Cont

ent
s
Sust
ainabl
eDesi
gnGui
de 4
Chapt
er1:
Int
roduct
ionandTer
minol
ogy 4
Whyshoul
dyour
eadt
hisgui
de? 4
Per
sonal
int
erest 4
Companyi
ntent 4
I
ndust
ryr
egul
ati
ons 4
HowShoul
dYouUseThi
sGui
de? 5
Chapt
er2:
Sust
ainabi
l
ityandSust
ainabl
eBusi
ness 5
Def
ini
ti
onsofsust
ainabi
l
ity 5
Scopeofsust
ainabi
l
ity 6
Sust
ainabl
eCompany 6
TheManyFacesofSust
ainabl
eDesi
gn 7
Desi
gnf
orDi
sassembl
y 8
Desi
gnf
ort
heEnv
ironment 8
Pr
oductst
ewar
dshi
p 8
Cr
adl
etoCr
adl
e 8
Bi
omi
micr
y 9
Gr
eenchemi
str
y 9
Gr
eenmar
ket
ing 9
Chapt
er3:
Maki
ngTheor
yMat
ter-I
nit
ial
Anal
ysi
sDeci
sions 10
Youri
nfl
uencei
scr
it
ical 10
Asust
ainabl
edesi
gnchal
l
enge 11
Env
ironment
alI
mpactAssessmentTool
s&Techni
ques 11
Sust
ainabl
edesi
gni
srel
ati
ve 11
WhatAm ICompar
ing? 12
WhatAm IMeasur
ing?TheThr
eeChoi
cesofEnv
ironment
alAssessment 12
Choi
ce1:
Env
ironment
alI
ndi
cat
ors 14
Choi
ce2:
Scope 18
Choi
ce3:
Met
ri
cs 24
Chapt
er4:
Put
ti
ngI
tAl
lToget
her 30
I
ntui
ti
on 30

1
 Pr
oductScor
ecar
ds 31
Concept
ual
Lif
eCy
cleThi
nki
ng 31
Qual
i
tat
iveLi
feCy
cleAssessment 32
Li
feCy
cle-
BasedDesi
gnAssessment 35
I
ndust
ry-
speci
fi
c 35
I
ndust
ry-
agnost
ic 35
Li
feCy
cleAssessment 36
Goal
&ScopeDef
ini
ti
on 37
I
nvent
oryAnal
ysi
s 38
I
mpactAssessment 38
I
nter
pret
ati
on 39
AHandyTabl
eofTool
sfort
heThr
eeChoi
ces 40
Chapt
er5:
SoWhat
?(I
nter
pret
ingt
heResul
ts) 40
Chapt
er6:
ARedesi
gnedCup,
AReconsi
der
edToy 42
Pr
isci
l
la’
sChal
l
enge 42
Tom’
sTur
n 56
Chapt
er7:
TheSust
ainabl
eDesi
gnSt
rat
egi
es 66
Lev
el1:
ProductDesi
gn-Par
amet
ri
cOpt
imi
zat
ion 66
Sour
cingLocal
l
y 66
Al
ter
nat
eMat
eri
alSel
ect
ion. 66
Li
ght
wei
ght
ing(
alsocal
l
edsour
cer
educt
ion)
. 67
Lev
el2:
ProductDev
elopment-Fundament
all
yAl
ter
ingt
hePr
oduct 67
Lev
el3:
ProductI
nnov
ati
on-Changi
ngt
heSy
stem 67
Chapt
er8:
Communi
cat
ingt
heResul
ts 67
Todesi
gner
sandengi
neer
sunf
ami
l
iarwi
thsust
ainabl
edesi
gn 68
Togener
almanagement 68
Toot
herpar
tsoft
hesuppl
ychai
n 69
Tosal
es&mar
ket
ing 69
Chapt
er9:
NextSt
eps 70
Chapt
er10:
ForMor
eInf
ormat
ion 71
Appendi
xA-Ref
erenceMat
eri
als 71
Sust
ainabi
l
ity&Sust
ainabl
eBusi
ness 71
Sust
ainabl
eLi
vi
ng 72

2
 TheHannov
erPr
inci
ples 72
Appendi
xB-ADeeperLookatt
heLCAPr
ocess 72
Goal
&ScopeDef
ini
ti
on 73
I
nvent
oryAnal
ysi
s 75
I
mpactAssessment 76
I
nter
pret
ati
on 80
Appendi
xC-LCATool
sandMet
hods 81
Commonl
yusedLCATool
s 81
I
mpactAssessmentMet
hodol
ogi
es 82

SOLI
DWORKSSust
ainabi
l
it
yGui
de
3
Sust
ainabl
eDesi
gnGui
de
Theideasofsust ai
nabi
li
tyandsustai
nabledesi
gnareagrowingpar
toft
oday’
sproductdesign
conver
sations.Butexact
lywhatissustai
nabl
edesign,
andhowdoy oucr
eateagreenerpr
oduct?
We’l
lanswert hesequesti
onsthr
oughthisGuidetoSustai
nabl
eDesi
gnwit
hint
eracti
vecontent
anddetai
ledexampl es.

Chapt
er1:
Int
roduct
ionandTer
minol
ogy
Theideaof“Sust
ainabl
eDesign”iscr
oppi
ngupmoreandmor
eintoday
’spr
oductdesi
gn
conver
sati
ons.Butwhatissustai
nabl
edesi
gn,
andhowdoIdoit
?Wehopet oanswert
his
questi
onthr
oughoutthi
sGuide.

Whyshoul
dyour
eadt
hisgui
de?
Thereareprobablyasmanyreasonst
oreadthisgui
deastherearepeoplereadi
ngit.Thatsai
d,
designengi
neerswillwantt
oincor
por
atesustai
nabi
li
typr
inci
plesi
ntotheirworkforatl
eastone
offourgeneralr
easons.

Per
sonal
int
erest
Manypeopl earedrawntosust
ainabledesignbecauset
heywantt ouset hei
rtal
entsand
expert
isetomaket heworl
dabet t
erplace.Asnaïveasthatsent
imentmi ghtseem,iti
sa
powerfuldri
verbehindagr
eatdealofinnovati
onandcreati
veengineer
ing.And,giv
enthest
ate
ofthewor l
dtoday,wecoul
duseal lt
hehelpwecanget .

Companyi
ntent
Manyr eadersmaybeher enotbecauseoft hei
rowni nterest,butbecausesust ai
nabledesignis
partofacompanyi nit
iati
v e.Whetherdrivenbyst ockholders,
customer s,orseniorl
eadership,
“sustainabil
it
y”i
si ncreasinglyoncor porateagendas.Whi lesocialandenv i
ronment al
responsi bi
li
tyi
sof tenatt her ootofsuchef f
orts,manycompani esarealsof i
ndingthat
sustainabledesigni sjust“ goodbusiness.”Throughit,compani esfi
ndnewway stodecrease
mat eri
al andenergycost s, andincreaserevenuet hr
oughr esult
ingnewpr oductinnovati
ons.

I
ndust
ryr
egul
ati
ons
Inmanymar kets,regulati
onsr estr
ictt
heuseofcer t
ainmat eri
alsinproduct
smanuf acturedand
soldthere.Forinstance, i
ntheEur opeanUniont heRestri
cti
onofHazar dousSubst ances( RoHS)
direct
iveplacesstrictguideli
nesont heuseofspeci fi
cmat erial
sinthemanuf act
ureofv arious
electr
onics.Becauset hisdirecti
veappliestoproductsimpor tedto,aswellasmadei n,theEU, i
t
i
mpact smanuf act
ur er
swor l
dwide.Whileadheringtosustainabledesignprincipl
esdoesn’ t
necessaril
yassur ecompl i
ancewi t
hsuchdi rect
ives,t
hesepr acti
cesdosuppor ti
ncreased
attent
iontoexact l
yt heissuest hatsuchregulat
ionsareintendedt oaddress,suchast he
toxici
tyofcertainsubst ances.

Whetheryouarelearni
ngaboutsust
ainabl
edesignandengi
neeri
ngbecauseyouwanttobe,or
becauseyouneedt obe,t
hisgui
dewillhel
pyoudevelopabet
terunder
standi
ngofthetopi
c,
al
ongwi t
hthetoolsandtechni
questhatwil
lenabl
eyoutodesignmoreenvir
onmental
l
y

4
 1
r
esponsi
blepr
oduct
s.

HowShoul
dYouUseThi
sGui
de?
Fir
st,feel f
reetoj umpar ound.Thi
sguidewasmadet obeconsumedi nparts,andinno
parti
cularor der.We’llbui
ldsometerminologyearl
yon,soi fy
oufindconceptsthatyou’
re
unfami l
iarwi t
h,nav i
gatetotheappropr
iatesecti
ontolearnmore.Goingthroughtheenti
re
Guide—andpl ay i
ngwi thsomeoftheexampl es—shoul
dt akeabout5-
7hour s,soit
’sagoodidea
topacey ourself(orskiptothegoodparts).

Second,
wedon’ trequi
rethaty
ouhaveacopyofSOLIDWORKSSust ai
nabil
it
y,orev
en
SOLIDWORKS, handy—we’vedesi
gnedthi
sGuidetobei
nt er
esti
ngandinformati
ve(wehope!
)
wit
houthavingaccesstoourdesi
gnsoftwar
e.However
, we’veal
soincl
udedexamplesthaty
ou
candownloadintoyourcopyofSOLIDWORKSt omakethetheorycomeal i
ve.

Chapt
er2:
Sust
ainabi
l
ityandSust
ainabl
eBusi
ness
Thissecti
ondescribeswhatismeantby“ sust
ainabil
it
y”andwhaty ouneedtoknowaboutthi
s
concept.I
tstart
soutbroadly,out
li
ningwhysustainabi
li
tyisi
mpor t
anttotheworl
d,t
henwhatit
meansi nthecontextofbusi
ness,andfinal
lywhyitisimport
antinyourrol
easadesigner
,
engineer
,productspeci
ali
st,
orothertypeofproductdesignprof
essional
.

Def
ini
ti
onsofsust
ainabi
l
ity
Sust
ainabi
li
tycanbequiteamal l
eabl
et erm.Whilemostpeopleunderstandi
tsint
ent
ion
i
ntui
ti
vely,
it’
sdif
fi
cul
ttoactual
lypindownsi nceitcancoversomanydomai ns.TheWorld
Commi ssi
ononEnv i
ronmentandDev elopment,knownmor epopul
arlyastheBrundt
land
Commi ssi
on,cr
eatedoneofthebest-knownandof t
enuseddefi
nit
ions:

Sust
ainabl
edev
elopmenti
sdevel
opmentthatmeet
stheneedsoft
hepresentwi
thout
2
compromisi
ngt
heabil
it
yoffut
uregener
ati
onstomeetthei
rownneeds.

TheNaturalSt
ep,i
nanotherwi
del
y-
adoptedf
ramewor
k,goesontol
ayoutf
oursyst
em
condi
ti
ons,deri
vedfr
om thel
awsofther
modynami
cs,t
hroughwhi
chsuchast
atecanbe
achi
eved:

I
nasust
ainabl
esoci
ety
,nat
urei
snotsubj
ectt
osy
stemat
ical
l
yincr
easi
ng.
..

1.concent
rat
ionsofsubst
ancesext
ract
edf
rom t
heEar
th’
scr
ust
,

2.concent
rat
ionsofsubst
ancespr
oducedbysoci
ety
,

3.degr
adat
ionbyphy
sical
means

and,
int
hatsoci
ety
...
1
Throughoutthegui de,t
heterm“ product”isusedt odescr
ibetheobjectbei
ngdesigned,whetheran
actualconsumerpr oduct,machinedpart,pieceofequipment,orothercomponentorassembl y.
2
OurCommonFut ure,ReportoftheWor ldCommi ssi
ononEnv i
ronmentandDev el
opment ,Worl
d
Commi ssiononEnv ironmentandDev elopment ,1987.Publ
ishedasAnnext oGeneralAssembly
documentA/ 42/427, Devel
opmentandI nternat
ionalCo-
operati
on:Envi
ronmentAugust2, 1987.

5
 4.ther
ear
enostruct
ural
obst
acl
est
opeopl
e’
sheal
th,
inf
luence,
compet
ence,
impar
ti
ali
ty
3
andmeani
ng.

Scopeofsust
ainabi
l
ity
Ascanbeseeni nthedef ini
ti
onsabov e,sustai
nabi
li
tyrepresentsabal ancedinter
acti
on
betweenthehuman- builtandnat uralwor l
ds.Thisi
nteracti
onisof tenexpressedashav i
ngthree
component s:environment ,socialequity,andeconomy .Therelati
onshipbet weeneachofthese
elementsisoftenr epresentedasei theraVenndi agram, wit
hsust ainabil
i
tyattheint
ersect
ion,
orasconcent ri
cci r
cles,refl
ecti
ngal ayeri
ngofdomai ns.Thissecondcaser efl
ect
sthemor e
real
ist
icperspect i
vethataheal thyeconomydependsonaheal thysoci et
y,bothofwhichrel
yon
ahealthyenvironment .Sustainabil
ityoccur swhenallthreearethri
v i
ng.

Sust
ainabl
eCompany
Sustai
nablecompaniesreflectthesamebal anceofeconomic,soci
al,andenv i
ronmental
responsi
bil
it
y.Theyexi
stasbusi nessent
it
ies,butareapartofasystem thatrel
iesonahealthy
dynamicofman- madeandnat uralel
ements.Attheirmostbasi
clevel,busi
nessestakeinput
s,
processthem (
addingvalue),andgenerateoutputs.Thatgi
vesustheideal ofatrul
ysustai
nabl
e
companyt ostr
ivefor
:

At
rul
ysust
ainabl
ecompanyi
sonet
hat
:

 Usesthewast
eofot herpr
ocessesasit
sinput
,andmi
nimi
zesorel
i
minat
est
heuseof
vi
rgi
nmateri
alsext
ractedfr
om theear
th;

 Cr
eat
esout
putt
hatcanbeusedbyotherpr
ocessesorr
etur
nedtoanat
ural
stat
e,and
el
i
minat
eswast
ethatcan’
tbeusedorr
etur
nedtoanatur
alstat
e;

 Usest
hel
eastamountofener
gyt
oachi
evet
hedesi
redout
come,
andusesener
gy

3
ht
tps:
//t
henat
ural
step.
org/
appr
oach/
the-
syst
em-
condi
ti
ons/

6
 ul
ti
mat
elyder
ivedf
rom r
enewabl
esour
ces.

Thevaluecompani esgeneratehastr
aditi
onall
ybeenmeasur edinpur elyfinanci
almetrics.
However,iti
sbecomi ngmorecommont orefl
ectt
hevaluegener at
edasa“ tr
ipl
ebott
om l i
ne.”
Whetherrepresentedf or
mal
lyasaCor porateSoci
alResponsibil
i
tyrepor tormor ei
nformally,
companiesinterestedinbei
ngsustai
nablenowf ocusonthet ri
plebottom lineofpeople,planet
,
andprofi
t.

Sust
ainabi
l
itymani
fest
sit
sel
fincompani
esatav
ari
etyofl
evel
s,i
ncl
udi
ng:

 St
rat
egy–Somecompani esdeci
dewhattomakeordobasedonsustai
nabl
ebusi
ness
i
deal
s.Stony
fiel
dFarmshasmadesoci
alandenv
ironment
alr
esponsi
bil
i
tyakeypar
tof
i
tsbusi
nessstrat
egysi
ncei
tbegan.

 Supplychain&v aluewebs–Wal martrequir

esit
ssupplierstoevaluat
eanddi sclosethe
ful
lenv i
ronmentalimpactoftheirpr
oducts.Therecont
inuest obeincreasedattenti
onto
so-
calledindustr
ialecol
ogy,whichanalyzesthemateri
al andenergyfl
owswi thi
nwhol e
i
ndustrialsyst
ems, oft
enextendingfarbeyondthedomai nofasinglebusiness.

 Operations–Deci si
onsabouthowt omakeandmov epr oductsincreasinglyreflect
envi
ronment ali
mpact s.Inthecaseofthef l
oorcov er
ingcompanyI nterface,whathas
becomeoneoft her
eal sustai
nabl
ebusinesssuccessst oriesstartedwi thret
hi nkingthe
4
soci
al andenvironment ali
mpactsoftheiroperati
ons. Inmanycases, compani eshav e
i
nstit
utedEnv i
ronment alManagementSy stems( EMS)hav eoperational
izedthet r
acking,
document at
ion,andrepor t
ingofenvir
onment alimpactsbyt hebusi ness.Ther eisev ena
speci
ficISOstandard( ISO14001:2015)governingEMS.

 Productdevelopment&desi gn–Compani eshav eincorporat

edsustainabil
ityi
ntothei
r
newpr oductdevelopmentprocessinway srangingfr
om specifi
cal
lycreating“green”
products(e.
g.,Wolfor
d,withit
sAur or
abiodegradableclothi
nglne5)t
i other educti
onof
theenvir
onment alimpactofit
s“regular
”products(e.g.
,Apple’
suseofar ecycl
able
aluminum enclosuref
oritsMacPr ocomput er)
.

Themajorit
yofthisguidewillf
ocusonpr oduct-
levelsust
ainabil
it
yconsi
derat
ions,
butit
’s
helpf
ultokeepinmi ndthatsust
ainabil
i
tyisn’
tthedomai nofjustonepartoft
hebusiness.I
n
fact,
atrul
ysustai
nableproductcanonl yexi
stwithinthecontextofamuchbroadersystem t
hat
support
sitsposit
iveimpactonpeopl e,
planet
,andpr ofi
t.

TheManyFacesofSust
ainabl
eDesi
gn
Nowt hatyouhav eabitofbackgroundonsustainabili
ty,
let
’st
alkaboutsustainabledesi
gn.
Sust ainabl
edesignistheterm we’v
echosent orepresentthei
ntel
li
gentapplicati
onofthe
principlesofsustai
nabil
i
tytotherealm ofengi
neeri
nganddesi gn.Thisguidefocuseson
product sandsimi l
armanufactur
edcomponent s,butthesamepr i
nciplescanalsoapplyto
architectur
e,civ
icplanni
ng,andotherrealmsofthe“ buil
t.
”

4
FormoreonI
nter
face,seehtt
p:/
/www.i
nter
facegl
obal
.com/
Sust
ainabi
l
ity
.aspx
5
htt
ps:
//www.
wolf
ordshop.com/C2C.
html

7
Furt
her more,“sust
ainabledesi
gn”isjustoneter
m usedt odescr i
betheuseofsust ai
nabil
i
ty
pri
nciplesi
nt hedesignanddev elopmentofcommer ci
alandindustri
alpr
oducts.Otheroft
en-
usedt ermsincludesustainabl
eengineeri
ng,env
ironmentall
ysust ai
nabl
edesign,eco-desi
gn,
andgr eendesign.Allareessenti
all
ysynonymousf ormostpur poses.

Ther
ear ehoweverseveraltermsrelatedtothi
stopicthathavedisti
nctmeanings.Designer
s
i
nter
estedinsustai
nabil
i
t y
-focusedtoolsandtechniqueswillf
indtheseconceptsusefultoat
l
eastknowabout, i
fnoti
ncor porat
ei nthei
rwork.Formor einf
ormationoneach,seethe
Appendices.

Desi
gnf
orDi
sassembl
y
Sometimesshort
enedtoDf D,t
hisisadesignapproachthatenablestheeasyrecoveryofpar
ts,
components,
andmat eri
alsfr
om productsatt
heendoft hei
rli
fe.Recycl
ingandreusearenoble
i
ntent
ions,
butifaproductcannotbedisassembledcleanlyandeffect
ivelyt
heyareimpossi
ble,
oratl
eastcostpr
ohibit
ivetoachi
eve.

I
fy ou’
dliketolear
nmor eaboutDfD,t
here’sareal
lygreatsetofDesignf
orDisassembl y
6
Guidel
ines(PDF)producedPensar.
com , andasimil
arsetofrulesandcasestudiesforbuil
ding
7
producedbyt heCit
yofSeattl
e( WA,USA)andot her
scal l
edDesignforDi
sassembl yintheBuil
t
8
Envir
onment (PDF).

Desi
gnf
ort
heEnv
ironment
TheU. S.Env i
ronmental
Pr otecti
onAgencycr eatedtheDesi gnfortheEnvi
ronment( DfE)
program in1992t odecreasepol l
uti
onandt hehumanandenv ir
onmentalri
skst hati
tent ai
l
s.It
recognizesconsumerandi ndustri
al&i
nstit
utionalproductsdeemedt obesaf erforhuman
healt
handt heenvir
onmentt hr
oughanev al
uat i
onandpr oductlabeli
ngprogram.Fur t
hermor e,
theprogram def i
nesbestpr act
icesinavari
etyofi ndust
ries,andident
if
iessaferchemi cal
alt
ernatives.

Youcanlear
nmoreatEPA’sDfEwebsit
e,htt
ps:/
/www.
epa.
gov
/saf
erchoi
ce/
desi
gn-
env
ironment
-pr
ogr
ams-i
nit
iat
ives-
and-
proj
ects.

Pr
oductst
ewar
dshi
p
Alsoknownasext endedpr oductresponsibi
li
ty(EPR)
,thisapproachisbasedont hepr i
ncipl
e
thatallthoseinvol
vedinthel i
fecycl
eofapr oductshouldshareresponsi
bil
ityforreducingit
s
envir
onment ali
mpact.Itoftenresul
tsinvoluntar
ypartnershi
psamongmanuf acturer
s, r
etai
l
ers,
government ,andnon-governmentor gani
zationstosetupef f
ecti
vewaste-r
educt i
onsy stems
andpr acti
ces.Foranexampl eofproductStewardshi
pandEPR, youcanv i
sitCanada’s
9
extendedpr oducerresponsibi
li
tywebsite.

6
ht
t ps:
//pensar.com/ design- for-
disassembly /
7
ht
t ps:
//www. l
ifecycl
ebui lding.org/docs/DfDseat t
le.
pdf
8
ht
t ps:
//www. epa.gov /sit
es/ production/
fil
es/2016-
03/document s/design_ for
_ disassembl y_
in_the_built
_env
ironment.
pdf
9
ht
t ps:
//www. canada. ca/en/ environment-cl
imat e-
change/serv
ices/
managi
ng-
reduci
ng-
wast
e/ov
erv
iew-
ext
ended- pr
oducer -
responsi bil
it
y.html

8
Cr
adl
etoCr
adl
e
Will
i
am McDonoughandMi chael Br
aungar tpopular
izedthenotiont hatproductli
fecycles
shouldbeconsiderednotascr adletogr av
e, butascradletocradle.Thekeyi deaher eisthat
ther
ei snosuchthingasa“ grave”attheendofuse, sinceeveryt
hinggoessomewher e.Ast hey
say,ther
eisnosucht hi
ngas“ away.”Giventhat,inordertobesust ainableall
oftheel ementsof
aproductthathasr eachedt heendofi tsusef ull
i
feshoul dbedesignedt ogosomewher ewhere
i
tcanser veastheinputt oanot hersystem, aconceptof t
encharacter i
zedas“ waste=f ood.”
Whileproductdevelopmentpr ocessesmayf ocusoncr adlet
ogat e,cradletograve,orevengate
togateplans,ef
fectiveli
fecycleplanningneedst ofindway stocloseal lpossibl
eloops.

