[Editor's note: This article was authored by BSR, a global business network and consultancy focused on sustainability.]

Not long ago, Southern California Edison conducted an experiment aimed at lowering household energy use. The utility company gave its customers ambient orbs that glowed red when their energy use was high and green when use was low. Within weeks, energy use in this pilot group declined by 40 percent during peak periods.

The success behind this exercise was simple: Southern California Edison gave consumers accurate, easily understandable information (red meant "stop," green meant "go") that influenced the way its customers used the company's service.

In the business value chain cycle -- including product design, material input, processing and assembly, distribution, engagement and use, and end-of-use -- Southern California Edison focused on customers' engagement and use to improve the sustainability of its service. This example is important because in the past, most sustainability efforts have centered around material input, processing and assembly, and distribution.

While these first-generation corporate sustainability efforts demonstrated that some environmental and social considerations can be managed, the overall trajectory of the economy continues on an unsustainable path. By recent estimates, our global footprint now exceeds the world's capacity to regenerate by about 30 percent. And if current demands continue, by 2030 we will need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyle.

The newest frontier in sustainability -- sustainable consumption -- advocates a system that allows individuals to meet their needs without disrupting the planet's healthy ecosystems. At BSR, we have begun a conversation with businesses about sustainable consumption through workshops, discussions, and our newest report, "The New Frontier in Sustainability: The Business Opportunity in Tackling Sustainable Consumption." (PDF)

In an era when the world faces significant constraints on natural resources -- and equally significant demands to use those natural resources to create the products and services that meet people's daily needs -- progress on sustainability now depends on attending to the overlooked areas of the value chain cycle: product design, engagement and use, and end-of-use.

Historically framed as a limitation on business, sustainable consumption actually represents a new set of opportunities for companies, and some have already begun to find novel ways of delivering value to more of the world's people without unduly taxing natural resources.

Product Design

The shift to sustainable consumption begins with product design because the design function is a concentration point for decisions around a large set of human and material resource flows.

For example, design choices about material weight and packaging have direct impacts on transportation costs and fuel use, while choices about energy efficiency directly impact energy consumption during a product's use phase. In some cases, a focus on sustainable consumption may result in the radical redesign of familiar products. In other cases, there may be an opportunity to deliver value through services rather than products.

In short, it all starts with design. By embedding sustainability considerations into the design phase, product attributes and consumer behaviors can be influenced in potentially valuable ways. One way to support this approach is to marry "human factors" and "systems thinking" in design analysis. For example, Zipcar's ideal vehicle for car-sharing would be designed to function more like smart phones, with a GPS, an intuitive user interface, and a set of standard applications to help drivers manage their fuel consumption, or communicate with parking lots for available spaces.

This approach recognizes that people's interactions with their cars include more than just the need for mobility, so additional services are added to capture more experiences like ease of navigation, finding the closest gas station, or even downloading insurance information following an accident.

Engagement and Use

Personal choices have a huge impact on sustainability, and today's consumers are "in the driver's seat." But because they do not always make the best choices or use products and services in the best way in terms of sustainability, companies have many opportunities to give consumers the keys to more sustainable behavior by increasing their awareness of how consumption choices and behavior impact sustainability.

Southern California Edison's experiment is a great example of this: The simple cues from the glowing lights indicated when the consumers needed to reduce their energy consumption. In another example from a utility company, a study found that the average person will reduce their energy consumption by 8 percent if a smiley face is included on their electrical bill to reinforce positive behavior. Products, services, policies, programs, and communications that reflect user characteristics, needs, and skills can serve to improve, support, and sustain behavior.