Ecodesign
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ecodesign is an approach to design of a product with special consideration for the environmental impacts of the product during its whole lifecycle. In a life cycle assessment the life cycle of a product is usually divided into procurement, manufacture, use and disposal.
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[edit] Overview
As the whole product lifecycle should be regarded at once, representatives from design, production, marketing, purchasing and project management should work together on the ecodesign of a new product as they have together the best chance to predict the holistic effects of changes of the product and their environmental impact. Environmental aspects which ought to be analysed for every stage of the lifecycle can be seen as:
- Consumption of resources (energy, materials, water or ground)
- Emissions to air, water or the ground
- Waste and waste products (hazardous waste and other waste defined in environmental legislation)
- Miscellaneous (e.g. noise and vibration)
Having made up a list on which phase of the lifecycle has which particular environmental aspect, these aspects are evaluated according to their environmental impact on the basis of a number parameters such as extend of environmental impact potential for improvement or potential of change. The evaluations can also take marketing and marketing issues into account.
According to this ranking the recommended changes are carried out and are reviewed after a certain time. It must be done regularly to keep up with annual review of environmental legislation by national and international watchdogs.
[edit] Environmental Effect Analysis
One instrument to identify the factors that are important for the reduction of the environmental impact during all lifecycle stages is the Environmental Effect Analysis (EEA).
For an EEA the following are taken into account:
- Customers wishes
- Legal requirements, market requirements (competitors) and
- Data concerning the product and the manufacturing process
[edit] References
- Wimmer W., Züst R., Lee K.-M.(2004), Ecodesign Implementation – A Systematic
Guidance on Integrating Environmental Considerations into Product Development, Dordrecht, Springer
- Lindahl, M.(2003) Proceedings of the 1st international Workshop on “Sustainable Consumption”, Tokyo, Japan, The society of non-traditional Technology (SNTT) and Research Center of Life Cycle Assessment (AIST)
- ISO TC 207/WG3
- ISO TR 14062