Learnmoreaboutt
heconceptf
rom McDonoughandBraungart
’scoauthor
edbookCradl
eto
Cradl
e:Remakingt
heWayWeMakeThi ngs(amazonli
nk),andfrom t
hededicat
edC2Cpageon
thei
rfor
-pr
ofi
tcompany
’swebsi
te.

Bi
omi
micr
y
Naturehasspentmi l
l
ionsofy earsdev el
opi ngsomev eryinter
estingandef fectivesoluti
onstoa
wider angeofdesignchal l
enges.Bi omi micryis“ theimi tationofnatur albiologicaldesignsor
10
processesinengineeringori nventi
on.” Suchi nspirationcomesi ntwof orms, aseither
“chall
engetobi ol
ogy”or“ biol
ogyt ochal l
enge. ”Int hef i
rstcase, adesi gnchal l
engeexi stsand
designerssearchnaturef orpotentialsolutions.Thesecondcaseent ailsstarti
ngwi than
i
nterestingbiol
ogicalpropertythatresear chersorsci entistsatt
emptt oappl ymor ebroadlyor
commer ci
ali
ze.Notethatj ustbecauseasol ut
ioni sbasedonnat uredoesn’ tmeant hatit’
s
i
nher entl
yhealt
hyorsust ainable.Forinst ance,nat urehascr eatedplent yoft oxicsubstances
thatcouldbeext r
emel yhar mfulifmisappl i
ed.

Readmoreaboutt
hisscience, andthewor kofsome“ bi
omi
mics”,
bypicki
ngupacopyof
Jani
neBenyus’
bookBiomi micry:Innovat
ionInspi
redbyNat
ure(amazonli
nk)orbyv
isi
ti
ngt
he
websi
teoft
henot-
for-
profitBiomimi cr
yInsti
tut
e.

Gr
eenchemi
str
y
Greenchemist
ryfocusesonr
educi
ngt hegenerationanduseofhazardouschemi
cal
s,
decreasi
ngpol
lut
ionatit
ssour
ce.Paul AnastasandJohnWar nerpubl
ishedt
he12Pri
nci
plesof
11
GreenChemist
ryin1998andsetoutthef ol
lowingdesi
gngoal:

Chemicalpr
oduct
sandprocessesshoul
dbedesi
gnedt
othehi
ghestl
evel
oft
hishi
erar
chyand
becost-
competi
ti
vei
nthemar ket
.

1.Sour
ceReduct
ion/
Prev
ent
ionofChemi
cal
Hazar
ds

2.ReuseorRecy
cleChemi
cal
s

3.Tr
eatChemi
cal
stoRenderThem LessHazar
dous

4.Di
sposeofChemi
cal
sPr
oper
ly

Lear
nmor
eaboutGr
eenChemi
str
ybyr
eadi
ngAnast
asandWar
ner
’scoaut
hor
edbook,
Green

10
ht
tps:
//www.
merri
am-webst
er.
com/ di
cti
onar
y/bi
omi
micry
11
Gr
eenChemist
ry:
TheoryandPract
ice,Oxf
ordUni
ver
sit
yPress(
1998)

9
Chemist
ry:
Theor
yandPract
ice(amazonl
ink),
orbyvisi
ti
ngt
hewebsit
eofDr
.War
ner
’sf
or-
pr
ofi
tcompany,t
heWarnerBabcockI
nsti
tut
eforGreenChemist
ry.

Gr
eenmar
ket
ing
Manycompani esf i
ndt hatpromot i
ngtheenvironmental responsibil
i
ty,
orevenj ustthebenefits,
oftheirproductscanbeapower fulmarketi
ngangle.Tout ingthe“ gr
een”aspectsofexi sti
ng
products,processes,orsy stemshasbecomeal mostt hest andardinmanyindust ri
es.Some
compani es’messagesact uall
youtstri
pthei
rreali
ty,
leadingt owhati sgener
all
ycal led
“greenwashing.”Aswi llbediscussedlateri
ntheguide, therearenowqui testr
ictgui del
ines
i
ssuedbyt heFeder alTradeCommi ssi
onaboutmaki ng“ green”claims.Whent alki
ngwi thsales
andmar ketingpeopl eintheircompany ,pr
oductdesigner swillf
indithel
pfult
oknowwhat
benefit
soft heirsustainabl
edesignandengi neeri
ngef fortscanbecl ai
medpubl i
cly
.

Learnmor eaboutGreenMarketi
ngbyv i
ewingt
hisshor
tv ideoont hetopi
cproducedfor
12
Sustai
nableLifeMedia’
sSustai
nabl
eBrandsBootCamp , orvi
ewt heFTC’sGreenGuidesand
rel
atedresourcesathtt
ps:
//www.ft
c.gov/
news-
events/
medi a-
resour
ces/t
rut
h-adver
ti
sing/
green
-gui
des.

Chapt
er3:
Maki
ngTheor
yMat
ter-I
nit
ial
Anal
ysi
sDeci
sions
Youri
nfl
uencei
scr
it
ical
Inthemi dstoft hemy r
iadsust ainabil
itytools,t
echni ques, global andl ocalacti
v i
ti
es,and
corporateinit
iati
v est hepr oductdesi gnerpl ay
sakeyr ole.Thisper sonhasani mpactinthe
pivotalstagewher edeci sionsar emadeaboutwhati nput sar eneeded, howt heymustbe
processed, whatt hepr oduct ’
sl i
fecyclelooksl i
ke, andwhati tsendofl if
elooksl i
ke.Engineeri
ng
forsustainabil
it
year l
yi nt hedesignpr ocesscr eatesat rajector
yt hatcanl ocki nthebenefit
s
from thebeginning, wher easleav i
ngenv ironment al i
mpactconsi derat i
onsf orlat
erstages
createscost l
yclean- upandaccommodat ionef f
orts.Fori nstance, apr oductdesi gnedforeasy
disassembl yrequi r
esmuchl essef forttoconv ertintor ecyclableandr eusablecomponent sthan
onedesi gnedasasi nglemodul erequi r
ingener gy-intensiveend- of-l
i
fepr ocessing.The
foll
owinggr aphr eflectst headv antagesofmaki ngsust ainabili
tyapr iorit
yasear lyinthedesign
13
processaspossi ble.

12
ht
tps:
//go.
sustai
nabl
ebrands.
com/r
esour
ces-
sb-
boot
camp
13
Desi
gn+Env i
ronment:AGlobalGui
detoDesi
gni
ngGreenerGoods,
Greenl
eafPubl
i
cat
ions(
2001)
,p.14

10
Ther eareobv iouslymanydeci si
onsaf fecti
ngsust ainabili
tyov erwhichdesi gnengi neershav e
l
itt
leornoi nf l
uence.Fori nstance, i
t’
susual lynotsolelyupt ot hedesi gnerwher eacomponent
i
smanuf actured, whattranspor t
at ionmodeswi l
lbeusedt odel i
veritt ocust omer s,what
mat eri
alssuppl i
ersuse, andsoon.Ev enso, whatengi neerscandot oi nf l
uenceapr oduct ’
s
environment alimpacthasf ar-
reachi ngimpl icati
ons.Inhi sbookTheTot alBeautyofSust ainable
Product s,Edwi nDat schefski writes,“Designi sthekeyi nterventi
onpoi ntformaki ngradical
i
mpr ovement sintheenv ironment alperformanceofpr oducts.A1999sur veybyAr t
hurD.Li ttle
revealedt hat55percentofseni orexecut ivesinindust r
ysingledoutdesi gnast hemost
14
i
mpor t
antmechani sm fort hei
rcompani estot ackl
esust ainabili
ty.
” Al ongwi thinfluencingt he
productdev elopmentpr ocess, itisof tenthedesi gner’
si dentif
icati
onofamor eresponsible
choicet hatcancausechangesi not herareast owardscr eatingamor esust ainablecompany
overall.

Asust
ainabl
edesi
gnchal
l
enge
Let
’sst
artof
fwithanexampl
e—somethi
ngy oucanl
ookatf
rom al
langl
es,
atl
eastv
irt
ual
l
y.
We’l
lal
soint
roduceachar
act
ertochampionthi
sexampl
e.

Ourfi
rstpr
otagonistisaproducerofpaperandpl
ast
icpr
oduct
sfort
hepubl
i
c,whosenamei
s
Pri
sci
ll
a.Herstoryil
lust
rat
esmanyoft heconcept
swe’l
lbeupagai
nst.

Pr
isci
l
lawast
askedwi
thaseemi
ngl
yst
rai
ght
for
war
dquest
ion:
Howcanwemakeourdi
sposabl
edr
inki
ngcupsgr
eener
?
Pri
sci
ll
a’sf
ir
stthought
,especi
all
ygivenherbackgroundasapolymerengi
neer
,wasthatthi
s
wasgoingtobeagamet of i
ndtheleast
-i
mpactfulplast
icpol
ymerwit
hthedesi
redpropert
ies…
butwe’
regett
ingaheadofoursel
ves.
Fi
rst
,her
e’sapi
ctur
eoft
hecupi
nquest
iont
hatPr
isci
l
lawasst
art
ingwi
th:

14
TheTot
alBeaut
yofSust
ainabl
ePr
oduct
s-Edwi
nDat
schef
ski
,Rot
oVi
sonSA,
Swi
tzer
land,
2001

11
I
fyou’
reaSOLIDWORKSuser
,youcant herequi
redfi
lesher
e
(
htt
ps:
//f
il
es.
soli
dwor
ks.
com/sust
ainabil
it
y/Gui
de_cup_f
il
es.
zip)

Now,l
et’
sgetdowni
ntothedet
ail
sofwhatenvi
ronmental
impactassessmentl
ooksli
ke.We’
l
l
seet
hatexamini
ngt
heenvir
onmental
impact
softhiscupwasanythi
ngbutsimple.

Env
ironment
alI
mpactAssessmentTool
s&Techni
ques
Sust
ainabl
edesi
gni
srel
ati
ve
Fir
st,you’
ll
noti
cewesai dwewant edagr
eenerdri
nkingcup.Thereisnosucht hingasa
“sust
ainabl
e”or“gr
een”product,
onlyamoresustai
nableorgreenerone.Infact,
agr een
productisonethat
’snevermade--themostsust
ainabl
esoluti
onistoav oi
dmaki ng
unnecessaryi
temsaltogether
.

WhenPr isci
ll
alearnedthe“ Sustainabledesignisrelat
ive”concept ,shest oppedt othi
nkabout
herproduct.Wer edi
sposabl edr i
nkingcupsr eall
ynecessar y?Shouldn’tPr i
scil
labeencouragi
ng
herconsumer stouser eusablecupsi nstead?Thatwasf i
nei ntheor y,butreusablesweremade
i
nanot herdivi
sionandinanot hercountry.So,thoughtPriscil
la,l
et’
st r
yt omaket hebest
di
sposabl edri
nkingcupwecan, andrevisitthedeeperproductr edesignlater.Af t
eral
l,
evenif
Pri
scil
lasucceededi nencour aginghercust omerstobuyr eusables,t
heywer en’tgoi
ngtostop
buyi
ngdi sposablecupsov ernight.
Fort
hosepr oductsthatwe’vedecidedarenecessar
y,ever
ythinghasimpactsofsomesort
.The
basi
cpur poseofsustainabl
edesignistofindwaystoreducet hosei
mpacts,andbydoi
ngso
fi
ndamor esust
ainablesolut
ion.Thissect
iondescr
ibesway stodeter
minewhat“more
sust
ainable”l
ookedlikeforPrisci
l
la.

WhatAm ICompar
ing?
Pr
isci
l
la’
snextt
houghtwas:“
mor
esust
ainabl
ethanwhat
?”
Desi
gnerswhowanttodecreaseapr oduct’
senvi
ronmentalimpactneedtohavesomewayof
eval
uat
ingwhatdif
fer
encethei
rchoicesmake.Theonlywayt oeval
uatewhetheradesignis
moresustai
nablei
stoseehowitsimpact scomparewit
hot heropti
ons,suchasanalternat
ive
desi
gn,aprevi
ousver
sion,
abenchmar k,oranimpactgoal.

12
Throughoutt hisguide,theterm producthasbeenusedt odescri
betheobjectofthedesi
gner’s
work.Wheni tcomest odet ermi
ningenv i
ronment al
impact,it
’si
mpor t
anttospecifyaunitof
analysis.Rel
ativecompar isonsonlywor kift
hereisacommonbasi s.Insomecasest hi
smi ght
bequi t
est r
aightforward,suchaswheni t
’stwogener at
ionsofthesamedesi gnorwhenf aced
wit
hasi mplemat er
ialsubsti
tut
ion.Howev er,
inmostr edesi
gnoppor t
unit
ies,i
t’
snecessaryto
specifyacommon“ productunit”fortheanalysi
s.

Anof t
en-usedwayofhandl i
ngt hisi
stoidenti
fyaf unctionalunit.I
nsteadoflookingatapr oduct
asani t
em, i
tcanbeseenasawayf oracertainfuncti
ont obeper formed.Inordertocompar e
twodifferentproductsy stems, i
t’
snecessarytochooseameasur eofthefunctionofthe
systemst hatisconsistentbet weenthetwo.Forinstance, foracof feemakeritmi ghtbecups
brewed, f
orlaundrydeter gentitcoul
dbewashi ngcy cles,forpaintitcouldbesur f
aceprotecti
on
overti
me.Thi sway ,i
t’spossi bletoassesstheimpactofv ariousway stoperform aspeci
fic
functi
on,wi t
houtbeingconst rainedbydiff
erencesint hef ormsoft hedesigns.

“Wel l
,that’
seasy ,
”thoughtPriscil
l
a.“Mycup’spur poseistoholdli
quid.”Butwhenshet hought
aboutal ltheproductsdesignedt oholdli
qui
d--det er
gentbottl
es,sodacans, mopbucket s--
Priscil
lareali
zedshehadt onar rowdownt hi
spur poset odef
inethef uncti
onaluni t
.Shedecided
thathercup’ sfuncti
onalunitwassi xt
eenouncesorabout500mLof( cool)li
quidthatcouldbe
pour edinorout —orevenbet t
er,1600ounces, equali
ngthevolumeofapackof100cups.Now
shecoul dcompar eherbagofcupswi thal
ltheotherproductsimaginablet hatcouldholdthi
s
amountofcooll iqui
d(andpouri tinandout)andf indthemostsust ainabl
eopt ion.

WhatAm IMeasur
ing?TheThr
eeChoi
cesofEnv
ironment
alAssessment
Productsustai
nabili
tyi
snotonlyrel
ati
ve,i
t’
smulti
dimensional.Thereisnosingle,uni
versal
i
ndicatorofsustai
nabil
it
y(no,notevencar
bon).Theappropriateimpactmet r
icsand
di
mensi onsonwhi chproduct
sarecompar edcandif
fersi
gni f
icantl
y,dependi
ngont hepur pose
oftheev al
uati
on.I
mpactmeasur ementcreatest
hekeydashboar dforsustai
nabledesign,so
i
t’
si mpor t
antt
ochooseanassessmentappr oachthatwil
l generateinf
ormationconsistentwit
h
i
tsintendeduse.

Theappropr
iat
etechni
queforev
aluat
ingtheenv
ironment
ali
mpactofadesi
gndependsont
he
answer
st ot
hefoll
owingt
hreequesti
ons:

1. Whatimpact
sdoy
oucar
eabout
?Doest
oxi
cit
ymat
ter
?Wat
eruse?Onl
yCO2
equi
val
ent
s?

2. Whatisthescopeoftheassessment?Howf arupanddownthesuppl
ychaindoesit
go?Howmuchoft heproduct’
sli
fecy
cleshouldi
tref
lect
?Whati
stheunitofanal
ysi
s
fort
heassessment?I
sitforacomponent,anassembly,
apr
oduct,asy
stem?

3. Whattypesofmetr
icsareappr
opr
iat
efory
ourpur
poses?Whatwi l
ltheassessment
i
nfor
mat i
onbeusedfor
,andbywhom?Isri
gor
ousdet
ailnecessar
y,ori
sa“ r
oughidea”
goodenough?

Thefoll
owingf
igur
elaysoutthesechoi
cesgraphi
cal
ly,usi
ngexamplesofsomeoft heimpact
s,
scopeelement
s,andmetri
csthatmightbeused.Thesectionst
hatfol
lowwill
explor
eeachof
theseel
ementsinmoredepthandgiveexamplesofthekindsofassessmenttechni
ques

13
appr
opr
iat
eateachl
evel
.

“Thisisprett
yint
ense,
”thoughtPr
isci
l
la.“I
’m goi
ngt
ocal
lupmyfriendTom andtal
ktohim
aboutsust ai
nabl
eengi
neeringandmyl i
tt
lecup.May
beTom hasbeenthrought
hisprocess
before.”
Asl
uckwouldhaveit
, Tom wasgoingthr
oughani denti
calexer
cisewi
thapr
oductofhisown.
Tom i
sat
inkereroft
inytoysfort
otsandtoddler
s,andnowhewast oyi
ngwi
ththeideaof
maki
ngagreenerhol
idaygiftf
orhisweecustomer s.
Her
e’st
het
oyt
hatTom showedPr
isci
l
la:
Downloadthemodelt
oplayal
ongwi t
hthi
sexampl
e
(ht
tps:
//f
il
es.
sol
i
dworks.
com/sust
ainabi
li
ty/
Gui
de_
fir
e_engi
ne.
zip)
.

14
“I
t’
sapret
tysimpl
etoy,
”Tom t
oldPri
scil
la.“
Thechil
dpushesi
taround,andatt
hepushofthe
butt
on,
theli
ghtsf
lashandt
hesirensounds.Theycanal
sopul
lthefi
remanoutofthet
ruck.
”
“Ihadtothinkforawhi l
eaboutthefuncti
onaluni
tthatIwasusi ngforenvir
onment al
compar i
sons,”conti
nuedTom.“ Af
terall
,thi
stoyisclearl
ymor eimpactf
ulthanot hertoy s—say,
somesi mpleplasti
cblocksofsimil
arsize.Aft
erall
,myt oyusesabat t
ery.ButI’
venot icedthat
myownki dswillpl
aywithatoyalotlongerifi
tdoessomet hing—li
kehavingflashinglights.SoI
decidedthatmyf uncti
onaluni
twasachi ldr
en’
stoywi thint
eract
ivecomponent s,whichcanbe
playedwithont hefl
oor.Somyquest i
onis:
“
HowcanImakeagr
eenerchi
l
dren’
stoy
?
“
I’
m atthest
agenowwher
eI’
m maki
ngmyt
hreemeasur
ementchoi
ces,
”Tom f
ini
shed.Per
fect
,
t
houghtPri
sci
ll
a.

Choi
ce1:
Env
ironment
alI
ndi
cat
ors
Thereareawi der angeofenv ironment al
impactst hatcanbeassessed.Howev er,it
'snotalways
necessarytotrytocov ermany ,orev ensome, ofthesei mpactsifyou'r
emai nl
yinterestedi
none
i
mpactmeasur e,orenv i
ronment ali
ndicator
.Forinst ance,ther
e'salotofatt
entionon
greenhousegas( GHG)emi ssionst heseday s,duet otheirassociat
ionwit
hcl i
matechange.I f
thecarbonfootprintresulti
ngfrom t heseemi ssi
onsi stheonl yimpactyourorganizati
onory our
customersaref ocusedon, itwoul dbeunnecessar ytospendt imeassessingimpact sonsuch
thi
ngsasai rquali
tyorhumant oxici
ty ;
measur i
ngy ourpr oduct'
scarbonfootpri
ntwoul dsuffi
ce.
So,steponeist odetermi newhi chimpact sshouldbemeasur edbasedont hepurposeoft he
assessmentandhowi tsdatawi llbeused.

15
Fi
veCat
egori
esofI
mpact
Howtochooseamongt
hedozensofdif
fer
enttypesofenvi
ronment
ali
mpacts?We'l
lst
artwi
th
gr
oupi
ngsomecommonlyusedenvi
ronmental
impactcategori
esi
ntof
ivemajordomai
ns:

1.nat
ural
resour
cedepl
eti
on,

2.ai
rimpact
s,

3.t
err
est
ri
al&aquat
ici
mpact
s,

4.cl
i
mat
eef
fect
s,and
1516
5.humanheal
th.

Thissect
ionwi
ll
descri
bet
hesedi
ff
erentenv
ironment
alef
fect
sthatPr
isci
l
laandTom can
choosetomeasure.

Nat ur
alResour
ceDeplet
ion
Thisfir
stdomainrefl
ect
sthemanywayshumanact
ivi
tyusesuptheEart
h'snat
uralr
esources.
"Depleti
on"meansthatt
hoser
esour
cesarenol
ongeravai
labl
eforf
urt
heruseinthei
rhighest-
valueforms.

Wat
erUse

15
Jol
li
et,O.,
Mar gni,M.,Charles,
R.,Humbert
,S.,Payet,
J.,
Rebi t
zer,G.andRosenbaum, R.,2003.IMPACT
2002+:ANewLi f eCy cl
eI mpactAssessmentMet hodol
ogy.IntJLCA8( 6),324-
330.Art
icl
e
16
Adaptedfrom "Lif
eCy cleAssessment:Pr
incipl
esandPr acti
ce,"Sci
entif
icAppli
cati
onsInternat
ional
Corporati
on,EPA/ 600/R-06/060(May2006),pg.49.

16
Awat er"
footprint"pr
imar i
lyreferstot heamountoff r
eshwat erbeingusedorconsumedwhi ch
thenmustbepr ocessedbackt oitsfreshst ate(waterquali
tyi
ssuesar ecov er
edbyot her
i
mpactcat egories).Waterist heonlyr esourcethatisbothrenewabl eandfinit
e.Allofthewater
thatwasev eronEar thisstil
lonEar th, butthebreakdownofi t
slocat i
on,physi
calstate(water,
vapororice),andsalinit
ycanl i
mitit
susef ul
nessasar esource.Infact,af
teroil
,manypeopl e
beli
evethatwat erwillbecomet heresour cewiththemosthi ghl
yv aluedaccessrights,whi
ch
hassignif
icantsocialandenv i
ronment al-j
usti
ceimpl i
cati
ons.

Mi
ner
alExt
ract
ion

Mineral
deposit
scan'tberenewed.Onceamineraldeposi
t(l
i
keironore)i
smi ned,i
tdoesn'
t
ret
urntotheeart
hasor e,nomatterhowmuchit'
sreusedorrecy
cled.Ther
e'sonlyafi
nit
e
amountofeachmi neral
,soanyusednowwillnotbe
avai
labl
eforfut
uregenerati
onstomi ne.

LandOccupat
ion/
Use

Landcan'tbedepl eted,r
eal
ly(
gr oundpol l
uti
oniscovered
l
ater
),butsinceagi venacrecanonl ybeusedf oralimited
numberofpur poses,l
andscarcitycanbear eali
ssue.
Landcanal sobecomeunusabl e,oratleastl
essvaluable,
duetophy sicalchangessuchaser osion.

Adecreaseinav
ail
ablelandcani
mpactawi dev
ariet
yof
syst
ems, i
ncl
udi
ngagricul
tur
e,ci
vi
li
zat
ion,
andbiodiv
ersi
ty–t
heamountandv
ari
etyofl
i
fet
hat
thel
andcansupport.

