point of
being gratuitous or even misleading.) As discussed in Part 1, this
tidal shift is a consequence of many factors from rising energy prices
to global warming fears. Environmental sensitivity has moved from
being a luxury to a necessity. And greener products need not neces-
sarily cost more.

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