Software Deals Boost Market for Clean Product Design

Software: it’s going to be one of the fastest growing segments in greentech.

Today, Sustainable Minds and Autodesk announced that they will collaborate on services and products that will effectively make it easier for manufacturers to design cleaner products. Sustainable Minds develops design software and provides information on different materials and components. Autodesk, which has been producing design software since dinosaurs ruled the earth, sells one of the world’s more popular applications for software prototyping.

Put the two together and manufacturers can more easily begin to study, for example, how swapping out traditional plastic for a bioplastic might impact the integrity or durability of a product. You could also use it to see how a product could be reduced in size (and thereby reduce shipping costs and energy) before performance is impacted. Energy efficiency can also be studied—a lot of work in recent years has allowed PCs fans to cool while consuming less energy.

Meanwhile, GoodGuide came out of stealth mode late last night. It is a web service that compiles supply chain data that lets consumers, and potentially mass manufacturers, assess the environmental impact of their products. What? There’s methyl ethyl keytone in my shaving cream? No wonder I feel so smooth and fresh in the morning.

These efforts might sound squishy and directed toward the small segment of the population that are drawn to greentech to do good for the planet (and will actually act on that feeling), but it’s bigger than that. Procurement managers at factories around the world have come to realize that commodity prices are going to inexorably rise over the next two decades. Thus, they have to start really thinking hard about getting to market with fewer raw materials.

Retailers and middlemen are also determined to cut down the raw materials in the products they sell. it’s good marketing, saves shelf space and can fend off problems down the road with carbon taxes. Nick Parker of the Cleantech Group told me last week that Wal-Mart is doing exactly that.

Oh, and the software thing. You’re going to see a lot more investment in it. Software companies are a lot cheaper to start than solar plants and people are beginning to understand how it can be used to create efficiency. (Even a high science VC like Steve Jurvetson will tell you that web 2.0 software provides more consistent returns than anything else.) You can credit companies like Fat Spaniel and SolarCity for putting the concept on the map.