Non-
Renewabl
eEner
gy

Whi l
etherear eavari
etyofnon- r
enewabl enat
ural resour
cesusedf orenergy,t
heonest hat
usuall
ygett hemostat tenti
onareoi l
,coal,
andnat uralgas.Thisnon-r
enewableener gyimpact
i
ncludest heenergy(electr
ici
tyorfuels)usedduringt heproduct'
smanuf act
ureanduse, and
canev engoonest epf urt
hertoincludetheupstream ener gyrequi
redtoobtainandpr ocesst he
energyconsumedi ntheproduct'sli
fecycl
e.Ef
ficienciesinenergyconversi
on(e.g.power ,heat,
steam, et
c.)canalsobef actoredin.Thenon-r
enewabl eenergydemandcanal soi ncl
udea
measur eoft heembodi edenergyoft hemater
ials—t hati
s,theenergythatwouldber eleasedif
theproductwer eburned.

AirImpacts
TheEar t
hiswrappedinalayerofgasesmixedinproport
ionsnecessar
ytosustainl
if
eont he
planet
.Therearesever
alway shumansaff
ectthoseproporti
ons,wit
hfar-
reachi
ngresul
ts.
(Eff
ectstothecli
mateareincludedi
naseparat
edomai n.
)

Ai
rAci
dif
icat
ion

Burni
ngfuelscreatessul
furdioxide,nit
rousoxi
des,hydrofl
our
icacid,
ammoni a,andot heraci
dic
ai
remissions.Thiscausesani ncreaseintheaci
dit
yofr ai
nwater,
whichi nt
urnacidif
ieslakes
andsoil
.Theseaci dscanmaket helandandwatertoxicforpl
antsandaquat i
cli
fe,andcan
l
eachlif
e-sust
aini
ngmi neral
sf rom thesoil
.Aci
drai
ncanal soslowlydissol
vemanmade

17
bui
l
dingmat
eri
als,
suchasconcr
ete—ort
hesest
atuesseenher
e.

Phot
ochemi
calOxi
dat
ion

Mostpeopleareveryfami
li
arwiththisi
mpact -
-especi
all
ywhenit'
scall
edbyitscommonname
of"smog."Causedbytheemissionofairpol
lutantssuchasnon-methanehy
drocarbons,t
his
eff
ectresul
tsindecr
easedvisi
bil
it
y,eyeir
ri
tati
on,respi
rat
oryt
ractandlungi
rri
tat
ion,and
veget
ationdamage.

OzoneLay
erDepl
eti
on

Notlongago, t
heholesgr owingintheozonel ay erweret het openvironmentalconcern.Whil
e
quickact
ionhassl owed,andi nsomecasesr eversed,thedamage, ozonelayerdeplet
ioni
sstil
l
aconcern.Causedpr imari
lybytheemi ssi
onofchl orof
luor ocarbons( CFCs),
hydrochl
orof
luorocarbons(HCFCs) ,halons,andmet hylbr omi de(CH3Br )
,thethi
nningofthe
atmosphere'
sozonel ayerall
owsi ncreasedultraviol
etradiationtoreacht heearth.Thi
sradi
ati
on
cancausecanceri nanimalsanddecr easedplantandal gaev i
abil
it
y.

Ter
rest
ri
al&Aquat
icI
mpacts
Sev
eralt
ypesofi
mpactsdi
rect
lyaf
fectl
andandwat
erqual
i
ty.

Wat
erEut
rophi
cat
ion

Eutr
ophicat
ionoccurswhenanov erabundanceofplantnutr
ient
sar eaddedt oawater
ecosystem.Nitr
ogenandphosphor ousf r
om wastewaterandagricult
uralf
ertil
i
zerscausesan
al
galbloom (expl
osi
vegr owthofalgae),whicht
hendepletesthewat erofdissolv
edoxygen—a
si
tuati
onknownashy poxia-
-r
esul
tinginthesuff
ocationofaquati
cl i
fe.

Aquat
icEcot
oxi
cit
y

Whil
eeut r
ophi
cati
onoccursduet oanexcessofnutri
ent
s, ecotoxi
cityresul
tsf
rom thepresence
ofpoisonsint
hewater.Thi
sisgenerall
ycausedbychemical sbeingdumpedorseepi nginto
l
akesandr i
ver
s.Itr
esult
sindecreasedaquati
cplantandinsectpr oducti
onandbiodiv
ersit
y,as
well
asi mpact
ingwaterdri
nkabi
l
ity.

Ter
rest
ri
alEcot
oxi
cit
y

Toxinspr esenti
nsoilcausedecr
easesinwil
dli
feandplantproduct
ionandbiodi
versi
ty.Whil
e
someoft hesetoxi
nsmaybei ntr
oducedfr
om airborneoraquati
csources,
manyar etheresul
t
ofdirecthumanappl i
cati
onorthroughl
eachi
ngf rom i
ndustr
ial
processesorwaste
accumul ati
ons

Cli
mateEf f
ects
Theglobalcli
matei
stheresultofmyri
adint
eracti
ngsy stems.I
nmanyway salloftheother
i
mpact shavesomeinfl
uenceov ert
hecli
mate.Howev er,onecl
imateeff
ecti
npar t
icul
arhas
beenidenti
fi
edasakeyfactorinshapi
ngthefutur
eofl if
eonEarth.Cl
imatechange,someti
mes
cal
ledglobalwarmi
ng,i
soneoft hemostcommonl yident i
fi
edi
mpactsofinter
est.

Cl
imat
eChange/
GlobalWar
ming

Car
bondi
oxi
de(
CO2)
,met
hane(
CH4)
,andot
herso-
cal
l
edgr
eenhousegasesr
esul
ti
ngf
rom

18
burningfossilf
uelsaccumul atei ntheatmosphere,tr
appingsol
arheatwhi chi
nturnincreases
theear t
h'saver
aget emperatur e.Aproduct'
sclimatechangeimpactisoftenref
err
edt oasi t
s
"carbonfootpri
nt"becausegl obal warmingpotenti
alisusual
lymeasuredinunit
sofcar bon
dioxideequival
ent(CO2e).Itiswi delyunderst
oodthatglobalwarmingisthecauseofsuch
problemsasl ossofglacier
s, extincti
onofspecies,soil
moistur
eloss,changesinwindand
oceanpat ter
ns,andmor eext remeweat her
,amongot hers.

HumanHealt
h
Whil
etheot
heri
mpactdomai
nsaff
ecthumansinmanyways,
theyfocusont
heEar
th'
s
bi
ospher
easawhol
e.Thisgr
oupofimpactcat
egor
iesi
shuman-
centri
c.

HumanToxi
cit
y

Toxi
cchemi calsr
eleasedtotheair
,water,
andsoi l
enterthehumanbodyt hroughbr eathi
ng,
i
ngesti
on,andt hr
ought heski
n.Whethercancer
-causingagents(carci
nogens),substancest
hat
cancausebirthdefect
s( t
erat
ogens),
orotherpathogens,thenetresul
tisanincreased
l
ikel
i
hoodofhumansi cknessandothernegati
vehealtheffect
s.

Respi
rat
oryI
nor
gani
cs

Manyorganiccausesofr espi
rat
orypr obl
emsar ecov er
edbysomeoft hegeneralenv
ironmental
i
mpactsalreadycovered(e.g.
,photochemicaloxidati
on).Respi
rat
oryinorgani
csareparticul
ate
matt
er,
oftenr esul
ti
ngfrom theburningoffossi
l fuel
semi t
ti
ngsulphateandnitr
ateaerosols.
Thi
sparti
culatemattercausesbreathingdif
fi
cult
ies.

I
oni
zingRadi
ati
on

I
oni zi
ngradi
ati
oniswhatmostpeoplearethi
nkingofwhentheytalkaboutradi
ati
onexposure.I
t
i
sr adiat
iont
hathasenoughenergyt
oionizeatomsormolecules.Exposur
ecandamagel iv
ing
t
issue, r
esul
ti
ngincancer
,radi
ati
onsi
ckness,mutati
on,
andev endeath.

Theimpactcat egori
esdescr i
bedabov erepr esentmostofthemajoronest hatyouarelikelyto
comeacr oss,alt
houghoccasi onall
ywi t
hdi ff
erentnamesorclassi
fi
cations.Whileal
l mayseem
i
mpor t
ant,eachoner equi
resdat acol
lectionandr epor
ti
ng,whi
chmayormaynotbef easibl
e
gi
venthet i
meandi nt
enti
onoft hesustainabil
it
yassessment.Ther
ear etrade-of
fsinthev alue
ofincl
udingabr oadrangev ersusjustfocusingononeort wo,adif
ferencet hatmult
ipli
es
dependingonhowmanyst agesoft helif
ecy cl
ef al
lwit
hint
heassessment '
sscope.

Choi
ce2:
Scope
Thesecondmaj orconsi
der
ati
oninassessingthesust
ainabi
l
ityofapr
oductisthescopeof
anal
ysi
s.Forproducts,t
hescopei
susuallydescri
bedbyhowmuchofi tsl
if
ecyclei
sincl
udedi
n
i
tsimpactassessment.

19
Li
fecy
cleStages
Aswithimpactcategori
es,t
her
eisnotasi
ngl
estandar
dsetofli
fecycl
estages,al
thoughther
e
ar
ecertai
nlysomet hataremostcommonl
yused.I
ngener
al,t
hef ul
lli
fecy
cleofaproductcan
bemeasuredinfiv
et osevenst
ages:

RawMat
eri
alExt
ract
ion

Thisincl
udestheenergyandotherresourcesusedtoacquir
ethebasicmater
ial
susedinthe
product,
whetherthr
oughmi ni
ngore,harvesti
ngtimber,
extr
acti
ngoil
,et
c.Thi
sstagecan
i
ncludeharvesti
ngmat er
ial
sfr
om recycledsourcesi
ftheyarei
nt hef
orm ofr
awmat er
ial
s.

“
Mycupi
spl
ast
ic,
soi
tst
art
swi
thoi
lext
ract
ion,
”sai
dPr
isci
l
la.

“
Alotofmytoydoes,t
oo,
”repl
i
edTom.“
Buti
tal
sohassomemet
alcomponent
s,sot
hatwoul
d
i
ncl
udemini
ngtheore.
”

Mat
eri
alPr
ocessi
ng

Rawmat er
ial
sareconv
ert
edintoformsusedformanufact
uri
ngduringthi
sstage.Itcoverst
he
processesrequi
redtomakesteel
,copper
,pl
asti
cfeedst
ock,paper
,gasoli
ne,
andt helike.

“OK,sotheoilf
orourplast
icsi
sthenref
inedintothev
arioushydr
ocarbonf
ract
ionst
omaket
he
dif
fer
entplast
icresi
ns,
”saidPr
isci
ll
a,i
dlysketchi
ngadisti
ll
ati
oncol
umn.

“
Andtheoresar
erefi
nedi
ntometal
sbymel
ti
ngorbur
ningof
fimpur
it
ies,
”addedTom,
wonder
ingwhyPri
sci
ll
awassket
chi
ngamissi
lesi
l
o.

Par
tManuf
act
uri
ng

Thisstagecoverssi
ngle,oratl
eastsi
mpl
e,par
tmanuf
actur
ing.Commonpr
ocessesi
ncl
ude
i
nject
ionmol di
ng,metalstampi
ngandmachini
ng,
weavi
ng,andmi l
l
ing.

“
Mycupi smadef
rom PETpl
asti
c—pol
yet
hyl
enet
erepht
hal
ate.Thi
siswher
ethePETi
s
i
nject
ion-
mol
dedi
ntoacupshape.
”

20
“Theplasticthatmakesupmostofmyt oyismolded,too,butfr
om ABSpl
asti
c.Thesir
ensound
comesf rom al i
ttl
espeakercomponentthatIpur
chase;I’
m notsur
ewhat’
sinit
,butI
’m sur
e
ther
e’sal otofcopper,soI’
llj
ustmodeli
tasacopperpar t.Thespr
ingi
smadeofast eel
all
oy—probabl yregul
arcarbonsteel
.”

Assembl
y

I
nmanycases, productsneedt obeassembledusingprocessesthatgobey ondthecr
eati
onof
i
ndivi
dualcomponents.Becauset hi
sisusual
lythefi
rststagethatbr
ingstogetheradi
spar
ate
assort
mentofmat eri
als(
e.g.,
apl ast
ichandl
eandamet alcontai
ner
),env
ironmentali
mpact
assessmentssi
gnifi
cantl
yincreaseincomplexi
ty.

“
Idon’
treall
yhav
eanyassembl
yst
eps,
”sai
dPr
isci
l
la,
“si
ncemycupi
smol
dedi
nasi
ngl
epass
f
rom asingl
emater
ial
.”

“Idohav
esomeassembl
ysteps,
butmostofthepar
tsj
ustsnapt
oget
her
.Andofcour
se,
the
batt
eryi
swi
reduptot
hesir
enandthel
ight
s.”

Pr
oductUse

Anyenergyused,emissionsgenerat
ed,ot
herresour
cesaff
ect
eddir
ectl
ybytheproductduri
ng
i
tsactualusearecountedduringthi
sphase.Thisi
ncl
udeswastet
hatoccur
sinthecontextofa
pr
oduct’suse,suchasdiscardedpackagi
ng.

“Mypr oducti
spower
edbyaper
sonpi
cki
ngi
tupanddr
inki
ngf
rom i
t!
”laughedPr
isci
l
la.“
No
productimpactst
her
e.”

“
Minei
sn’t
,”Tom si
ghed.“
IguessI
’l
ltakeahitforitusi
ngener
gyf
rom t
hebat
ter
y.Butar
en’
t
mosti
nter
acti
vetoysl
iket
hisonebatter
y-powered?”

EndofLi
fe

Onceapr oductisnolongerused, i
thasreachedi
tsendofli
fe.Thisusuall
ymeansthatthe
productisnolongerusabl
e,althoughtherearemanyexamplesofendofl i
fecomingbefor
eend
ofusabil
ity(
e.g.
,papercups).Thisstageisusual
l
ybrokendowni ntothr
eeresul
ti
ngstreams:
thefract
ionofaproductbeingsentt olandf
il
l,
toi
nci
nerat
ion,andtoreuseorrecycl
i
ng.

Pri
scil
l
aknewthatr
ecy
cli
ngwasabi gi
ssueforherPETplast
iccup.“
Iguesst
herecycl
ingr
ate
dependsonwheret
heproduct
’sbei
ngused,
”shesaid.“
I’
ll
betit
’shi
gheri
nEuropethanint
he
US.”

“
I’
m notsosur
eaboutt
hat,
”Tom sai
d.“Werecycl
eal otofourst
eelsandal
uminumsi ntheUS,
i
fnotasmuchofourpl
asti
cs.Wealsolandf
il
lmoreoft her
estofthemater
ial
s,r
atherthan
i
nci
nerat
ethem,whi
chtheyfav
orabitmoreinEurope.”

Tr
anspor
tat
ion

Transport
ationisnottypi
cal
lygivenasali
fecycl
estage,si
ncetransportat
ionlegsactual
lyoccur
betweeneachoft hel
if
ecycl
estages,buti
t’sani
mpor t
antconsiderati
ontoaccountforinthe
product’
sli
fecycleimpact
s.Transport
ati
oncanbei ncl
udedamongt hestagesaccordingto
whereittakesplace(e.
g.,t
heshippingofrawmat er
ial
stoprocessingcenterscoul
dbe

21
consideredapi eceoftheprocessingstage)
.Insomecases,tr
anspor t
ati
onmayappearasa
separatel i
fecyclecomponent ,
especiall
ybetweenAssemblyandPr oductUsef orconsumer
products, si
ncet herearet
ypicall
yseveralst
opsalongtheway(e.g.
, wholesal
er,ret
ail
er,
deliv
ery).Nomat terhowit
’shandled,iti
simportantt
omakesur ethattransportati
ondoesn’
tfal
l
throught hecracks.

“Mostofmycomponent saremadei nAsia,

”Tom j
umpedin,“
butacoupl
eofthem ar
en’t.The
speakercomesfrom Japan,
andtheacryl
icli
ghtfi
xtur
escomefr
om ali
tt
leshopinEurope.Aft
er
theproducti
sassembledinAsi
a,it
’ssentbyshiptomymainmarketi
ntheUS.”

“Simpleforme,”saidPri
sci
ll
a.“
Thecupsar
epackagedandsentfrom ourf
act
oryi
nAsiaandar
e
alsosenttotheUS.Iwishwecouldmakethem l
ocal
ly
,”sheadded,“
I’
m suret
hatwoul
dbe
betterf
ortheenvironment.
”

System Boundar y
Doingenv i
ronmentalassessmentscansomet i
mesbel i
kechasingfractal
s.Productli
fecycl
es
i
ntersectagr eatmanyprocesses,somemor edir
ectl
yli
nkedtothepr oductt
hanot hers.Si
nce
anassessmentcan’ tal
way scoverevery
thi
ng,syst
em boundar
iesclarif
ywhati twi
lli
nclude.I
t’
s
of
tenhel pf
ul todr
awapr ocessdiagram,andthentr
aceaboundar yaroundwhatwi llbe
measur ed.

Forexample,thef
oll
owi
ngfi
gur
eshowsapossibl
esyst
em boundar
ychar
tforanassessment
ofapolyst
yrenecup,wi
thaf
unct
ional
uni
tofonecup.

22
Someoft
hest
andar
dpr
oductl
i
fecy
clesy
stem boundar
yscopesi
ncl
ude

 “
Cradl
etogr
ave”–Usual
l
ydenot
esal
lphasesf
rom r
awmat
eri
alst
hroughdi
sposal
.

 “Cradl
etocradl
e”–Likecr
adl
etogr
aveexceptt
hati
ttr
ackswher
etheproduct
’s
elementsgoaft
erendofuse,
wit
hspeci
alatt
ent
iont
orecycl
i
ngandreuse.

 “
Cradl
etogat
e”–I
ncl
udespar
toft
hepr
oductl
i
fecy
cle,
typi
cal
l
yei
ther
:

o allupst
ream phases,noti
ncludi
ngtheassessi
ngcompany
’sownprocesses;t
his
i
susedt oassesst he“env
ironment
alburden”ofr
awmateri
alscomi
ngthrough
thedoor;or

o allphasest hr
ought heassessi
ngcompany ’
smanufacturi
ngandassembl
y(t
he
factorygate),boundf ort
hecustomer,sincethi
sistheendofmost
manuf acturer
’sabil
itytodir
ect
lyinf
luenceimpact.

 “Gatet
ogat e”–Anarr
owl
y-scopedlif
ecycl
eassessment
,focusedononl
yonepar
ti
cul
ar
stageorsetofst
agesoft
hepr oductl
if
ecycl
e.

Pr
isci
l
lagr
abbedadr
y-er
asemar
kerandsket
chedouthercup’
spr
ocessdi
agr
am:

23
“Whataboutpackagi
ng?”askedTom.“
Youment
ionedt
hatt
hecupsar
epackedi
ntobagsof
100cups,yourf
uncti
onalunit
.”

“Ohyeah,”saidPri
scil
l
a.Sheaddedt hepackagi
ngst eptothediagram.“It
hinkthebagispret
ty
minimalcompar edtothecups,t
hough,”shesaid.“Sounti
lIgetachancetot al
ktoour
packagi
nggr oupaboutmat er
ial
sandsizesofthepackingmat eri
als,
I’
ll
excludethatf
rom my
syst
em boundar y.
”Fi
nall
y,shegrabbedathickorangemar keranddrewaboxf orhersyst
em
boundary.

Herf
inal
sket
chwasasf
oll
ows:

24
“Mine’
smorecomplex,”saidTom.Hesteppedt
othewhi
teboar
dandbegant
ofi
l
lhi
sown
processst
epsi
ntoPriscil
l
a’sboxes,
andaddafewofhi
sown:

25
“I
’l
lhavetomakesomemor eassumpt i
ons,
”Tom said,st
eppingbackfrom t
hedi
agram.“I
i
ncludearechar geabl
ebatt
erywithmyt oy,
andI ’
ll
assumet hepar
entrechar
gesthebat
teryten
ti
mesbefor ethekidgetsboredwiththetoy,oroutgr
owsit.Butsi
nceIwanttocomparethistoy
tootheri
nteractiv
eones,I
’m goi
ngt oassumet hecomparisonsar
ealsopoweredbybatt
eries,
soIwon’tincludethati
nmysy stem boundary.
”

Witht
hei
rlif
ecycl
escopesdeter
mined—bothwerever
sionsofacradle-
to-
grav
eassessment,
theyr
eal
i
zed—andt hei
rboundar
iesdrawn,
Tom andPri
scil
lawer
er eadytomov et
othethi
rd
andfi
nalchoi
ce.

Choi
ce3:
Met
ri
cs
Oncey ou'v
edet erminedwhatimpact syouwanttofocusonandhowf arupanddownthe
product'
slifecy
cleyouwantt oassess,thefi
naldeci
sioni
showaccuratel
yyouneedtomeasure
yourselectedimpact sacr
ossy ourchosenli
fecy
clest
ages.Onceyou'
vedeter
minedyourchoi
ce
ofmet r
ics,you'
llbeabletoidenti
fythetypesofi
mpactassessmenttool
sandtechni
questhat
will
bemostusef ul.

26
Mostmet
ri
csf
all
int
ooneoff
ourcat
egor
ies:

 Comment
s

 Checkmar
ks

 Scor
es

 Measur
ement
s

Comment s
Themostqual it
ative,andusuallymostsubj ecti
ve,wayimpact sareexpressedist hrought ext
al
one.Peopl ecangener all
ydescr ibewhatt heybeli
eveani mpactwi l
ll
ookl i
ke,itssev er
it
y ,and
soforthatahighl evelbasedont heirunder standi
ngofthepr oduct.Compar i
sonsr eadmor eli
ke
productrevi
ewst handet ai
ledtechni cal analy
ses.Thisform mightbeappr opri
atef oraf i
rst-
passassessmentorasabasi sfornar rowingdownal ternat
ivestobecompar ed.Itisnota
usefulfor
matifcont i
nuityandst andar dizati
oni si
mpor t
antbecausei t
'ssosubj ecti
v e.

Checkmar ks
Insomecases, ev al
uat ionsar ebasedoncheckl ists.Theassessmentwi l
lhav ecertaincr i
teri
a
foreachoft hecat egor ies,whichar eeithermet ,ornot .I
smer curypresent?I sitcerti
fiedor gani
c?
IsitFSC( Forest
rySt ewar dshipCounci l
)cer t
if
ied?Doesatl east25%oft heener gyusedcome
from r enewabler esour ces?Checkl istsl
iket hi
shav et headv ant
ageofr esulti
ngi nev aluations
thatar eeasyt ocompar eacr ossawi der angeofpr oducts.Theycanbeusedr elati
vely( i
.e.,
seei ngwhi choft hepr oduct shasmor echeckmar ks)orabsol utel
y(i.
e.,allofthepar tsweuse
mustmeetacer tainthr eshold).Whi l
ethecheckmar ksdon'tref
lectmanydet ail
sordegr eesof
difference( i
.e.
,thepr oductt hatuses100%r enewabl eenergygetsthesamecheckmar kast he
onet hatuses25%i fthat '
st hethreshold),theymaypr ov
ideenoughi nf
or mat i
ont osuppor t
relev antdecisi
ons.

27
Scores
Whetheri nthef orm ofgr ades,numberscal es,smileyf aceicons, orstars,scoringsystemshav e
theadv antageoft heat -
a-glancenat ureofcheckl i
sts, whil
eal sor ef
lecti
ngamor enuanced
eval
uat i
onofapr oduct '
simpact .Oneoft hechal l
engest hatcomeswi thnuancehowev eri
sthat
someoneneedst odeci dewhet hersomet hi
ngget sanAoraB, 3starsor4.I nmanycases,
scori
ngsy stemsl ayoutgui deli
nesforwhatqual ifi
esasanAv ersusaBsot hatthereissome
consistencyacr ossev aluatorsandpr oducts.Ev enso, scorescanbesubj ectiveand,insome
cases,politi
cal.Stil
l,
abal ancedandt ransparentev aluati
onpr ocesscanpr oduceahel pful
assessmentoft hescal eofapr oduct'
senv ironment alimpact s.Suchscor ingsy stemsar e
especiall
yusef ulwhenaqui ckassessmenti sneededt oini
tiatethef i
rstdiscussionacr ossa
multi
stakehol dergroup.

"Thesear
eprobabl
ybenef
ici
alfori
nit
ialassessment,
"sai
dTom,
"butt
hat
'snotwhatI
'
m af
ter
.I
needtogetasenseofmyactualcar
bonf ootpri
nt.
"
"
Iagree,
"sai
dPri
scil
la."I
'
v eact
uall
yusedacoupl
escorecar
ds,wher
eIl
ear
nedabouti
ssuesli
ke
manufact
uri
ngandev entual
lyrecy
cli
ngPET.NowI'
dli
ketoputsomenumber
stothi
sprocess.
..
youknow,somerealmeasur ements.
"
Measurements
Themostpreciseandobjecti
vemetr
icscomeint
heform ofspeci
ficnumbersrepr
esenti
ng
i
mpactlevel
s.Theseusuallyt
aketwoforms,
oneimpact
-speci
ficandtheotherastandar
dized
conv
ersioni
ntoasingl
epr oxynumber.

I
mpact
-Speci
fi
c

Theimpact-speci
fi
cmetri
cisusual
lyexpr
essedinequi
val
enciesofacertai
nkeycomponentof
thatimpact,
suchaskil
ogramsofCO2f orgl
obalwarmi
ng.Inthiscase,
nomat terwhatthe
sourceoftheimpactonglobal
warming,i
twouldbeconvert
edintotheequi
valentki
logr
amsof
17
CO2( oft
enwr i
tt
enas"kgCO2e,""
kgeqCO2","kg-
eqCO2",et
c.)usi
ngstandardi
zedequations.

Othercommonequi
val
encyuni
tsf
orsev
eral
env
ironment
ali
ndi
cat
orsar
eli
stedi
nthet
abl
e
18
below.

I
mpactCat
egor
y Ref
erenceSubst
ance

Humant
oxi
cit
y kg-
eq 
chl
oroet
hyl
enei
ntoai
r
(
car
cinogens+non-
car
cinogens)
Respi
rat
ory(
inor
gani
cs) kg-
eq 
PM2.5 
(par
ti
cul
atemat
ter<2.
5µm )i
nto
ai
r
I
oni
zi
ngr
adi
ati
ons Bq-
eq 
car
bon-
14i
ntoai
r
Ozonel
ayerdepl
eti
on kg-
eq 
CFC-
11i
ntoai
r

17
TheEPA'sGr eenhouseGasEquival
enciesCal cul
atorisav ail
ableonli
neat
https:
//www.epa.gov/ener
gy/
greenhouse-gas-equiv
alencies-calcul
ator
18
Adaptedfr
om " I
MPACT2002+"LCI Amet hodology/Dr .Olivi
erJoll
iet
,Uni
v.ofMi
chi
gan

28
 Phot
ochemi
cal
oxi
dat
ion kg-
eq 
ethy
lenei
ntoai
r
[
=Respi
rat
ory(
organi
cs)f
orhumanheal
th]
Aquat
icecot
oxi
cit
y kg-
eq 
tr
iet
hyl
enegl
ycol
int
owat
er
Ter
rest
ri
alecot
oxi
cit
y kg-
eq 
tr
iet
hyl
enegl
ycol
int
owat
er
Ter
rest
ri
alaci
dif
icat
ion/
nut
ri
fi
cat
ion kg-
eq 
SO2 
i
ntoai
r
Aquat
icaci
dif
icat
ion kg-
eq 
SO2 
i
ntoai
r
Aquat
iceut
rophi
cat
ion kg- PO43- 
eq  i
ntowat
er
Landoccupat
ion m2-
eq 
organi
car
abl
eland·
year
Gl
obal
war
ming kg-
eq 
CO2 
i
ntoai
r
Non-
renewabl
eener
gy MJTot
alpri
marynon-r
enewabl
eorkg-
eq cr
udeoi
l(860kg/m3)
Mi
ner
alext
ract
ion MJaddi
ti
onal
ener
gyorkg-
eq 
i
ron(
inor
e)

Thenextchall
engeist odeter
mi nethei mpactpr of
il
esofsubst ances.Forinstance,whatimpact
doessi
lverhaveonozonel ayerdepl eti
on,eutri
fi
cati
on, etc.?Ther eareactuallywellovera
19
dozenmethodsf orcl
assify
ingsubst ances. Eachmapsmat erial
stoimpact sbasedon
sci
enti
fi
cresearch,wit
hmanymat erial
shav i
ngimpact sinmul tipl
ecategories.Theassessment
i
susuall
yfacil
itat
edbysof twarethatcant akecomponenti nput sandcalculateall
ocated
i
mpactsbasedonei t
heractualdatagat heredorstandar dizeddat atables.Whi l
etherearepros
andconstoeachassessmentt ool,somehav ebeenadopt edmor ebroadlythanot her
s.A2006
surv
eyof65l i
fecycl
eassessment( LCA)pr acti
ti
oners20repor tedthat:

58%*usedGaBi
(Spher
a)

31%*usedSi
maPr
o(PRéSust
ainabi
l
ityB.
V.)

11%*usedTEAM (
Ecobi
l
an)

Ot
hert
ool
sci
ted:

 openLCA

 Ecochai
n

 Onecl
i
ckl
ca

19
Foragoodov erviewofmanyoft hemajormethods,seeAppendi xB:LCAandLCISof twareToolsi
n
"Lif
eCy cl
eAssessment :Pr
inci
plesandPract
ice,
"Sci
entif
icApplicat
ionsInt
ernat
ionalCorpor
ati
on,
EPA/ 600/
R-06/060( May2006),pp.74-
77.
20
Cooper,J.
S.;Fav a,J.(
2006),"
LifeCycl
eAssessmentPr act
it
ionerSurvey:
Summar yofResul
ts"
,Jour
nal
ofIndustr
ialEcology

29
  Mobi
us

 BEES(
NIST)

 Umber
to(
if
uHambur
g)

 Excel
-basedspr
eadsheet
s

 Mat
hpackage(
e.g.MATLAB,
Mat
hemat
ica

*
per
cent
agesi
ncl
udeov
erl
apduet
ousageofmul
ti
plet
ool
s

Si
ngl
ePr
oxy

Becausei tisdiffi
culttocompar etheimpactof1kg- eqCO2and1kg- eqchloroethyl
ene,f or
i
nstance, i
tcanbeusef ult
oconv er
talli
mpact sintoasi nglepr
oxymet ri
c.Alloft
hei mpact -
specifi
cequi valenciescanbet ranslatedintoauniversal i
mpactfact or
,oftenexpressedint er
ms
of"mi l
li
points,
"somet i
mesaf terbeingnor mal
izedbasedonanat ionalorglobalref
erence
model .Suchsi ngle-numberimpactf actorsarethereforeawei ghtedmeasur ementshowi ng
rel
ativeimpact sacr ossmul t
iplecategori
es.Whilet her
ear esomest andardsetsoffactor s,each
representsaspeci f
icperspectiveonwhatt ouseasar efer
encemodel andhowt ocal culatethe
conv er
sions.Sev eralofthemostwi dely-
useddat asetsar eEco-I
ndicator99( EI
99),EcoInv ent,
U.S.Life-
Cy cl
eI nventory,
andCML.

Wei
ght
ing

Whenevermult
ipl
efactorsar
ecombi
nedandrepr
esent
edbyasingl
enumber,
somesor
tof
wei
ghti
ngtakesplace.Someti
mesal
loft
heinput
sareconsi
der
edofequal
val
ue,
buti
nmany

30
casessomei nputsaregivenmor einfl
uenceoverthefinalresultthanot hers,
reflect
ingacer t
ain
priori
ti
zati
onoft heimportanceofeacht ypeofimpact.Wei ghtingismor eofapol i
ti
cal (
soci
al,
cultur
al)thanasci ent
if
icprocess--givi
ng,say,
mor eweightt ot hegl
obal warmi ngindicator
thant oacidi
fi
cationisavalues-baseddecisi
on.St
akehol dersmaydi ffersignif
icantl
yont heir
21
viewsaboutt heimpor t
anceofimpact s,asshowninthechar tbelow.

Manypract
it
ionerschoosetoleav
etheimpactscoresbrokenouti
ntocategori
es,wit
hno
wei
ghti
ngatall.Al
thoughthi
sapproachcreat
esamor ecomplicat
edreport
,itenabl
esimpact
compar
isonsbetweenproductsonamor egranul
arlev
el.

Weight ed" singl

escor e"assessment shav etheadv antageofgener at
ingone, easy-t
o-
communi cateimpactnumber .Howev er,evenwi t
hinthecommuni t
yt hatsupportsthisapproach
therear et woschool soft hought.Somebel ievethatthereshouldbeast andardweighting,whil
e
othersf eel t
hatcompani esshoul dbef reetowei ghtimpact sastheyseef it
.Oneoft he
advantagesofast andardwei ghting,asi susedi ntheOkal aapproachamongot hers,isthat
product scanbecompar edt oeachot hermor eeasilysincet hesingleimpactscor esar eonly
meani ngf uli
fcompar edamongpr oductswi ththesamewei ghti
ng.Asecondbenef i
tist hat
compani escan't"game"t heassessmentt omaket heirproductslookbet terthantheyar eby
emphasi zingtheareasi nwhi chthepr oductdoeswel landdecr easingt heeffectofcategori
esin
whicht hepr oducthaspr oblems.

Theadvantageofv
ari
abl
eweighti
ngappr
oachesist
hattheycanbecust
omi
zedtof
itan
organi
zat
ionsgoal
sandval
ues.Fori
nst
ance,i
fanorgani
zati
onismaki
nggl
obal
warminga

21
T.
G.Glor
ia,B.
C.Li
ppiat
t,andJ.Cooper,
"Li
feCycl
eImpactAssessmentWeightst
oSupport
Envi
ronmental
lyPr
efer
ablePurchasi
ngintheUni
tedStat
es,
"Envi
ronmental
ScienceandTechnol
ogy
,
November/December2007.

31
priori
ty,i
tmaywantt oweightthatcategorymuchmor eheav il
yasit'
sassessingtheimpactsof
i
tspr oducts.Aslongasthewei ghtingremai nsconstantwi t
hinit
sownassessment s,the
disproporti
onateweighti
tgi v
est othiscategoryisfi
ne.Insomecases, t
heremaybeext ernal
reasonsf orgiv
ingsomei mpact spriori
ty.Fori
nstance,therearesomesust ai
nabil
it
yaccounti
ng
andr eporti
ngstandardsthatfocusal mostexclusiv
elyongr eenhousegasemi ssi
ons,makingit
useful f
ororganizat
ionsusingthem t oputmost ,i
fnotall,oftheweightonthatsubsetofimpact
22
factors.

"Well,
I'
vechosenf i
veindi
cat
ors,onefrom eachoft
hedomainsofi
mpact.Idon'
tthi
nkIwantt
o
weighttheseresult
stoget
her,becauseIwanttochoosewhi
chonesI'
m opti
mizi
ngfori
neach
design,
"saidPrisci
l
la.
"
AndI'
mjustmeasur
ingasi
ngl
eindi
cat
or,
car
bon,
soIwon'
tuseanywei
ght
edsi
ngl
e-pr
oxy
r
esul
tsei
ther
.
"
Sonowt
hatweknowourt
hreechoi
ces,
whatt
ool
scanweuse?
"

Chapt
er4:
Put
ti
ngI
tAl
lToget
her
Whi l
eeachoft hethreeenvi
ronment alassessmentchoicescanbemadei ndependentl
yto
generateanimpactassessment ,thereareseveralcommonl yusedappr
oaches.These
techniquesrangefrom r
elat
ivel
yquick, cheap,
andl owaccuracytomuchmor eexpensi
veand
ti
me- consuming,butwit
hmor erigorousandr obustresul
ts.

Mostsust ai
nabil
it
yassessment s,unti
lrel
ati
velyrecentl
y,werequalit
ati
ve.Dat
a-dr
iven
envir
onment ali
mpactmeasur ement shavetraditi
onall
ybeentoosl oworexpensiv
et oacqui
re.
Eventoday ,
manyor gani
zati
onsf i
ndt hatquali
tati
veassessmentsar egoodenoughf ort
heir
purposes.Methodsv ar
yfrom “backoft heenvelope”tomor eri
gorous,asrepr
esentedbythe
fol
lowingtechni
ques.

Engi
neer
ingI
ntui
ti
on

Pr
oductScor
ecar
ds

Concept
ual
Liv
eCy
cleThi
nki
ng

Qual
i
tat
iveLCA

Li
feCy
cleBasedDesi
gnAssessment

Li
feCy
cleAssessment

I
ntui
ti
on
Mostpeopl
ehav
eabr
oad-
brushsensef
ort
her
elat
ivei
mpact
sofmaj
ordesi
gnchoi
ces.For

22
Car
bonf
oot
pri
ntst
andar
dssuchasPAS2050andt
heGHGPr
otocol
fitt
hisdescr
ipt
ion.

32
i
nstance,
int
uit
ional
onewi l
ltel
lyouthatali
ghterver
sionofaproductwoul dsaveon
tr
ansport
ati
oncostsorthatamor eenergy-
eff
ici
entproductwoul
dhav elessofan
envi
ronmental
impact.Unfor
tunatel
y,t
hereareplent
yofcounter-
int
uit
ivetrade-
off
sandcost
s
unknowntotheaveragedesi
gner.

Besidesof tenbei nguninformed, manypeopl eareactual

lymisi
nformedabouttheimpact sof
certainmat erials.Somet i
mesmat eri
alsareat t
ackedinthepressandpublicopi
nion,paint
edas
evil
,toxicstuf f.PVChasat erri
blereputati
on,eventhoughanalysiswil
lshowthatincertai
n
applicati
onsi ti sthemor eenv i
ronment al
l
yr esponsi
blechoi
ce.Insomecases, i
tisjustbecause
theyar ethemostv i
sibl
et hatcertai
ncomponent sgetthebruntofthenegati
veatt
ention.
Transpor t
ationandpackagi ngf al
l i
ntothi
scat egory
,evenwhent heymightbefarfrom the
biggestpr oblem i nagivenpr oduct'
slif
ecycle.

Onthef li
psi de,therear esomev erysignificantmar keti
ngdol l
arsatwor kconvi
nci ngpeopl e
how" green"somemat eri
alsar e.Thecot t
oni ndustrytoutsthei rproductasanat ural mat eri
al,
"Thefabricofourl ives."Whi l
ei tist r
uet hatcot tonisapr oductofnat ure,it
senvironment al
i
mpacti spr ettysubst antial
,thankst ot heamountofwat erandi nsecti
cidesusedi n
conventional cott
onf armi ng.Inf act,cottonusesappr oxi
mat el
y25%oft heworld'si nsecticides
andmor ethan10%oft hepest i
cides( includingherbici
des, i
nsect i
cides,anddefoliants.).Plus,
ther
ei stheongoi ngi ssueoft hei ncreaseduseofgenet i
callymodi fi
edcot t
on.Cot ton's
envi
ronment alfootpri
nthasgot t
enmuchbet teroverthey ears,butthe"natural
"opt ionmi ght
notturnoutt obet hebestsust ainableopt i
on,despitethehy pe.

I
ntui
tionisfi
neifthat
'sal
lyou'vegot,
buttherearepl
entyofwayst
odobett
er.Forexampl
e,
we'l
ltestafewofTom andPr isci
l
la'
sint
uitedassumpti
onsalongt
heway
—likeherassumpti
on
t
hatmanuf actur
inghercupslocall
ywouldbebet t
er.

I
ntui
ti
onandt
heThr
eeChoi
ces

1.I
mpact
s–Any

2.Scope–Syst
em boundar
yiscreat
edbyareasengi
neerisdi
rect
lyfami
li
arwi
th;
Anyl
i
fe
cycl
est
ages,
alt
houghusuall
yfocusedonthemostvi
sibl
eones,suchasUse

3.Met
ri
cs–Usual
l
yint
hef
orm ofcomment
s,al
thoughcoul
dbecheckmar
ks,
orscor
es

Pr
oductScor
ecar
ds
Somecompani eshav ecr eat edscor ecardst oenabl ethem toevaluateav ari
etyofpr oduct swi t
h
atleastsomei nt
ernal consi stency.Scor ecar dsoft hist y
pearenotpar ti
cular
lylif
ecy cle-based,
butinst eadfocusont heat t
r i
butesofapr oduct .Forexampl e,Norm ThompsonOut fi
tters,with
thehel pofMi chaelS.Br own&Associ ates, createdasetof12scor ecar dsaspar tofits
Sustainabili
tyTool kit
,whi chi tusesi nternallyandgi vestoitssuppliersandmer chant s.The
scoringsy stem isasi mpl e3( mostenv i
ronment all
yresponsibl
e)to- 3( l
eastenv i
r onment all
y
responsi bl
e),wi t
heachpr oductel ementget t
ingasi ngle.Eachscor ehasexampl esandcr i
ter
ia
l
istedt ohelppeopl ewi ththei revaluation.Forexampl e,i
nthefoodcat egory,a3i ndicatesa
sustainablyhar vested, organi cproduct ,freeoft oxicsi nrawmat er
ial processing.Af oodi sgiven
ascor eof0i fit'
sont heseaf ood" wat ch"l i
stf orinst
ance, r
esult
ingi nmoder ateecosy stem
i
mpact s.Foodsscor i
ng- 3woul dhav esigni fi
cantnegat i
veecosystem andhumani mpact s.Fish

33
onthe"avoi
d"li
stwouldqual
if
y,fori
nst
ance.Formetal
product
s,r
ecycl
edgold,sil
ver
,and
copperwouldearna3,whil
enickel
,l
ead,andmercur
ywouldgeta-3.Thesescoresarepr
imar
il
y
usedtoguidesourci
ngandpurchasi
ngdecisi
ons.

Otherexamplesofpr oductscorecar
dscomef rom compani
essuchasWalmart
,Ikea,
and
Li
bertyGlobal
.Whi l
enotar i
gor
ous,in-
depthanal
ysis,
iti
saval
uablet
ool
fordesi
gnerstousei
n
consider
ingproductsustainabi
l
ityastheydothei
rwor k.

Concept
ual
Lif
eCy
cleThi
nki
ng
Theseappr oachesconsidertheli
fecycleofapr oduct ,buttendt ohavequi t
equali
tativ
eimpact
evaluati
ons.Oneofthemostpopul artool
soft histypei stheLi fecycl
eDesi gnStr
ategies(or
Li
DS)Wheel ,al
soknownast heEcodesi gnStrategieswheel .Itwasdev elopedasapar toft he
UnitedNationsEnvi
ronmentPr ogrammebyHansBr ezetandCar ol
ienvanHemel Brezetasa
wayt oevaluatehowwel laproductdesignrefl
ect stheappl icati
onofei ghtecodesignst r
ategies,
especial
lyrel
ativ
etoalternat
ivedesigns.Thesest rategiesar eusual l
yrepresent
edasanei ght-
23
axisradarchart,
wit
heachdesi gnopt i
onplottedasov erlays,asi nthefigurebel
ow.

Notethattherear
enoscal esdefined,plusthi
srefl
ectstheuseofst r
ategi
es,whichdoesnot
necessar
ilytr
ansl
ateintospeci
ficenv i
ronmentalimpacts.Asstat
edi ntheProcedi
aEngineeri
ng
Journal
,“BecausetheLiDSWheel Anal
y sesarei
nherent
lyquali
tat
ive,andbasedonanar bit
rar
il
y
defi
nedsy st
em ofevaluat
ion,i
tisnotamet hodthatcanbeusedt odeterminetheactual

23

ht
tp:
//wi
kid.i
o.t
udel
ft
.nl
/WikID/i
ndex.
php/EcoDesi
gn_st
rategy_wheel
#:~:
text
=%20The%20EcoDesign%20
st
rat
egy%20wheel%20presents%20ei
ght%20EcoDesi
gn,
li
fetime%208%20Optimi
zati
on%20of%20end-of
-
l
if
e%20system.%20More%20

34
env
ironment
ali
mpactofaproduct
.Iti
s,however,
anexcell
entmethodforev
aluat
ing
24
env
ironment
alt
radeof
fsbet
weentwosimi l
arorevol
uti
onar
ydesigns.
”

Concept
ualLi
feCy
cleThi
nki
ngandt
heThr
eeChoi
ces

1.I
mpact
s–Any
,al
thoughnotal
way
sbr
okenouti
ntospeci
fi
cs

2.Scope–Al
ll
if
ecy
clest
ages

3.Met
ri
cs–Gener
all
yscor
es

Qual
i
tat
iveLi
feCy
cleAssessment
Lif
eCy cl
eAssessment(LCA)descri
best heprocessofeval
uati
ngtheenv i
ronmentali
mpactsof
aproductateachstageofit
slif
eandov erall
.Whil
eful
lLCAscanbei ntensiv
elydata-
dri
ven,as
willbedescr
ibedi
nthefol
lowingsecti
on, someti
mesaqualitat
iveassessmentisallt
hatis
requir
ed.Thi
sisoft
encall
edaQual i
tat
iveLCAoraQual it
ati
veMat ri
xLCA.

Suchevaluat
ionscanbeusedasstand-
alonedecisi
ont ool
s,butoftentheyservet
oidenti
fyt he
desi
gnopt i
onsworthmoredet
ail
edanalysi
s.Eval
uationscanbet ext-
basedorscored,butthere
arenostandardaxesorr
ati
ngsystemssoor gani
zati
onscanadoptwhat evermetr
icsworkf or
25
thei
rpur
poses.Thisfi
gur
eshowsanexampl eofonesuchmat ri
xusedby3M.

Ev
aluat
ionappr
oachesbecomeev
enmor
eef
fect
ivewhenadopt
edbymor
ethanonecompany
,

24
Vi
cent
eChul
vi
,R.V.(
2011)
.Usef
ulnessofev
olut
ionl
i
nesi
neco-
desi
gn.Pr
ocedi
aEngi
neer
ing,
135-
144.
ht
tps:
//www.
sci
encedi
rect
.com/
sci
ence/
art
icl
e/pi
i
/S187770581100124X
25
EdmundE.Price,
Donal
dR.Coy
, "
Lif
ecy cl
emanagementat3M:
Apr
act
ical
appr
oach"
,Env
ironment
al
ManagementandHeal
th,
Vol
.12Iss:3(2001),
pp.254–259.

35
orevenbyawhol eindustr
y.Oneexampl eofthi
sistheappareli
ndustr
y’sEcoIndex,cr
eated
thr
oughthecoll
aborati
veef f
or t
sofov er100producer
sandr et
ailer
sandcoordinatedbythe
26
OutdoorI
ndustr
yAssoci at
ion. Theresult
ingsoft
wareappli
cati
onguidesitsusersthr
ougha
setofquest
ionsforeachofsi xl i
fecy
clestages,f
ocusedonsev enkeyareasofimpact.27

Thescoringsy stem isbasedonpoi ntsawar dedbasedonmeet ingvariouscr i

teri
a.Forexampl e,
i
nt hePackagingar ea,Post-ConsumerRecy cl
ed(PCR)Cont entscoresr angef r
om 0f or
“unknownor0- 29%post -
consumerr ecycledcontent”toamaxi mum of8f or100%PCRcont ent.
Suchscor i
ngsy stemst rytorefl
ectt hescaleofimpactsomewhatquant i
tat
ively
,alt
hought he
dir
ectimpactofchangesi shardt osee.Thescor ecard’
sgui deli
nesst atethatuseofPCRl eads
toresourceconser vati
onsuchasl essener gyused,lesswast epr oduced, andlessvirgi
nraw
mat er
ial
ex t
racted,butdoesnotsayhowmuch.Ther efore,iti
snoteasyt ot el
lwhetheritmakes
abigorsmal ldiffer
encechangi ngfr om, say,29%PCRt o30%PCRt ogetanext rapointonthe
scorecar
d,somet hi
ngpr oductdesignersmaywantt oknow.Pl us, aonepoi ntchangeduet o
PCRusemayhav everydiff
erentenv ir
onment ali
mpact st hanaonepoi ntchangei nrawmat eri
al

26
ht
tp:
//www.
eco-
index.
org/
new/
index.
cfm
27
ht
tp:
//www.
eco-
index.
org/
new/
index.
cfm

36
i
nputuseef
fi
ciency
.Resul
tsar
eint
hef
orm ofpoi
nts,
noti
mpact
s.

Quali
tati
vei mpactassessmentstendt obequi cker
,lessexpensive,andeasierfornon-
speci
ali
stst opart
ici
pateinandunder standthanquant itat
iveones.Thei
rlackofpr ecisi
oncan
beaccept ablef
ormanyhi gh-l
eveldecisi
ons,orforindicati
ngwheni tisworthinvestingthet
ime
andeffortrequi
redtogener at
eamor edet ail
edunder standingoftheenvi
ronment alimpacts
thatmanyquant it
ati
vemet hodscanpr ovide.

Qual
it
ati
veLCAandt
heThr
eeChoi
ces

1.I
mpact
s–Any

2.Scope–Al
ll
if
ecy
clest
ages

3.Met
ri
cs–Gener
all
yscor
es

Li
feCy
cle-
BasedDesi
gnAssessment
Thereisani mpactev al
uati
onappr oacht
hatr ef
lect
slifecycl
ethi
nkingbutismor equant itat
ivel
y
ri
gorousi ni t
smet ri
csthant het oolsandtechniquesdescr i
bedabove,andyetissti
llusef ulfor
evaluati
ngpr oductsst i
l
linthedesi gnphase.Lifecyclebaseddesi
gnassessment sreflectmany
oftheattributesoffullli
fecycl eassessment s,butarebasedonproductmodel sandnotonf ull
studiesofapr oduct
’sactual environmentali
mpact s.Becausetheyusuall
ydrawupononeor
mor eexistingimpactdat aset s,theyhavetheadv antageofbeingusefuli
nmaki ngdata- driv
en
designdeci sionswhilesti
llatt hedr awi
ngboar d.Mostaresoftwareappli
cati
ons,al
lowi ngf ast
datasear chandi mpactcalcul ati
ons.

I
ndust
ry-
speci
fi
c
Someappr oachesoft hi
stypearefocusedonpar t
icul arindustri
esorappl i
cati
ons.The
28
Compar ativePackagi ngAssessment( COMPASS) i sanonl inetooldevelopedbyt he
SustainablePackagi ngCoalit
ion(SPC),aprojectoft henonpr ofi
tinst
itut
eGr eenBlue.Drawing
uponl i
fecy cl
ei mpactdat afr
om theU.S.Lif
e-CycleI nv entor
y( LCI)DatabaseandEcoi nvent(a
SwissLCIdat abase),ital
l
owsengi neer
sandpackagi ngdesi gnerstomodel t
heimpact softheir
choiceswhi lestil
li
nt hedesignphase.Itcal
culatespr ofi
lesofpr oductli
fecycleimpactsin
thr
eemai ncat egori
es.

Consumpt
ionMet
ri
cs

 Fossi
lFuel

 Wat
er

 Bi
oti
cResour
ce

 Mi
ner
al

Emi
ssi
onMet
ri
cs

 Gr
eenhouseGas

28
ht
tps:
//gr
eenbl
ue.
org/
wor
k/compass/

37
  Cl
eanPr
oduct
ion:
HumanI
mpact
s

 Cl
eanPr
oduct
ion:
Aquat
icTox
ici
ty

 Eut
rophi
cat
ion

Packagi
ngAt
tri
but
es

 Cont
ent(
Recy
cledorVi
rgi
n)

 Sour
cing

 Sol
i
dWast
e

 Mat
eri
alHeal
th

I
ndust
ry-
agnost
ic
Othertool
s,suchasSOLIDWORKSSust ainabi
l
ity
,don’
tfocusononepar ti
cul
ardesigndomai
n,
butall
owmodel i
ngofawi derangeofpr oduct
s.SOLIDWORKShaschoseni t
sapproach
specif
ical
lyt
omeett heneedsofdesignersandengineerswhowantt oincor
porat
epr e-
producti
onmodelingofenvi
ronmentalimpactsintot
heirproductdev
elopmentprocess.

Li
keot hert
oolsofthi
stype,SOLIDWORKSSust ai
nabil
i
t yusessecondar
yLCAdat atodevel
opa
quick,
robustassessment,whichcoul
dbecalleda“screeningLCA”oranLCA-baseddesi
gn
assessment.Butbecauseitdoesn’
tusethecompany ’
sownpr i
marydat
a,SOLIDWORKS
Sustai
nabil
it
yshouldn’
trepl
acecompr ehensi
veLCAsof tware,
suchasSphera’
sGaBi sof
tware.

SOLIDWORKSSust ainabili
tyshouldbeusedasanenv ironment ali
mpactdashboard,giv
ing
i
mmedi at
ef eedbackont heimpactofdesi gndecisi
ons.Al t
houghi tmaybeconsideredLCA
“l
ight,
”iti
spower edbySpher a’sLCAdat abase(confusinglyalsocall
edGaBi)
,andusesa
generalprocessmodel madeusi ngt heGaBi LCAsoftwar e.Thispowerf
ulengi
nepr ovi
des
designerswit hthetoolsappropriat
ef orcr
eatingcompar ativ
emodel sandmaki ngeducated
tr
ade-offdeci si
ons.It
sint egr
ati
onwi thSOLIDWORKS’ 3Dmodel i
ngsuit
eenablesreal-
ti
me
i
mpactanal y sisduri
ngt hedesignprocess.

InSOLIDWORKSSust ainabil
it
y,impactsarerepr
esentedi
nseveralcat
egori
es.Itassumest hat
desi
gnersbenefi
tfrom mor egranular
it
ythanasinglenumberscorecangive,
butt hat
envi
ronmentali
mpactscaneasi l
ybeunderstoodandestimat
edbyusi ngasmal lsetofkey
envi
ronmentali
ndicat
ors.Itcurrent
lyshowsfourtypesofenv
ironmentali
mpacts:

 Nat
ural
resour
cedepl
eti
on:
Non-
Renewabl
eLi
fecy
cleEner
gyDemand

 I
mpactt
otheai
r:Ai
rAci
dif
icat
ion

 I
mpactt
owat
er/
ear
th:
Wat
erEut
rophi
cat
ion

 I
mpactt
othecl
i
mat
e:Car
bonFoot
pri
nt

SOLIDWORKSSust ainabi
li
tyhasbeendevel
opedtoenabl
esustai
nabledesi
gni
nthecontextof
productdesi
gn,hel
pingdeveloper
smakeinfor
medchoicesaboutenvi
ronment
ali
mpactsearly
enoughinthei
rli
fecyclestolocki
nbenef
itsfr
om t
hestart
.Wit
htoolsofthi
sty
pe,

38
env
ironment
ali
mpactbecomesadesi
gndeci
sionandnotapostmor
tem exami
nat
ion.

Li
feCy
cleAssessment
Severaloft
heot hermethodsdescribedsofarhaveaddr essedeachoft hecomponentsofa
product'
sli
fecycle.Ther
eishowev eraspecif
icprocesscal l
edLifeCycleAssessment(LCA)
withastandardi
zedsetofstepsandout putintheform ofenv i
ronmentali
mpactmeasur es.I
n
fact,
li
fecycl
eassessmenti spartoftheISO14000( environmentalmanagement )st
andards,
andisspecifi
cal
lyaddressedbyISO14040:2006and14044: 2006.

LCAi sdef i
nedas" anobj ectiv
epr ocesstoevaluat
etheenv ironmentalbur
densassoci atedwi
th
apr oduct ,process, oractivit
ybyi denti
fyi
ngenergyandmat eri
alsusedandwast esreleasedt
o
theenv ironment ,andt oevaluateandi mplementopportunit
iest oaff
ectenvi
ronment al
29
i
mpr ovement s.
" Per for
mi ngaf ullLCArequi
ressigni
fi
cantexper ti
seandeffort
.Ther eare
manyr esour cesav ailabl
et hatgoi ntomuchmor edetai
l abouttheprocessthant hi
sguide
30
cover s. Howev er,itisusef ultoatleastbefamili
arwit
ht hef ourmajorst
epsoft he
standar dizedLCApr ocess:

1.Goal
andScopeDef
ini
ti
on–Whatar
ewet
ryi
ngt
olear
n?

2.Li
feCy
cleI
nvent
ory(
LCI
)–What
'sembeddedi
nthepr
oduct
?

3.Li
feCy
cleI
mpactAssessment(
LCI
A)–Whatef
fect
sdoesi
thav
e?

4.Dat
aInt
erpr
etat
ion–Whatdoesi
tal
lmean?

29
Soci
etyofEnv ir
onmentalToxi
col
ogyandChemi
st r
y(SETAC),
1990
30
Seeforinstance"Li
feCycl
eAssessment:
Pri
nci
plesandPract
ice,
"Sci
ent
if
icAppl
i
cat
ionsI
nter
nat
ional
Corpor
ation,EPA/600/R-
06/060(May2006)

39
Goal
&ScopeDef
ini
ti
on
Aswithotherassessments,t
hefirstst
epinvolv
esclari
fyi
ngthepurposeandextentoft
heLCA.
Thi
sentail
sformallydeter
mini
ngt hefuncti
onaluni
t,i
mpactsofint
erest
,andsystem
boundar
y—element sfr
om our"Fi
rstChoice".

WhileLCA"li
ght"appr
oacheshav ebeendescribedabove,a"f
ull"LCAincludesactualprimary
envir
onmentali
mpactdat agatheredoncetheproduct
'sful
lli
fecycl
ehasbeendet ermined.Such
detai
ledLCAstake,onaverage,thr hs31,
eemont andareonlypossibl
etocompl et
eoncet he
producti
sinuseandhasgonet hroughal
lstagesofit
slif
ecy cl
e.Thisincreasedaccuracyis
worthitf
orbenchmarkingorexternalr
epor
t i
ng(suchasgreenmar keti
ng)pur poses.

31
"
Aful
l(i
nter
nal
)LCAst udytakes8-16weekstocompl
ete.
"ht
tp:
//www.
indust
ri
al-
ecol
ogy
.com/ser
vices/
li
fecycl
eassessment
.ht
ml

40
I
nvent
oryAnal
ysi
s
Thenextphaseentai
lscreati
ngali
stofal
lofthecomponentsoft
hepr
oduct
sli
fecy
clet
hatf
all
wit
hint
hedef i
nedsystem boundar
y.I
thasthr
eemajorsteps:

1.Const
ructapr
ocessf
lowchar
tthatshowst
hef
oll
owi
ng:

 Rawmat
eri
als

 Mf
gpr
ocesses

 Tr
anspor
ts

 Uses

 Wast
emanagement

2.Col
l
ectdat
afor
:

 Mat
eri
ali
nput
s

 Pr
oduct
sandby
product
s

 Sol
i
dwast
e,ai
randwat
eremi
ssi
ons

3.Cal
cul
atet
heamount
sofeachi
nrel
ati
ont
othef
unct
ional
uni
t

Essent i
all
y,t
hisi
stheprocessflowdi
agram—wi thdetai
ledmassandener gyval
ues
attached—thatTom andPrisci
ll
asket
chedout .Theresult
ingLif
eCycleI
nvent
ory(LCI)provi
des
abr eakdownofalloftheenergyandmateri
alsinvol
vedinapr oduct
'ssy
stem atalev
el ofdet
ail
thatprovidesabasisforev
aluati
on.

I
mpactAssessment
Onceadet ai
l
edLCIiscreated,
envir
onment
ali
mpactscanbeascri
bedtoit
sparts,
andif
desir
edtothewholesystem.Therearef
ourst
epst
ot heLif
eCycl
eImpactAssessment(
LCI A)
32
process,
thefi
rstt
woofwhi chareconsi
der
edmandatory
,whil
ethel
asttwoareopti
onal
.

1.Cl
assi
fi
cat
ion

Cl
assif
icat
ioni
nvolv
esassigni
ngspecif
icenvi
ronment
alimpactst
oeachcomponentoft heLCI
.
I
tisherewheredeci
sionsmadedur i
ngthescopeandgoalphaseaboutwhatenv
ironmental
i
mpactcategori
esareofint
erestcomeint
oplay.

2.Char
act
eri
zat
ion

Oncetheimpactcategori
eshavebeenident
if
ied,conver
sionfact
ors–gener al
l
yknownas
char
acter
izat
ionorequival
encyfact
ors–usef or
mul ast
oconv er
ttheLCIresul
tsi
ntodi
rect
ly
comparablei
mpactindicat
orsasdescri
bedintheMeasur ementssect
ionabove.

3.Nor
mal
i
zat
ion(
opt
ional
)

Somepr
act
it
ioner
schooset
onor
mal
i
zet
hei
mpactassessmentbyscal
i
ngt
hedat
abya

32
Asdi
ctat
edbyt
heI
SO14044st
andar
d

41
ref
erencefactor,
suchast heregion'
spercapitaenvi
ronmentalbur
den.Thishelpstocl
arifyt
he
rel
ati
vei mpactofasubstanceinagi vencontext
.Forinst
ance,i
fglobalwarmingcontr
ibuti
ons
arealr
eadyhighint hecontexti
nwhi chtheproducti
sbeingassessed,arefer
encefact
orwoul d
normalizewhatevertheproduct
'sglobalwarmingcontri
buti
onsareinordertoclar
if
yit
sr el
ati
ve
i
mpact s.

4.Wei
ght
ing(
opt
ional
)

Thepr
osandconsofwei
ght
ingwer
edescr
ibedi
ntheMeasur
ement
ssect
ionabov
e.

I
nter
pret
ati
on
Alt
houghl i
stedf our
th,l
i
f ecycl
eint
erpretati
onactuall
yoccursthr
oughoutthewholeLCA.It
i
nvolv
est heongoi ngprocessofclar
ifyi
ng, quanti
fyi
ng,checki
ng,
andev al
uat
ingtheinfor
mation
usedby,andr esulti
ngfrom,theli
fecycleinventor
y(LCI)andimpactassessment(LCIA)phases.
Thestandardt hatcoverstheLCAprocess, ISO14044,givestwomainobjecti
ves:

1.Analy
zer esult
s,r
eachconclusi
ons,expl
ainl
i
mitat
ions,
andprovi
derecommendat
ionsbased
onthefindi
ngsoft heprecedi
ngphasesoftheLCA,andtorepor
tther
esult
softhel
i
fecycle
i
nterpr
etati
oni natranspar
entmanner.

2.Pr
ovideareadi
lyunderst
andabl
e,compl
ete,
andconsi
stentpr
esent
ati
onoft
her
esul
tsofan
LCAstudy,
inaccordancewitht
hegoalandscopeoft
hestudy.

Toachi
evetheseobj
ecti
ves,
theI
SOst
andar
dst
atest
hati
nter
pret
ati
onshoul
dcov
eratl
east
thr
eemajorel
ements.

1.I
dent
if
icati
onofthesigni
fi
canti
ssuesbasedontheLCIandLCI
A.Whichl
i
fecycl
estagesor
componentsstandoutasmajorcont
ribut
orst
ooveral
li
mpact?Whatar
etheanomali
es?

2.Evaluati
onwhi chconsiderscompl eteness,sensi
ti
vit
y,andconsi
stencychecks.I
sall
t he
i
nformat i
onneededf orinterpret
ati
onpr esentintheLCIandLCIA?Howr eli
ableist
he
i
nformat i
onrelatedtoanyi denti
fi
edsi gni
fi
cantissues?Howmuchdochangesi nsuchf actors
i
nfluencetheov eral
lresul
ts?Ar eal
l oftheassumpt i
ons,dat
a,char
acteri
zat
ionfact
ors,etc.that
wereusedi ntheassessmentconsi stenti
nternal
lyandwiththeover
allgoalandscopeoft he
LCA?

3.Conclusions,r
ecommendat i
ons,andreport
ing.Asdi scussedi
nlatersect
ionsofthisguide,a
greatdealofanLCA'sv al
uedependsonhowi tsresult
sar ecommunicatedtopeopleinvolvedi
n
makingrelevantdeci
sions,whet
herotherdesi
gner s,engineer
s,management ,
marketers,or
otherpart
soft hesupplychai
n.

I
ti sveryimportanttonotethatnomat t
erhowcar efull
yassembl ed,analyzed, assessed, and
measur ed,LCAsar eneverthe"real"answer .Theyr equireinterpretati
on, whichisturnr equires
transparencyandjudgment .Thedat asour ces,assumpt ions,andal lotherrelevantinformation
needst obet r
ansparenttodecisionmaker ssot hatt heycanunder standt hefullcontextoft he
result
soft heli
fecyclei
nv entor
yassessment .Decidingamongdesi gnopt ionsisnotaseasyas
j
ustcompar i
ngLCI Anumber s,whet hersingle-ormul t
i-
factor,weightedornot .LCIAresul t
scan
beasour ceofinsi
ghts,butdonotst andalonei nguidingpr oductdev el
opmentchoi ces.
Engineerswillneedtotaket hem inthecont extoft heot herattri
butest heyar etryi
ngt oopt i
mize,

42
i
ncludi
ngcost,manufacturabil
ity
,perfor
mance, andsoon.I
naddit
ion,
therearemyr
iadot
her
fact
orsgui
dingproductdev el
opmentdeci sionsnotcov
eredbyLCAs,i
ncludi
ngsoci
ali
mpact
s
andaccept
ance,pri
cing,polit
icalagendas,andregul
ati
ons.

LCAandt
heThr
eeChoi
ces

1.I
mpact
s–Any

2.Scope–Al
ll
if
ecy
clest
ages

3.Met
ri
cs–Measur
ement
sfr
om act
ual
productl
i
fecy
cle,
suppor
tedbydat
atabl
es

"
Whew,
Inev
erknewenv
ironment
alassessmentwassuchacompl
exwor
ld!
"br
eat
hedTom.
"Well
,we'veal
readydecidedthatwewantedt
ousemeasurement
sforourThi
rdChoi
ce,
theone
onmet r
ics.I
fonlyther
ewer eahandytabl
etoshowuswhatTool
swereavail
abl
etousnow,
giv
enourt hr
eechoices.
"

AHandyTabl
eofTool
sfort
heThr
eeChoi
ces

Choi
ce1:I
mpact
s Choi
ce2:Scope Choi
ce3:Met
ri
cs

Comments,
I
ntui
ti
on Any Vi
sibl
est
ages checkmar
ks,
scores

Setboundary,
Checkmar
ks,
Pr
oductScor
ecar
ds Any usual
lyproduct
scor
es
mfgandassembl y

Concept
ualLi
feCy
cle Any(butusual
l
ynot
Al
ll
if
ecy
clest
ages Scor
es
Thi
nking speci
fi
c)

Qual
it
ati
veLCA Any Al
ll
if
ecy
clest
ages Scor
es

Li
feCycl
e-Based Measurements
Any Al
ll
if
ecy
clest
ages
Desi
gnAssessment (
secondarydat
a)

Li
feCy cl
e Measur
ements
Any Al
ll
if
ecy
clest
ages
Assessment(
LCA) (
pri
marydat
a)

"I
tlooksl
ikewhatIneedisaLi
feCy
cle-
BasedDesi
gnAssessment
,"sai
dPr
isci
ll
a."Si
nceI
al
readyhavemymodeli nSOLI
DWORKS, i
tmakessensef
ormetouseSust
ainabil
i
ty.
"
"
Idotoo,
"sai
dTom." SoI'
llst
artouti
nSOLI
DWORKSSustai
nabil
it
ytoo.Buti
fIwantt
ousemy
r
esul
tsinmarket
ing,
I'
llev
entuall
yneedt
odoanLCAtoveri
fytheresul
ts.
"

43
Chapt
er5:
SoWhat
?(I
nter
pret
ingt
heResul
ts)
Thepr evioussectionshavelaidoutthecontextofsustai
nabil
it
yanddescr ibedhowt oknowit
wheny ouseei t
.Howev er
,allofthati
nformati
onisirr
elevanti
fitdoesn’tenableaction—the
pointofassessi ngandreporti
ngenv i
ronmentalimpactsistogiveyouinformat i
ononhow
designchoi cesaffectt
herelati
vesustainabi
l
ityofoneproductcompar edwi thotheropti
ons.
Thissectionandt heonest hatfoll
owshowhowt oputallofthatinf
ormat i
oni nt
oact i
on.

Thefir
ststepistodeter
minewhatt heresult
softheenvi
ronmentali
mpactassessment smean.
Nomat terwhichtool
sortechniquesyouused,youshoul
dhav esomeimpacti nformati
onabout
yourproduct
.Aswasnot edear l
ier
,sust
ainabl
edesi
gnisar el
ati
veconcept,soyoushoul dal
so
haveimpactinfor
mationagainstwhichtocompareit
.Commoncompar isonsinclude:

St
andards:Thesemaybecer
tai
nthresholdsori
mpactpr
ofi
l
est
hathav
ebeenaccept
edas
i
ndust
ry,ormay beev
enj
ustcompany,standar
ds.

Previ
ousDesigns:
Thegoal
maybet
omakeeachgener
ati
onofapr
oductmor
esust
ainabl
ethan
theprev
iousone.

Competi
ti
vePr
oduct
s:Whetherf
ormarketposi
ti
oningori
nter
nal
pur
poses,
iti
ssomet
imes
hel
pful
tocompar
etoothercompani
es’sol
uti
ons.

Alt
ernat
iveDesi
gns:Oneoft
hemostcommonistocomparevari
ati
onsonagi
vendesi
gnt
o
eachothert
onarrowdowndevel
opmentt
othebest
,mostsustai
nabl
edesi
gnopt
ions.

Thecompar
isonsetshoul
dhavebeenidenti
fi
edearl
yinthepr
ocesssothatrel
evanti
mpact
i
nfor
mati
onaboutthealt
ernat
ivedesi
gnscouldbegather
edasapartoftheoveral
lpr
ocess.

Asyouconductthecomparisons,i
t’
simportanttoknowwhatdiffer
encesaremeani
ngful
.The
si
gni
ficanceofanydi
ffer
encesidenti
fi
edwi l
ldependontheproductsandthemeasur
ement
appr
oachused.Foreventhemor edata-dr
iventechni
quesused,notal
li
ncrement
al
i
mprov ement
sareworthinvest
igat
ing.Asasi mplerul
eofthumb:

A+/-10%diff
erenceononeorsever
alenvi
ronmentali
ndicat
orsgivesani
ndicat
ionthatthe
changesbet
weent heopt
ionscanbeconsi
dered“
direct
ional
ly”cor
rect
.Chancesare,you’
re
mov i
ngontheri
ghtpath.

Forarel
ati
vel
ysi
mpleproduct—li
kePrisci
ll
a’
scup—adi
ff
erenceof+/
-30%ont
hei
ndi
cat
or(
s)i
s
gener
all
yameaningf
ull
ygreenerproduct.

Foramor ecompl exproduct,

thedecreaseini
mpactthatyoushouldlooktoseetoidenti
fya
greenerproductarehi
gher,perhaps+/-40-
50%,becausethechancesofoverl
ooki
ngpr ocess
stepsorincorr
ectl
ymodel i
ngsomeassumpt i
onsincr
easewiththecomplexi
tyoftheproduct.

Thesemayseem l i
kelargepercentages,buttheycanser veasahel pf
ul r
emi ndernottoget
caughtupintryi
ngt otweaklessr el
evantaspectsofapr oductandinsteadt of ocusonthe
majorcontr
ibutorstoit
simpact s.Thisi
spar t
icularl
ytr
uegi v
ent heneedfort hedesignerto
si
mul t
aneouslybalancetheenvironmentalimpact sofaproductwi t
hitscost, durabi
l
ity
,and
otherdesi
gncr i
ter
ia,al
ongwi t
hhowi tf
it
sinwi ththeoverallpr
oductstrategy.

44
“Wow,that’
snotasaccur
ateasIt
houghtgi
venal
loft
hecal
cul
ati
onsbehi
ndourLCAdat
a,”sai
d
Tom r
eflect
ivel
y.
“Actual
l
y,Ithi
nkit
’spret
tyaccurate,
”respondedPrisci
ll
a.“Keepi
nmi ndthatmeasur
ingasi
ngl
e
product
’simpactonaglobalenv i
ronmentalmetri
clikecli
matechangeisli
ketr
yingt
opredi
ct
theweatherinBostonathousandy earsfr
om today.”
Oncey ouhav easensef orwhichi mpactar easar ewor thlooki
ngat,whet herbecauseoft he
signi
ficanceoft heirdif
ferencesf rom al
ternativesorot herreasons(e.g.
,acor poratefocuson
carbonf ootprint),i
tistimet olookf orwayst oreducet hoseimpactsasef f
ectivelyaspossi bl
e.
Inmanycases, therearecer tai
nel ementsoft hedesi gnorproductli
fecyclet hatgener at
emost
ofthei mpact .It
’sof t
enacl assicexampl eoft he80/ 20rule,wit
h20%oft hedesi gncont r
ibuting
80%oft heimpact .Forinstance, i
ndecreasi ngthei mpactofanel ectr
iccoffeemakert he
tempt ati
onmi ghtbet or emoldt heplasti
chousi ng,sinceplast
icisgenerall
yconsi deredal ess-
than-sustainablemat er
ial.Howev er,si
mplyshor teningtheelectr
iccorddecr easesitsov erall
i
mpactmanyt imeswhati ssav edbyr epl
aci ngthehandl e;anddecreasingitsener gyusagemay
evendwar fthatimpact .
“Alr
ight
,enoughpr
eparat
ion,
Tom!It
hinkweknowenoughnowt
oresponsi
blydi
gint
oour
product
s.CanIgofir
st?”

Chapt
er6:
ARedesi
gnedCup,
AReconsi
der
edToy
Pr
isci
l
la'
sChal
l
enge:
Redesi
gni
ngapl
ast
iccup(
Sust
ainabi
l
ity
Xpr
ess&Sust
ainabi
l
ity
)

Tom'
sTur
n:Reconsi
der
ingachi
l
dren'
stoy(
Sust
ainabi
l
ityonl
y)

Pr
isci
l
la’
sChal
l
enge
Downloadthemodel
toplayal
ongwi t
hthi
sexampl
e
(ht
tps:
//f
il
es.
sol
i
dworks.
com/sust
ainabi
li
ty/
Gui
de_
cup_
fil
es.
zip)
.

"Let'
sst ar
tbyopeningupSustai
nabil
i
tyXpressi
nthepartmodel
,
"sai
dPri
sci
ll
a."Idon'
thav
eful
l
Sust ai
nabil
it
y,butIshoul
dbeabletodowhatIneedt odoformypar
t.
"Tom l
ookedover
Priscil
l
a'sshoulderasshefi
redupSustai
nabil
it
yXpr
ess.
"Al
ri
ght,Iseeal
istofdrop-
downopti
onstoi
nputsomebasicdesi
gnparamet
erssot
hati
tcan
cal
culat
emyi mpacts.Fi
rst
,I'
l
lmakesur
ethemateri
alsar
esetcor
rect
ly.
"

"
Yep,
ther
e'st
hePET.Looksl
i
kei
t'
sapr
ett
yli
ghtpar
t.Andt
her
e'st
he'
Fi
ndSi
mil
ar'
tool
,I

45
def
ini
tel
ywantt
ocheckt
hatoneout
.
"Nexti
t'
saskingmeaboutt hemanufacturi
ngprocessfort
hepar
t.Let'
ssee,
"saidPri
sci
l
laas
sheglancedatherprocessfl
owdiagram sket
ch,"i
t'
sInj
ect
ionMoldedinAsi
a,andlet
'sl
ookat
thescenari
oofusingiti
ntheNort
hAmer i
canmar ket
s."

46
"
Howdoesi
tgetf
rom Asi
atoNor
thAmer
ica?
"askedTom.
"Well
,itgoesbyboat ,butitlooksli
ket her
e'snoopti
ontosett hetr
ansportmodeinmyv er
sion…
butIthinkthere'
ssomedef ault
spost edonwhatituses."Pr
iscil
lacheckedoutthe
Sustai
nabili
tyXpressDefaultDistancesandconfir
medt hati
tassumesherst acksofcupsare
shi
ppedf rom portsinAsiatoNor thAmer ica.
"Andwow,that'
sal
lIneed.Sust
ainabi
l
ity
Xpr
essi
snowgi
vi
ngmesomeest
imat
esoft
he
envi
ronmentali
mpact.

47
See,ithasfouroft
hef
ivedomai
nst
hatIwant
edt
omeasur
e.I
test
imat
est
hatasi
ngl
ecupi
s
responsibl
efor:

 0.
09kg-
eqCO2,
or90gr
amsofcar
bon-
equi
val
entgr
eenhousegases;

 1.
6MJofnon-
renewabl
eener
gyconsumedt
hroughoutt
hel
i
fecy
cle(
wow,
that
's
al
otf
oral
it
tl
ecup!);

 5.
8e-
4kg-
eqSO2ofAi
rAci
dif
icat
ion;
and

 3.
9e-
5kg-
eqPO4ofWat
erEut
rophi
cat
ion.
"Wel
l,abouttheonl
ymeasurementthatmeansany
thi
ngtomeint
heabsol
utesenseisthe
ener
gydemand.IguessI '
l
lsett
hisasthebasel
i
nesoIcanpl
aywi
thsomediff
erentdesi
gnsand
seehowt heycompare.
"

48
Af
terset
ti
ngthebaseli
ne,
Pri
sci
l
lasavedthemodel(
wit
htheSust
ainabi
l
ityopt
ionsset
),anddi
d
aSaveAstoplaywit
hsomenewr edesi
gnpar
ametersi
nacleanf
il
e.

"
Nowfortheredesign.Iwanttost
artbydoingt
heobv i
ousthi
ngandseeingtheeff
ect
sof
manuf
act
uringthislocal
l
y,i
nNor t
hAmer i
cawhereit
'sbei
ngused."Pr
isci
ll
achangedthe
manuf
act
uringlocationf
rom Asi
atoNorthAmerica,
andhereyesopenedwi deatt
heresul
t:

49
"
What?
!It
'sact
uall
ynotcl
ear
lybett
ertomanufact
urelocal
l
y!I
tappearstobebetterforai
rand
wat
eri
mpacts,butsi
nceI
'
mt ry
ingtoopt
imizeonallf
ourimpacts,
Ihavetoreconsidersi
nceit
's
wor
seoncarbonandener
gydemand.Iguessthat'
sbecausetr
uckingmycupsar oundwithi
n

50
Nor
thAmer
icahasgr
eat
eri
mpact
spermi
l
ethanshi
ppi
ngal
lthewayf
rom Asi
a."
"Howabouttr
yingtochangethemateri
alyou'
reusi
ngi
nstead?"of
fer
edTom.Pri
sci
ll
anodded
andchangedtheopti
onsbacktomanuf act
uri
nginAsi
a.Shethencli
ckedt
he"
FindSi
mil
ar"tool
,
andwaspresentedbythefol
l
owingdial
ogbox.

"OK,
thesearetheengi
neeri
ngpr oper
ti
esofmyPETmater
ial
,andIcanseet
hebaseli
nei
mpacts
ofmypartdownbelow.It
'saskingmet onar
rowdownmyengineer
ingr
equi
rement
ssothati
t
cansuggestal
ter
natemateri
als.
Let'
ssee.Idon'twanttoleavetheclassofplasti
cs,becausethat'
swhatI'
m comfort
abl
e
workingwi t
h.Iwantt
ot r
yapol ymerthat
'sli
ghterthanPETsot hatIcanreducethewei
ghtfor
tr
anspor t
,butIneedacertainmini
malstrengthsot hati
tdoesn'tbr
eakinpacki
ngandshippi
ng."
Pri
scill
anarrowedtheoptionstoref
lectt
heser equir
ements:

51
"
Andnowl
et'
scl
i
ck'
Fi
ndSi
mil
ar'
andseewhati
tsuggest
s!"

52
"Ohmygosh, that'
squit
eali
st.Icantossafewoft hesebecausethey'
retooexpensiv
e, some
becauseIjusthavenoexperi
encewor ki
ngwitht
hem, andsomebecauset hey
'r
ejustplainsi
ll
y
foracup."Pri
scil
l
acli
ckedthecheckboxestotheleftoft
hemat eri
alsshewantedtokeep, and
thencli
ckedtheiconlef
tofthe"Mater
ial
s"headi
ngt osortt
helist
.

53
Shethenclickedonthefirstmaterialt
oseeitscomparati
vei
mpact." Ohboy,ABSi
salotworse
thanthePETonal lf
ourindicator
s."Sheconti
nueddownt hemater
ials,andbegant
oworryt
hat
shewouldn'
tf i
ndamor esust ai
nablemater
ial
.Shegotdownt opol
y propyl
enehomopol
ymer,
andrejoi
ceduponseeinggr eenbarsonallfouri
ndicat
ors:

54
"That'
sgreat
!"shesaid,butthenshethoughtabouttheotherengineer
ingpropert
ies."
Ohman,
I
'dreall
yli
ket ousesomet hi
ngthathassimilari
nsul
ati
ngpr opert
iesasPET, andtheconducti
vi
ty
ofPPi spret
tydiff
erent,
"shesaidtoTom."Butthelastremainingchoi
cei sHigh-
Impact
Polyst
yrene,andeveryoneknowshowbadt hati
s.Polysty
reneiswhatt heymakeSt yr
ofoam
from,aft
erall.
"
"
Tryi
tany
way
,"sai
dTom."
Ithasasi
mil
arconduct
ivi
tyt
oyourPET.
"
Wi
thoutexpect
ingmuch,
Pri
sci
l
lacl
i
ckedont
he"
PSHI
"mat
eri
alandwassur
pri
sedt
ofi
nd:

55
"
Greenbar
s!!
"Pr
isci
ll
aproclai
med."HI
PSi
sagr
eenermat
eri
alonal
lfouri
ndi
cat
ors,
compar
ed
t
oPET.Whowoul dhavethoughti
t!
"
"Car
eful
,"sai
dTom, "
youknowthere'
snosuchthingasami r
acl
emat
eri
al.St
il
l,
int
his
appl
icat
ion,i
tlooksl
i
keHIPSisthebestmater
ialyoucanuse.
"
Pri
sci
ll
acli
ckedAccept,
andthencli
ckedt
heSetMat
eri
albut
toni
ntheSust
ainabi
l
itypanet
oset
herpar
ttoHigh-
ImpactPol
ystyr
ene.

"Sust
ainabi
li
tyi
sn'
tj
ustaboutthemater
ialchoi
ce,"sai
dTom."
Ist
her
esomet
hingy
oucandot
o
r
edesi
gnt hegeometr
yofthecuptouselessmat eri
al?
"
Pri
sci
ll
athoughtaboutthat."
Hmm, let
'ssee.Icoul
dmakethecupr eal
l
ytallandski
nny,orwi
de
andsquat;
Iwonderwhatt hatdoestotheenv i
ronment
ali
mpact?"SheresettheBasel
i
neby
cl
icki
ngoncetoreleaseit
,andagaintosetittothenewmater
ial
.

56
Pri
scil
la,bei
ngar el
ati
veSOLI DWORKSnov ice,
figuredthatt
heeasiestwayforhert
omodelt
he
volumewasi nasepar at
epar t
.SheopenedanewSOLI DWORKSdocument ,madeaquick
sketchwiththeroughshapeanddi mensionsoft hecup,andrevol
veditasasoli
d.Aqui
ck
checkoft heMassPr opert
iestol
dherthevolumeoft hecup,andshecouldplaywit
hthe
dimensionsofthesolidthr
ought r
ial
ander r
ortomat chthevolumeofhercup.

"Letmet rymakingthecupext remelyt al

landskinny, orr
eall
ywi deandshor t
."Shefigur
edout
thedimensionstomat cht hevolume, andtheneditedt hesketchi nherCupmodelt ohavea
bottom radi
usof0.50, atopradiusof0. 75,andahei ghtof30i nches.Aftertheybothlaughed,
Prisci
l
laexcit
edt hesketchandcheckedt heSustainabili
tydashboar d—allthegainsfrom
changingmat er
ialwouldbel ost,asshewasact uallyabov etheor i
ginalPETbasel i
ne,nowat
0.11kg-eqCO2and2. 20MJener gy,withsimil
arincreasesinai randwat ereffect
s.
Next,
Pri
sci
ll
atri
edtheopposit
e—shechangedt hedimensi
onstoabot
tom radi
usof2.
90,
at op
r
adiusof3.
50,andaheightof1.15.Af
teranot
hergiggl
e,Pr
isci
l
lasawt
hatthiswasal
soworse
t
hanthebaseli
neat0.
09kg-eqCO2and1. 70MJofenergy.
"Hmm, i
tseemst hatshortandwi deortallandnar r
owar ebothwor se.Per hapstheclosermy
cupget stotheideallowestsurface-ar
ea-
t o-
volumer ati
o—agl obe—thelessmat er
iali
t'
lluse,
andt helowerimpacti t
'l
lbe.
"Shet ri
edafewnewgeomet r
ies,andfoundt hatusingabot tom
radiusof1.45,t
opr adiusof2.50,andheightof3. 00incheswoul dholdthesamev olume, AND
yiel
dedgr eenbarsallaround:0.
58kg- eqCO2, 1.1MJener gy ,
4.20e-4kg-SO2ai rimpact,and
3.00e-5kg-eqPO4wat erimpact.Thenewcupdesi gnlookedl i
kethis:

"I
t'
sjustabitlessimpact
fulonallfourindi
cators,butthatwilladdup.IwonderhowIdi dagainst
theori
ginalmodel,wit
hbotht hemateri
alandt hegeomet rychanges? "Pri
scil
lacl
ickedthe
"I
mpor tBaseli
ne"but
tontot heri
ghtofthe"SetBaseline"button,andselectedherorigi
nalsaved
partf
il
ei nwhichshehadfirstsettheSustai
nabili
typaramet ersusingtheoldgeomet ryandthe
PETmat eri
al.TheSustai
nabi l
i
tydashboardnowshowedt hecumul ati
veeffect
sofhermodel :

57
"Ni
cewor k.Let
'sseehowyoudidcompar ingyourfunct
ionaluni
t,
"saidTom.Pri
scil
lacli
ckedt he
nextbutt
oni nt
hesequence,
mar ked"Onli
neInfo"
.ThislaunchedtheSustai
nabi
li
tyCalcul
ator,
wherePrisci
ll
acouldty
peinheractualquanti
ti
estocompar eagainstsev
eraldi
ff
erentmetrics.
Shetypedin100ineachquanti
tybox:

58
Shehitt
he"Cal
cul
ate"but
tonandexpl
oredt
hedi
ff
erentway
sthatSust
ainabi
l
itycoul
dshowt
he
di
ff
erence.
"
Thisisfantasti
c!"shesaid."Iseea31%reducti
oninEner
gy,a38%r educt
ioni nCarbon,
a25%
r
educti
oni nWat erimpacts,andmyAi ri
mpactsbecomenegli
gibl
e.Accordingtotheguidel
i
nes
f
orsimplepr oducts,Icanbepr et
tysur
ethatminei
ssigni
fi
cantl
ymor esustainabl
e.
"
Sot hat'
sfourofmyf iv
ekeyi
ndi
cat
or s.Ididwanttomeasuret
hefif
thi
mpactdomainofhuman
t
oxicity
,though.SOLIDWORKSSust
ainabili
tydoesn'
tseem t
ohaveanyt
oxi
cit
yindi
cat
ors…
what'supwi t
hthat?
"
WhyTher
eAr
en'
tAnyToxi
cit
yIndi
cat
orsi
nSOLI
DWORKSSust
ainabi
l
ity
Thet oxicit
yofachemi cal—anditsharmf ulnesstohumans—i spar ti
cular l
ydependentont he
degreeofexposur eoft hechemical,
whi chi shardtotrackusi ngLCAdat abases,astheytrack
mor egl obaleffect
s.Aftergett
ingtogethert odebatethisv er
yi ssue, groupoft heworld'
sleadi
ng
scienti
st sandLCApr acti
ti
oners—sponsor edbyt heUN—deci dedt hattoxi ci
tymodelssopoor l
y
predictedther eali
mpact sthattheyshoul dn'tbeusedtogui debusi nessdeci si
onsuntilt
he
model si mproved.Theypr oducedadocumentt othi
sef fect,
cal l
edt histheDecl ar
ati
onof
Apeldoor nafterthelocati
onoft hemeet ing.
"Wel
lIguessthatmakessense,
"sai
dPri
sci
l
la."
I'
m surewhent
het
oxi
cit
ymodel
sbecome
usef
ul,
they'
l
laddthem i
ntoSOLIDWORKSSustai
nabil
i
ty.
"

Tom’
sTur
n
Downloadthemodel
toplayal
ongwi t
hthi
sexampl
e
(ht
tps:
//f
il
es.
sol
i
dworks.
com/sust
ainabi
li
ty/
Gui
de_
fir
e_engi
ne.
zip)
.

“Nowl
et’
sseewhatIcandofort
hismorecompl
exproduct
!Iact
ual
lyhav
eful
lSust
ainabi
l
ityon
mymachi
ne,
”sai
dTom, “sol
etmefir
eitupi
nassemblymodewithmytoymodel
.”

59
Fi
rst,Tom wentt
hrougheachofhispar
tsandmadesur
et hateachofthe
parameter
s—mat er
ial
sandlocat
ions—wer
esetf
oreachpart.Then,Tom v
iewedSust
ainabi
l
ity
attheassemblyl
evel,
andPrisci
l
lasawacoupl
enewoptionsav ai
l
able:

60
“TheAssembl yProcessregi
oni snowspeci
fyi
ngwheretheproducti
sassembl ed,
whichaddsa
secondt ransport
ati
onlegtoeachoftheindi
vi
dualpartmanufact
uri
ngregi
ons,”Tom expl
ained.
“Andher e,Icanspecif
ytheprimarymodeoftranspor
tat
ionofthi
ssecondleg.Aswi t
hyourcup,
myt oyisassembl edinAsia—thoughnotal
lofthepar
tsaremanufactur
edthere,aswe
discussedear l
ier
—andusedi nNorthAmeri
ca,andsentacrossbyshi
p.”
“
Andwhat
’st
hatener
gybox?
”Pr
isci
l
laasked.
“That’
swhereIcanspeci
fyhowmuchenergyisusedbymyproduct
.It
’sgi
venintermsofthe
energytypeconsumedovert
hel
if
eti
meoft hepr
oduct—gasol
i
ne,di
esel
,el
ectri
cit
y,et
c.I
nmy
case,Iassumedthatmytoy’
sAAbatt
erywouldberechar
gedfr
om t
hegridtenti
mes.”

Tom pull
edupsomef iguresf
orAAbat t
eri
es.“Let’
ssee,
”hesaid.“AnAAbatter
yhasacapacity
of2500mi ll
i
amp- hours( mAh)atjustov
erav olt
,sothat
’sabout3watt-
hours(Wh)perbat
tery.
Tenbatter
yr echargeswoul ddraw30Wh, or0.03kWhov ertheli
fet
imeofthetoy.
”Heentered
thi
svalueintothePr oductLif
etimeEnergyi
nputparameter:

Fi
nal
l
y,Tom basel
i
nedt
hesepar
amet
ersandl
ookedatt
her
esul
ts:

61
“Youknow,I’
m surpri
sedatwhatt hechar
tsareshowingme,”hesai
dtoPrisci
l
la.“Iexpect
edt he
powerdrawt osi
gnifi
cantl
yimpacttheTransport
ati
onandUsephase,butasyoucanseei t
’s
real
l
yprett
ynegligi
ble.Iguessiti
sn’
thypocri
ti
caltobetr
yingt
omakeal ower-
carbonbat t
ery-
poweredtoy.That’
sencouraging!

“WhatIam seeing,
”heconti
nued,“i
sthatthemater
ial
s,andthemanuf
act
uri
ngpr
ocess
associ
atedwiththesemater
ial
s,consti
tut
ethebulkofthei
mpacts.
”
“
Whichones,
though?
”askedPr
isci
l
la.“
Thi
stoyhasal
otofdi
ff
erentpar
tsofdi
ff
erent
mat
eri
als.
”

62
“
Iknow,
andIdon’twantt
oopeneachonetolookatit
sindi
vi
dualSust
ainabi
l
ityr
esul
ts.Let
’s
l
ookatt
hist
hroughtheAssembl
yVisual
i
zat
iontool
.”
Tom openedAssemblyVisual
izati
on,
whi chPr
isci
l
lahadseenusedbef
oref
orv
iewing
componentsby,say,
tot
alweight.Tom showedherhowhecouldaddacust
om col
umnforany
oft
heSust ai
nabi
li
tymetr
ics:

63
SinceTom want edtogetanest i
mat eofhiscarbonf ootprint,hewantedtouseoneoft he
carbonpr opert
ies.Hechose“ Tot alCarbon”,whichgroupedt ogethermult
ipl
einst
ancesofpart
s,
tov i
ewf orinst
ancet heeffectofallfourwheelst ogether.Headdedt hi
scolumnandcl i
ckedon
i
tt osortthepar t
sbyt hi
sindicator.Finall
y,Tom setthev isualizi
ngspectr
um tomeaningful
colorsandmov edtheslidertoanappr opri
atecutoff
:

“
There,
”sai
dTom.“NowIcanseepr
ett
yclear
lywhatt
hemosti
mpact
fulpar
tsar
einmymodel
.”
HeshowedPri
sci
l
lather
esul
ti
ngcol
or-
codedassembl
y:

64
“From t hesorti
ngandt hemodel ,Icanclear l
yseethatthewheelsandt hehubar ethemai n
partsthatIshoul dfocusonwhenIr edesignmyt oy.I
nf act
,Icanalr
eadyseet hattherearealot
ofmat erial
sthatar elessimpactfulthanABS, soIcanlowerthefootpri
ntsubstanti
all
y;andit’
s
greattoknowt hatwor kingwit
hmysuppl i
erstoseewhatdi ff
erentmateri
alsareavail
abletome
withi
nt hetargetcost-of-goodsrangewi llreal
lymakeadi ff
erence,r
atherthanlooki
ngatt he
tr
anspor tat
ionort hepoweruse.
TomakesurethatTom wasn’
tmi
ssi
nganyint
ernalcomponent
sthathadsi
gni
fi
canti
mpact
s,
Tom cr
oss-
secti
onedt
hev i
ewtol
ookinsi
de:

65
“IknowwhatIshouldf
ocuson,
andIhaveaquicksenseofmycarbonf
ootpr
int
.Nowl etme
generat
eareportt
hatIcant
aketot
herestofmyteam toshowt
hem whatI’
vefound.
”
Tom checkedoutacoupl
ecr
it
icali
temsi
nther
epor
t,suchasasnapshotoft
hei
mpact
dashboard…

66
…Andal
ookatt
het
opt
hreemosti
mpact
fulcomponent
s:

67
Tom’sful
lsustai
nabi
l
ityr
epor
tisincl
udedinthefir
e_engi
ne.
zipfi
le
(ht
tps:
//f
il
es.
soli
dworks.
com/sust
ainabi
l
ity
/Guide_f
ir
e_engi
ne.zi
p)

“
Thisinfor
mationgivesmeascr
eening-
lev
ellookatthestar
ti
ngpoi
ntforredesi
gni
ngmyt oy
,as
wellasbal
lpar
kfigur
esofwhatI
’l
levent
uall
ybeabl etousei
nmymar keti
ng,onceIper
for
ma
f
ullLif
eCycleAssessmentont
heredesi
gnedpr oduct
.”
Andwit
ht hat
,Tom andPri
sci
ll
astart
edredesi
gni
ngthetoyf
ir
eengine.Cany
oucomeupwi
tha
l
owercarbonnumberthanthefi
naldesi
gntheywereabl
etoproduce?

Chapt
er7:
TheSust
ainabl
eDesi
gnSt
rat
egi
es
Lookingati
mpactsint
hecontextofli
fecycl
estagesisagoodwayt omeasur
ethem,butnotas
hel
pfulwhenact
uall
ydesi
gni
ngorr edesi
gning;
afteral
l,
sust
ainabl
edesi
gnstr
ategi
esoft
en

68
af
fectmor
ethanonest
age.

Let
’sl
ookataf
ewoft
hest
rat
egi
est
hatTom andPr
isci
l
laempl
oyed.

Lev
el1:
ProductDesi
gn-Par
amet
ri
cOpt
imi
zat
ion

Lev
el2:
ProductDev
elopment-Fundament
all
yAl
ter
ingt
hePr
oduct

Lev
el3:
ProductI
nnov
ati
on-Changi
ngt
heSy
stem

Lev
el1:
ProductDesi
gn-Par
amet
ri
cOpt
imi
zat
ion
We’
vef ocusedint hesei
nit
ialexampl esonparamet
ri
copt i
mizationt hati
s,t
akingspecifi
csteps
t
oincrement al
lyreducemat eri
alandenergyimpact
s.Thisoftenr esult
sinquick,
low-hanging-
f
rui
treductionsint heov
erallproductimpact
.Herearesomest rategieswesawi naction:

Sour
cingLocal
l
y
Pri
scil
l
a’sfi
rstatt
emptwast omovet hemanufactur
ingoper
ati
onclosertotheregi
onofuse.As
shefoundout,thi
sisoft
enhighl
ydependentont hemodesoftransport
ati
onbeingcompared,
notj
ustthedistancesi
nvolv
ed.General
lyspeaki
ng,t
hemodesoft ranspor
tati
onli
stedi
n
decr
easingorderofenvi
ronmentali
mpactare:

1.Ai
rtr
anspor
t

2.Tr
uckt
ranspor
t

3.Rai
ltr
anspor
t

4.Shi
ptr
anspor
t

Besidesdist
anceandmode, anothertranspor
tat
ionfactori
sthequal
it
yofthef uelused,which
i
salsor egi
onall
ydependent.Fuel sourcedinAsi
aof t
enhasahighersulf
urcontent,forexample,
rai
singtheacidi
fi
cat
ionpotentialofthet r
anspor
tleg.Iti
sassumedthatthefuelissourcedin
theregi
onofor i
ginf
oreacht ransportati
onleg.

Thet r
anspor t
ationimpact sofchangingthemanuf acturi
ngr egionmaybeout wei
ghedbythe
regi
onaldifferencesinmanuf actur
ing,howev er.Manufact
ur i
ngenergy—inthefor
m ofther
mal
energy(naturalgas,steam generati
on,etc.)andelect
ricalenergy—var
yinamounts,eff
ici
enci
es
andsour cesindi f
fer
entr egi
ons.Thegr i
dmi xi
ntheregionofmanuf actur
ehasani mpactonthe
energyandot herindicatorsi
ntheManuf acturi
ngphase.

Al
ter
nat
eMat
eri
alSel
ect
ion.
Pri
sci
ll
a’
ssecondtacti
cwastofi
ndadifferentmat
eri
alf
orhercup.Mat
eri
alst
hatdesi
gner
sand
engi
neerssel
ectshoul
dsat
isf
yfourcr
it
eria:

1.Themat
eri
almustf
unct
ionasi
ntended;

5.Themat
eri
almustpr
ovi
det
her
ightaest
het
ic,
ergonomi
c,andot
herf
orm consi
der
ati
ons;

6.Themat
eri
al’
scostmustbei
nther
angeoft
hepr
oduct
’scostofgoods;
and

69
 7.Themat
eri
al’
senv
ironment
ali
mpact
sshoul
dbemi
nimi
zed.

Toooften,
weopti
mizeforthefi
rstt
hreecri
ter
iaandi
gnorethefourt
h.Pri
scil
l
awor kedthr
ough
the“
FindSimi
l
ar”mater
ialsel
ect
iontoolt
ofindamateri
althatsat
isf
iedal
lfourcr
it
er i
a.

Priscil
l
awasqui tesurpr
isedtofindthatHigh-I
mpactPolystyr
ene(HIPS)sat
isf
iedal
lfourcri
ter
ia,
i
ncl udi
nglowerenv i
ronmentalimpacts,t
hanherorigi
nalPET.Somet i
mesourassumpt i
ons
aboutmat eri
als—li
kepolyst
yrene,PVC,orv ar
iousmetal
s—ar ebasedmoreonnegativepress
thanonsci ent
ifi
cdata.Bywor ki
ngwi t
hdata-dri
ventool
slikeSOLIDWORKSSust ai
nabil
i
ty,we
canshar penourintui
ti
onsaboutmat eri
alimpacts.

Li
ght
wei
ght
ing(
alsocal
l
edsour
cer
educt
ion)
.
Fi
nal
ly,Pr
isci
ll
ar e-examinedthegeomet ryofthecuptoseeifshecouldusel
essmateri
alt
o
hol
dthesamev olumeofl iqui
d.Li
ghtweighti
ng,orsour
cereducti
on,i
soneofthemostcommon
waystooptimi
zef orgr
eenerdesigns,especi
allysi
ncethi
sreducesoveral
lmat
eri
alcost
sas
wel
l.

Onecr it
icalconsider
ati
onforload-
beari
ngmat eri
alst
hatarebeinglightwei
ghtedistoensur
e
thatthepr oductsti
ll
hasenoughst r
engthtoperfor
m asintended,
wi thi
nanappr opri
atef
act
orof
safety.SOLIDWORKShaspower f
ulSimulat
iontool
sthatcanbeusedi nconcertwit
h
Sustainabili
tytoopti
mizestr
engthandreducedi mpact
,whichwe’llexplor
einfutureexampl
es.

Lev
el2:
ProductDev
elopment-Fundament
all
yAl
ter
ingt
hePr
oduct
Tom struggledwit
ht hislevelofredesigninthediscussionsofhisfunct
ionalunitandsy stem
boundary.Hewant edan“ i
nteract
ivetoy”,buti
sabat tery-
oper
atedspeakerandl ightstheonl y
wayt oachievei
nteractiv
ity?Whathappenst otheenv i
ronmentalimpactifthepar entreplaces
therechargeabl
ebat t
erywi thdisposables,i
sdrawingpowerf rom batt
eri
es“ di
rt
ier ”t
han
drawingpowerf r
om t hegrid?Andwhatoft hebatteri
es’impactatendofl i
fe?

Tom couldfundament al
l
ychangehisproductt
obeonet hatwasn’tbatt
ery-
oper
ated,butst
il
l
i
nteracti
ve.Theonl
ywayt oknowifheshouldf
ocushiseffort
sont hebatt
erywouldbeto
i
ncludeitintheenvi
ronmentalimpactcal
cul
ati
ons.We’l
ltalkaboutwaystomodel t
hiswhenwe
rev
isitTom’sfi
reengine.

Lev
el3:
ProductI
nnov
ati
on-Changi
ngt
heSy
stem
Final
ly,Pri
sci
ll
athoughtear
lyintheprocessaboutt hesy stem inwhi chshewaspr oduci
ngher
cup.Productinnovati
onandsystem redesi
gngoesbey ondpr oductdesi
gn,andtouchesupon
reconsider
ingpeople’
sbehavi
ors,andthewayt heyinteractwi t
htheproductsyst
em.Shef el
t
thatherplast
iccupwasn’tastri
ctl
ynecessaryproducti nal l
si t
uati
ons,andthatperhapsa
reusablemetalcupwouldmeanal oweroveral
limpacti fmor epeopl eweretoadoptt he
practi
ceofcarryi
ngoroffer
ingthese.We’ll
takeal ookatt hissy st
em redesi
gninthef ut
ure,and
considerhowt ocomparethesetwomodel sandt heirassoci atedbehavior
s.

Chapt
er8:
Communi
cat
ingt
heResul
ts
Productdev
elopmenti
sapr ocessthattouchesmanypartsofanorganizat
ionanditsv
arious
part
nersandcustomers.Sustai
nabledesi
gncangenerateinnov
ati
veandat tr
act
ivesol
uti
ons,
buttheymayneverseethelightofdayunlesst
hefeat
uresandbenefit
scanbecommuni cated

70
ef
fect
ivel
y.

Thi
ssect
ionout
li
nessomewaystocommunicatethevalueofsust
ainabl
esol
uti
onst
osev
eral
oft
hemajorst
akehol
der
sinv
olv
edwithmostproducts.

Todesi
gner
sandengi
neer
sunf
ami
l
iarwi
thsust
ainabl
edesi
gn

Togener
almanagement

Toot
herpar
tsoft
hesuppl
ychai
n

Tosal
es&mar
ket
ing

Todesi
gner
sandengi
neer
sunf
ami
l
iarwi
thsust
ainabl
edesi
gn
Aswasdi scussedi ntheopeni
ngsecti
onofthi
sguide,
sustainabi
li
tycanmeanmanyt hingsto
people.Forper hapsthemaj or
it
yofdesi
gnersi
tdoesn’
tactuall
ymeanany thi
nginpart
icul
ar.
Thent herearet heengineer
swhohav ethei
mpressi
onthatitis“t
ouchy-
feely
,”t
otal
l
yopt i
onal
,
nottheirproblem, andtooexpensi
ve.

Inst
eadoft r
y i
ngtogot hroughalloftheaspectsofsustainabledesign,descri
bingfunctional
unit
s,midpointcategori
es,andsoon, i
tisbesttofocusoncommonv al
ues.Forinstance,itmay
makemor esenset otal
kaboutsust ai
nabledesignasasetoft oolsdesignedtoidentif
yand
decreasewast e.Thi
swast ecancomei ntheform ofexcessener gy,pol
lutant
s,materialending
upinlandfi
ll
s, andothernon-val
uableby-productsgener
atedov erthelif
ecy cl
eofani tem.Most
envi
ronment alimpactmet r
icsactuall
yrepresentexpl
ici
torinherentwast einthesystem, so
compar i
ngpr oductdesignscanusuallyleadtotheidenti
fi
cati
onofl owerwast eoptions.

I
ncer t
ainsectors,sust
ainabl
edesignrepr
esentsawaytoincorporat
eregul
atoryconsi
der
ati
ons
i
nt hedesignprocess.Whencer t
ainchemical
sormateri
alscannotbeused,suchasinthecase
oftheEU’sRestricti
onofHazardousSubstancesDi
rect
ive(RoHS),LCAtool
scanhel pi
denti
fy
usefulal
ternat
ivesthatdonothavethesamehazardousimpact s.

Togener
almanagement
Inanorgani
zati
onst ri
vingtobeasustai
nabl
ecompany ,asdescri
bedear
li
er,sust
ainabledesign
needli
tt
leexpl
aining.Infact
,insomecasestheremaybesuchl of
tyambi
tionsforsustainabl
e
desi
gnthatthetrade-offsi
denti
fi
edbyimpactassessmentsneedtobeusedt ogroundthe
conver
sati
on.

Incompani eswher esust

ainabil
it
yhasbecomeaf ocus, engineershav eanexcellentoppor t
unit
y
toengagewi t
hmanagementar oundt hegoal sandpr i
or i
ti
est hatdecisionsaboutthepr oducts
shouldr ef
lect
.Somet ool
sandappr oachesmayf i
tbetterthanot her
s, dependingonexpect ed
outcomes.Fori nst
ance,anindustry-widescor ecardwillbemor euseful t
hanani n-
depthLCAi f
thepurposei stobenchmar kandcommuni catewithot hercompani es.Fur t
hermore,thereneeds
tobedi scussionabouthowt ohandlet rade-offsbetweenenv i
ronment alimpactsandot her
considerati
ons,suchascost .Thesear ebusi nessdecisions,whichareexact lywhatengi neeri
ng
andmanagementneedt onav i
gatetoget her.

71
Somet i
mesproductdevel
operswi l
lneedtodiscusssustainabil
it
ywi t
hbusinesspeopleinthe
organi
zati
onwhoeitherdon’tunderstandi
torwhodon’ tthinkiti
sapr i
ori
ty.Aswithengineer
s,
thekeyistot
ransl
ateenvir
onment alimpactconsider
ati
onsi ntotermsthatthesepeopledocare
about.I
nthecaseofmanagement ,twogreatexamplesarepr ofi
tabi
li
tyandriskmanagement .

Profi
tistheresul
tofrevenuemi nuscost .Therefore,
any t
hingthatcanbepr esentedaseitheran
i
ncreaseinrevenueoradecr easeincostwi llgetpeople’satt
ention.Becausemost
envi
ronment ali
mpactstudiesdonotshowf i
nancialconsiderat
ions,itmaybenecessar yto
extr
apolatehowmor eenv i
ronment al
lyresponsibleproductscani ncreaser
ev enue,
perhaps
thr
oughpr emium pr
icingorbettercompet it
ivepositi
oning.Costreduct i
oni
saneasi ercaseto
makesi nce,
asdescribedabov e,excessenv i
ronment ali
mpact sar eanexpressionofwaste.

Envi
ronment alimpactsal sotranslat
ewel li
ntor
isks.Themor ethatacompanycandot o
decreasethenegat i
vei mpactsi t
spr oductshaveonhumanheal thandt heenvir
onment ,t
heless
l
ikel
yt obeunwant edr epercussionsf orwhichthecompanycoul dbehel daccountable.Of
course,sustai
nabledesi gndoesn’tguar anteeproductsafet
y.Iti
scertainl
ypossibletocreat
e
envi
ronment all
y-r
esponsi bl
e,sociall
y-ir
responsi
bleitems,butevennormal it
emsst il
lrel
yon
att
entivedesign(eco-designedbabyt oyscanst i
llbeachokinghazard).Sti
ll
,li
nki
ngi mpact
deci
sionst ori
skmanagementcanhel pclari
fyt
hei mport
anceofsustainabledesign.

Toot
herpar
tsoft
hesuppl
ychai
n
I
nor dertodoausef ulassessment,i
tisoft
ennecessar
ytogetinf
ormationfr
om supplier
sabout
thecontents,processingtechni
ques,manufact
uri
nglocat
ionsandsoonf orthecomponent s
theyprovide.Shari
ngi mpactresul
tswithsuppl
i
erscanhelpthem adj
ustthei
rownpr ocesses,or
atleastexplai
nwhyt hecompanyismaki ngcer
tai
nsourci
ngandmat eri
alschoices.

Insomecases, or
gani zati
onshav etheabili
tytodemandt hattheirsuppliersabi
debycertai
n
cri
teri
a.Thiscanrangef rom si
mpl yreport
ingtheirproduct’scomposi t
iont oful
lenvi
ronmental
i
mpactassessment s.Forexampl e,Wal-Martrequir
esi t
ssuppl i
erstofill
outa“ Packagi
ng
Scorecard”aspartofitseffort
stor educepackagingt hroughoutitssuppl ychai
n.Alt
houghthere
aren’
tspecifi
cthr
eshol dstheyhav etomeet ,Wal-Martsay sthati
twi l
ltaket her
esult
sint
o
accountinmakingsour cingdecisions.

Ofcour sethi
sworksinreversei
fthecompanydoingthesust
ainabl
edesignisit
sel
fasuppl
i
er.
Bygener at
ingpart
sthattakeint
oaccountenvi
ronmental
impact,t
heyareinf
luenci
ngthe
sustai
nabil
ityofdownstr
eam product
s.I
talsomakesiteasi
ertocomplywithanyimpact
requir
ement sorgui
deli
nesthecustomermayhav e.

Acommonwayt ocommuni cat

eimpactdataisthroughEPDs.Envi
ronmentalProduct
Declar
ati
onsar
east andardi
zed(I
SO14025/ TR)repr
esentat
ionofLCAresult
s.Theyrequi
rea
ful
lISO-
compli
antLCAandbui l
dont her
esulti
ngquantif
iedi
mpactdatacerti
fiedbyan
i
ndependentt
hird-
part
y.Iti
ssolel
yanint
ernati
onall
yrecogni
zedformatforpresent
ingLCAdat
a
andnotanevaluat
ionorrati
ngsystem.

Tosal
es&mar
ket
ing
Therearemanytimeswheninf
ormati
onaboutt
heenvir
onmentali
mpactofapr
oductnever
reachesthecust
omer.I
fiti
snotr
elev
antt
otheproduct
’spur
chaseoruse,
thei
nfor
mationcan

72
j
ustst ay“behi
ndthescenes.
”Howev er,t
her earetwomainr easonswhyi mpacti
nformati
onis
sharedwi t
hcustomers:t
opromot eit
ssust ainabi
li
tyasaspeci f
icpr
oductbenefi
t,andtoshow
thattheproductmeetscert
ainstandar
ds.Inbot hcases,i
tisv er
yimportantt
hatsalesand
mar keti
ngpeopleunder
standtheregulat
ionst hatappl
ytomaki ngenvi
ronmentali
mpactclaims.

I
nt hef i
rstcase,i
tisoftent empt i
ngt opr omoteapr oduct ’
ssustai
nabili
ty.Gr eenmarketi
ngison
theriseandmanycust omer sarestartingtopayat tenti
ont oenvir
onment al andsociali
mpacts
i
nmaki ngbuy i
ngdecisions.Unf ort
unat ely,
someor ganizati
onshavegot tenal i
ttl
eover
zeal
ous
i
nt heirclaims,of
tenleadingt oaccusat i
onsof“ gr
eenwashi ng.
”Asar esult,t
heFeder al
Trade
Commi ssionhasissuedasetofGui desf ortheUseofEnv ir
onment alMar ketingClai
ms,known
mor epopul ar
lyastheGr eenGui des.Thesegui deslayoutpr i
ncipl
esandgui delinest
ohelp
mar ketersavoidmakingcl aimsaboutenv i
ronmental benefi
tsthatareconsi deredunfai
ror
33
decept i
ve,asdefi
nedbySect i
on5oft heFTCAct .

Thesecondwayi nwhi chenv ironment ali

mpactinformat i
oni srepr
esentedtocust omersis
throughcr i
teri
a-basedlabelingpr ogr ams.Fi
rst
,itisimpor t
anttonotethatthereareI SO
standardsint he14000f amilythatappl ytoenvi
ronment allabel
ingandlifecycleassessment.
Thesespeci fyhowLCAr esultscanbeusedandwhatl abeli
ngcancl ai
m.Pr oductscanbe
certi
fi
edasI SOcompl iantandl abeledassuch.Inaddi t
ion,ther
earemanycr i
teri
a-based
certi
fi
cationpr ogramsf orwhi chpr oductscanqual i
fy.Wellknownexampl esincludeEnergySt
ar,
FSC( ForestSt ewardshipCounci l
),andEPEAT( Electr
onicPr oductEnvi
ronment alAssessment
Tool).

Anotherimpor t
antconsiderati
oni npromot ingt hesustainabil
ityofapr oductiswhet heriti
s
visi
bly“gr
een”orwhet herits“greenness”isl essappar ent.Apr oductthathasanout ershellof
bamboo, inst
eadofpl asti
cforinstance, i
sinmanyway si tsownadv er
tisement.SimpleTech’ s
[
r e]
dri
veexternalUSBhar ddrivehassomegoodener gy-savi
ngcapabi li
tiesdesignedintoit,but
thefactthatit
scasei slar
gelybamboohel pscust omer sidenti
fyitasa“ gr
een”opt i
onright
away .Meanwhile,i
nmanysi t
uations,thebestway storeduceapr oduct’simpactsareinv i
sibl
e
totheuserandneedmuchmor eexplicitadv erti
sing.Forinstance,theEner gySt
arlabelcanhel p
i
dent i
fyproductsthatuselesspowert hant heirnearlyi
dent i
cal-l
ookingpeer s.

Chapt
er9:
NextSt
eps
Nowwhat ?Gi v
enal loftheinfor
mat i
oninthi
sguide,
itmightbehardtof i
gureoutexactl
ywhat
todo,ordodi f
ferent
ly,ontheprov er
bialMondaymorni
ng.Developi
ngy ourski
ll
insustainabl
e
designwil
ltakesomet i
me, buttherearepl
entyofwaystoputthesetoolsandtechniquesint
o
practi
cei
mmedi atel
y.

Ifyourcompanyori ndust ryhasanysor tofsust

ainabi
lit
yscorecard,useittoassessy our
currentdesi
gnoranexi st i
ngcompanypr oductorcomponent .I
fthereisn’
taspeci f
icscorecar
d
thatappli
est oyourcont ext,
onelikethe3M exampl egivenearl
ierortheLiDSWheel canwork.
Mor eimportantthanget ti
ngit“r
ight”atthi
spointisdetermi
ningwhati sdiff
icul
ttoscor eand
whati smorest r
aightf
orwar d.Di
dy ouhav eenoughinformati
on?I fso,wherediditcomef rom
andi sitr
eli
able?Ifnot,howwoul dy oufindit
?Oncey ouhav edonet hi
sforonepr oduct,doitf
or

33
ht
tps:
//www.
ft
c.gov
/news-
event
s/pr
ess-
rel
eases/
2012/
10/
ftc-
issues-
rev
ised-
green-
gui
des

73
anotheroneorforadesi gnideatogetcomfortableusi
ngthesemethodstocompar eopti
ons.If
youareatal ossforexamplesusesomegener al ones,
suchasglassbott
lesversusplast
icones,
orpaperbagsv ersusplast
icones.Ali
ttl
eresearchshouldtur
nupenoughi nf
ormationabout
thoseproductstogetyoust art
ed.

Aneasypl acet ost artwithdat a-basedli

fecy cleanal
y si
siswit
hthedownl oadabl e
SOLIDWORKSmodel s,i
fyou’ reaSOLI DWORKScust omeranduser .I
fyouhav eSOLI DWORKS,
youcanuseSust ainabi l
it
yXpr essf orSOLIDWORKSpar t
s,si
nceit
’sastandar dcomponentoft he
softwar e.There’sv alueinlear ni
ngt ousethesof tware,butmoreimportantl
y,y oucanst ar
tto
seet hei mpactst haty ourv ari
ousdesi gndeci si
onshav eontheenvir
onment .Thi sisagoodway
totesty ourintuit
ionaswel l
.Ar ethereenvir
onment alimpactsfr
om somemat erial
sthat
surprisedy ou?Ist her earegr eaterorsmallerdiff
erencebetweenoptionsthany ouwoul dhav
e
thought ?Mostsust ainabledesi gnent ai
l
snar rowingdownopt i
onsandmaki ngt rade-of
fs,
sothe
mor ey ouhav eabasi cfeel forsomeoft heimpact stheeasi
eritwil
lbetof i
ndt hosechanges
thatar emeani ngful andsi gnifi
cant.

Oncey ouhav edevel

opedsomef amili
ari
tywitht heconcept s,fr
amewor ks,anddesi gnand
decisi
onsuppor tt
ools,
iti
simportanttoincorpor at
et hem asoftenaspossi bl
e,evenwhen
othersaren’t
.Ther
eisnothi
ngwr ongwi t
hhav inggr eateri
nsightintoyourproduct
st hani
s
expected.Hopeful
ly,
however,youwill
beabl et odiscussthei mpact sandimpli
cationswithy
our
fel
lowdesi gner
saswellasothersinyourorgani zati
onandi tspartners.

Forthosewhowantt obeacknowl edgedaspr ofi

cientwithSOLIDWORKSSust ai
nabil
it
y ,thereis
atwo-lev
elcert
if
icat
ionpr ogram underdevel
opment .Youmaybef amil
i
arwi t
hthetradit
ional
Cert
ifi
edSOLIDWORKSAssoci at
e( CSWA)certif
icati
ons; SOLI
DWORKSdev elopedananal ogous
34
cert
if
icat
ionforsust
ainabledesign, t
heCerti
fi
edSust ai
nableDesignAssociate(CSDA) .I f
you’
vemanagedt oreadt hrought othi
ssecti
on,rejoiceinthefactthatyou’
rearmedwi th
enoughknowledgetopasst heCSDA!

Ifyouar eint
er estedinbecominganLCAexper t,
ther
earenumer ousgui
desandcoursest
hat
candev elopt hein-depthknowledgeoftheLCApr ocess.Onceyouhavegai
nedhands-on
experience,therei sanexam-basedqualif
icati
onprogram dev
elopedbyTheAmeri
canCent er
forLif
eCy cl
eAssessmentf orthosei
nterestedinbei
ngdesignatedasanLCACerti
fi
ed
Professional( LCACP) .Not
ethatthefocusoft hi
ssortofLCAexperti
sei
sonassessment,and
notonpr oductdesi gnanddevelopmentprocesses.

Lastly
, t
rytoconnectwi thotherdev el
opers,designer
s, andengi neerswor kingtoi
ncor porate
sustainabil
i
typr i
nciplesintotheirwork.Ther ei
sagr eatdeal ofr esearchaboutsustainable
designav ai
lableandunder way ,
wi t
hplent
yofacademi csinterest edinexplori
ngthetopi c.Ther
e
areprofessional net
wor ksandor gani
zati
onsar oundthewor ld.Ther ei saparti
all
istattheend
ofthisguidet ogety oust ar
ted,butmor ear eari
singalltheti
me.Whet heryouhavecomet othi
s
guidebecausey ouwant edt oorbecausey ouhadt o,youwillfindt hattherearepl
entyofpeopl e
whocangui dey ouandr esour cesthatcanhel pyousucceedatsust ainabl
edesign.

34
ht
tps:
//www.
SOLI
DWORKS.
com/
cer
ti
fi
cat
ions/
sust
ainabi
l
ity
-cswa-
sust
ainabi
l
ity

74
Chapt
er10:
ForMor
eInf
ormat
ion
Appendi
xA-Ref
erenceMat
eri
als

Appendi
xB-ADeeperLookatt
heLCAPr
ocess

Appendi
xC-LCATool
sandMet
hods

Appendi
xA-Ref
erenceMat
eri
als
Sust
ainabi
l
ity&Sust
ainabl
eBusi
ness
Ber
kshi
reEncy
clopedi
aofSust
ainabi
l
ity
,Vol
.1-
10,
Ber
kshi
rePubl
i
shi
ngGr
oup(
2009-
2011)

www.
Env
ironment
alLeader
.com

www.
GreenBi
z.com

ht
tps:
//Sust
ainabl
eBr
ands.
com/
cor
por
ate

Sust
ainabl
eLi
vi
ng
www.
TreeHugger
.com

www.
inhabi
tat
.com

www.
gri
st.
org

TheHannov
erPr
inci
ples
Secti
onsofthisguidedetai
lspeci
fi
cenv
ironmental
lyr
esponsi
bledesi
gnst
rat
egi
es.The
35
“HannoverPr
inci
ples”areagoodplacet
ost ar
t. Theyar
e,insummary:

1.I
nsi
stonr
ight
sofhumani
tyandnat
uret
oco-
exi
st.

2.Recogni
zei
nter
dependencebet
weent
heel
ement
sofhumandesi
gnandt
henat
ural
worl
d.

3.Respectr
elat
ionshi
psbet
weent
hehumanv
aluesandmat
ter
.

4.Acceptr
esponsi
bil
i
tyf
ort
heconsequencesofdesi
gndeci
sions.

5.Cr
eat
esaf
eobj
ect
sofl
ong-
ter
mval
ue.

6.El
i
minat
etheconceptofwast
e.

8.Rel
yonnat
ural
ener
gyf
lows.

9.Under
standt
hel
i
mit
ati
onsofdesi
gn.

10.Seekconst
anti
mpr
ovementbyt
heshar
ingofknowl
edge.

35
Dev el
opedi
n1992byWi
l
li
am McDonoughandMi
chael
Braungar
tfort
heExpo2000Wor
ld’
sFai
r,
Hannover,
Ger
many.

75
Formor
einf
ormat
ion,
seeht
tp:
//www.
c2c-
cent
re.
com/
li
brar
y-i
tem/
hannov
er-
pri
nci
ples

Appendi
xB-ADeeperLookatt
heLCAPr
ocess
Thespeci f
icprocessofLif
eCy cl
eAssessment( LCA)hasast andardi
zedsetofst epsand
36
output
si ntheform ofenvi
ronment ali
mpactmeasur es. Itisdefi
nedas“ anobjecti
v epr
ocess
toeval
uat etheenvir
onment alburdensassociat
edwithapr oduct,
process,oracti
v i
tyby
i
dentif
yingenergyandmat erial
susedandwast esrel
easedt otheenvir
onment,andt oevaluat
e
37
andimpl ementopportuni
ti
est oaffectenvi
ronmentali
mpr ovements.”

Thest
andar
dizedLCApr
ocesshasf
ourmaj
orst
eps:

1.Goal
andScopeDef
ini
ti
on–Whatar
ewet
ryi
ngt
olear
n?

2.Li
feCy
cleI
nvent
ory(
LCI
)–What
’sembeddedi
nthepr
oduct
?

3.Li
feCy
cleI
mpactAssessment(
LCI
A)–Whatef
fect
sdoesi
thav
e?

4.Dat
aInt
erpr
etat
ion–Whatdoesi
tal
lmean?

Goal
&ScopeDef
ini
ti
on
Aswithotherassessments,iti
simport
antt
ocl
ari
fythepurposeandext
entoft
heLCA.AGoal
&
Scopedocumentwi l
lconsidertothef
oll
owi
ngquest
ions.

1.Whatar
ewet
ryi
ngt
ounder
stand?

LCAsar
edesi
gnedt
oaddr
esssuchquest
ionsas:

 Whatact
ivi
ti
esi
nthepr
oduct
’sl
i
fecy
clecont
ri
but
emostt
oit
sov
eral
l

36
LCAsarepartoftheI
SO14000(envi
ronment
almanagement
)standar
ds,
andar
especi
fi
cal
l
yaddr
essed
byISO14040:2006and14044:
2006.
37
Soci
etyofEnvi
ronmental
Toxi
col
ogyandChemist
ry(SETAC)
,1990

76
 env
ironment
ali
mpact
?

 Whatar
etheenv
ironment
alconsequencesofchangi
ngast
epi
nit
spr
oduct
ion?

 Whatar
etheenv
ironment
alconsequencesofchangi
ngt
hemat
eri
alsi
nthe
pr
oduct
?

 Whataretheenvi
ronmental
consequencesofusi
ngr
ecy
cledr
athert
hanv
irgi
n
mater
ialf
ortheproduct
?

 Whati
stheenv
ironment
all
y-
pref
erabl
echoi
ceamongpr
oduct
sA,
BorC?

 Howdoest
hispr
oductcompar
etoi
tspr
evi
ousv
ersi
on?

LCAsusual
l
ydonotaddresssuchthi
ngsassociali
mpactsorfi
nanci
alconsi
der
ati
ons
somustbeusedi
nconjuncti
onwit
hotherdeci
sionsuppor
ttool
s.

2.Whati
sthef
unct
ionaluni
t?

I
nor dert
ocompar etwoproductsystems, i
tisnecessar
ytochooseameasureofthe
functi
onofthesyst
emsthati sconsist
entbetweent het
wo.Forinst
ance,
foracof
fee
makeritmightbecupsbrewed, f
orlaundrydeter
gentitcoul
dbewashingcycl
es,f
or
painti
tcoul
dbesur f
aceprotecti
onov ert
ime.

3.Whatenv
ironment
ali
mpact
sshoul
dweconsi
der
?

Agr eatdealofatt
enti
onhasbeengiventogreenhousegasemi ssions,
withsome
organizat
ionsfocusi
ngmainlyonthei
rresul
ti
ngcarbonfootpr
int,alt
houghthi
sisj
usta
subsetofallofthepossi
bleenvi
ronmentali
mpactsthatcanbeassessed.I ti
supt
ot he
organizat
iontodecidewhatfact
orsareimport
anttothem.

4.Whatar
ewecompar
ing?

LCAsareonlyusefulwhenusedtocompar
eopti
ons.Agivenpr
oductcanbecompared
toprev
iousver
sions,competi
ti
veof
fer
s,al
ter
nat
ivedesi
gnopti
ons,
indust
rybenchmar
ks,
tar
getimpactl
evels,
etc.

soursy
5.Whati stem boundar
y?

Productl
ifecycl
esint
ersectagreatmanyprocesses,
somemor edi
rect
lyli
nkedt
othe
producti
tsel
fthanothers.Anassessmentcannotcoverev
ery
thi
ngsosystem
boundari
esclari
fywhatitwil
li
nclude.Thef
oll
owingfi
gureshowsapossibl
esyst
em
boundarychartf
orastyrofoam cup.

77
Sour
ce:
Desi
gn+Env
ironment
,Lewi
s&Ger
tsaki
s

Someoft
hest
andar
dpr
oductl
i
fecy
clescopesi
ncl
ude:

 Cr
adletogr
ave–Usual
l
ydenot
esal
lphasesf
rom r
awmat
eri
alst
hrough
di
sposal

 Cr
adl
etocr
adl
e–Li kecr
adl
etograveexceptthati
ttr
ackswheretheproduct
’s
el
ement
sgoaf
terendofuse,wi
thspeci
alatt
entiont
or ecy
cli
ngandreuse

 Cradletogate–I ncl
udesallphasesupunti
litl
eav
esproduct
ion(
thefact
ory
gate)
, boundforthecustomer,si
ncethi
sistheendofmostmanufact
urer
’s
abil
it
yt odir
ectl
yinfl
uenceimpact

 Gat
etogate–Av er
ynarr
owLCA,
justf
ocusedononl
yonepar
ti
cul
arphaseof
t
heproduct
ionpr
ocess

6.Whatassumpt
ionsshoul
dwemake?

Whet
heri
t’
spr
oductusagebehav
ior
,av
ail
abi
l
ityofr
awmat
eri
als,
manuf
act
uri
ng

78
 capaci
ty,
oranynumberofv
ariabl
esaff
ecti
ngaproduct’
sactuall
i
fecycl
e,LCAsrequi
re
assumpti
ons.Theyar
eunavoi
dablesothekeyi
stoident
ifyanddocumentthem.

7.Whatar
ethedat
arequi
rement
sandl
evelofdet
ail
?

Dataonactualpr
oductl
if
ecycl
esismor eaccur
ate,
butmuchmor eexpensi
ve,
labor
i
ntensi
ve,andti
meconsumingtocoll
ectthandataf
rom tabl
esbasedongener
ali
zed
i
nformati
on.Theri
ghtbal
ancedependsonhowt heresul
tswil
lbeused,
aswellason
datasour
ceaccess.

8.Howdoweal
l
ocat
ethebur
denofby
product
sandot
herpr
ocesscompl
exi
ti
es?

Inmanypr oducti
onpr ocesses,coupledorby-productsoccur,r
aisingthequesti
on:To
whichproductshouldt heseimpactsbeal l
ocated?Assigningalltheimpactstoone
productleadsto“f
alselybenign”by-product
s.Met hodsfordist
ri
but i
ngmul t
i-
product
i
mpact sincludeal
locatingthem bymass, energyvalue,marketvalue,exer
gy,or
substancecontent.

Thedept handi ntensityoftheLCAcanbedeci dedbasedontheanswer stot hesequestions.A

“f
ull”LCAwoul dincl udeactual envi
ronmental
impactdatagather
edoncet hepr oducthas
actuall
ygonet hroughi t
sentir
el i
fecycl
e.Suchdetai
l
edLCAscant akemont hsandt housands
ofdollar
st odoandar e,bydefi
niti
on,onl
ypossibl
etocompleteoncet heproductisinuseand
hasgonet hr oughal l phasesofi t
sli
fecycl
e.Thisi
ncreasedaccur
acymaybewor thitfor
benchmar kingorr epor t
ingpurposes.

Iti
salsopossibl
et odoan“ LCAl i
ght,”usinggenerali
zeddatatabl
esandeducat edassumpt i
ons
aboutanitem’sproductionanduse.Whi l
enotasaccur ateasLCAsr efl
ecti
ngact uali
mpacts,
theycanbedoner elat
ivelyquickl
yandwi thahi ghdegreeofconfi
dencei ntheresult
swiththe
datasetsandsoftwaret ool
sav ai
labl
e, evenbypeoplewi t
houtin-
depthLCAt rai
ning.Perhaps
mostimpor t
antl
y,theycanbedonedur i
ngpr oductdevel
opmentandpl anni
ngst ages,al
l
owi ng
envir
onmentalimpactconsi derat
ionstopl ayapartindesigndeci
sions.

I
nvent
oryAnal
ysi
s
Thenextphaseentai
lscreati
ngali
stofal
lofthecomponentsoft
hepr
oduct
sli
fecy
clet
hatf
all
wit
hint
hedef i
nedsystem boundar
y.I
thasthr
eemajorsteps:

 Const
ructapr
ocessf
lowchar
tthatshowst
hef
oll
owi
ng:

o Rawmat
eri
als

o Mf
gpr
ocesses

o Tr
anspor
ts

o Uses

o Wast
emanagement

 Col
l
ectdat
afor
:

o Mat
eri
ali
nput
s

79
 o Pr
oduct
sandby
product
s

o Sol
i
dwast
e,ai
randwat
eremi
ssi
ons

 Cal
cul
atet
heamount
sofeachi
nrel
ati
ont
othef
unct
ional
uni
t

Ther
esul
ti
ngLi
feCycleI
nvent
ory(LCI
)provi
desabr eakdownofal
loftheener
gyandmat
eri
als
i
nvol
vedi
naproduct
’ssyst
em atalev
elofdetai
lthatprovi
desabasi
sforeval
uat
ion.

I
mpactAssessment
Onceadet ai
l
edLCIiscreated,
envir
onment
ali
mpactscanbeascri
bedtoit
sparts,
andif
desir
edtothewholesystem.Therearef
ourst
epst
ot heLif
eCycl
eImpactAssessment(
LCI A)
38
process,
thefi
rstt
woofwhi chareconsi
der
edmandatory
,whil
ethel
asttwoareopti
onal
.

1. Cl
assi
fi
cat
ion

Classif
icat
ioninvolvesassigningspeci
fi
cenv i
ronmentali
mpactst
oeachcomponentoft heLCI
.
Itisherewher edecisionsmadedur i
ngthescopeandgoal phaseaboutwhatenv
ironmental
i
mpactcat egor i
esar eofint
erestcomeintoplay.Thefi
gurebel
owshowsonewel l
-knownsetof
classi
ficat
ions,cal
ledmi dpointcat
egori
es,andhowt heymaptodomainsofdamaget hey
39
cause.

Commonl
yUsedI
mpactCat
egor
ies40

38
Asdictatedbyt heI
SO14044st andard
39
Adaptedf rom "I
MPACT2002+"LCI Amethodology/Dr.Ol
iv
ierJoll
iet
,Uni
v.ofMichigan
40
“Li
feCy cl
eAssessment:Princi
plesandPract
ice,
”Sci
enti
fi
cApplicati
onsI
nternat
ionalCor
por
ati
on,
EPA/600/ R-06/060(May2006),pg.49.

80
I
mpact Scal
e ExamplesofLCIData Common Descri
pti
onof
Cat
egor
y (i
.e.cl
assi
fi
cat
ion) Possibl
e Charact
eri
zat
ion
Charact
eri
zat
io Fact
or
nFactor

Gl
obal Gl
obal CarbonDi oxi
de( CO2) Global Conv er
tsLCIdatato
Warmi
ng Nitr
ogenDi oxi
de( NO2) Warming carbondioxide(
CO2)
Met hane( CH4) Potent
ial equival
entsNote:
Chlorofluorocarbons globalwarming
(CFCs) potenti
alscanbe50,
Hydr ochlorof
luorocar
bo 100,or500y ear
ns(HCFCs)Met hyl potenti
als.
Bromi de( CH3Br)

St
ratospher
ic Gl
obal Chlorofluor
ocarbons Ozone ConvertsLCIdat
at o
Ozone (CFCs) Deplet
ing tr
ichl
orofl
uorometha
Depl
etion Hydr ochlor
ofl
uorocar
bo Pot ent
ial ne(CFC-11)
ns(HCFCs)Hal ons equiv
alents.
Met hylBromide(CH3Br)

Aci
dif
icat
ion Regiona Sul
furOx i
des( SOx) Aci
dif
icat
ion Conver
tsLCIdatato
lLocal Ni t
rogenOxi des(NOx) Potential hydr
ogen(H+)ion
Hydrochl
oricAcid(HCL) equi
val
ents.
Hydrofl
ouri
cAci d(HF)
Ammoni a(NH4)

Eut
rophi
cat
io Local Phosphate(PO4) Eut
rophi
cat
ion ConvertsLCIdat
ato
n Nit
rogenOxide(NO) Pot
enti
al phosphate(PO4)
Nit
rogenDioxi
de( NO2) equi
valents.
Nit
ratesAmmoni a(NH4)

Photochemi
c Local Non-met
hane Photochemi
cal Conv er
tsLCIdat
ato
alSmog hydr
ocar
bon(NMHC) Oxident ethane(C2H6)
Creati
on equival
ents.
Potenti
al

Terr
estr
ial Local Toxicchemical
switha LC50 ConvertsLC50dat a
Toxi
cit
y report
edlet
hal toequival
ents;uses
concentr
ati
ontorodent
s multi
-medi a
modeling,exposure
pathways.

Aquat
ic Local Toxicchemical
swit
ha LC50 ConvertsLC50dat a
Toxi
cit
y report
edlet
hal toequival
ents;uses
concentr
ati
ontofi
sh multi
-medi a
modeling,exposure
pathways.

81
 Human Global Totalr
eleasestoai
r, LC50 ConvertsLC50dat a
Heal
th Regiona wat
er,
andsoi l
. toequival
ents;uses
lLocal multi
-medi a
modeling,exposure
pathways.

Resource Global Quant i

tyofminer
als Resource Conv ertsLCIdatato
Deplet
ion Regiona usedQuanti
tyoffossi
l Deplet
ion ar at
ioofquant i
tyof
lLocal f uel
sused Potent
ial resourceusedv ersus
quant i
tyofresource
l
eftinr eser
ve.

LandUse Global Quantit

ydisposedofi
na Land Conver
tsmassof
Regiona l
andf
il
lorotherl
and Avai
labi
l
ity sol
idwasteint
o
lLocal modifi
cati
ons vol
umeusingan
est
imateddensit
y.

Wat
erUse Regiona Wat
erusedor WaterShort
age ConvertsLCIdatato
lLocal consumed Pot
ential arati
oofquant i
tyof
waterusedv er
sus
quanti
tyofresource
l
eftinreser
ve.

2. Char
act
eri
zat
ion

Oncetheimpactcategori
eshavebeeni denti
fi
ed,conversi
onf actor
s–gener all
yknownas
char
acter
izat
ionorequival
encyfact
ors–usef ormulastoconv ertt
heLCIresultsi
ntodi
rect
ly
comparablei
mpactindicat
ors.Thi
sallowsdiffer
enttypesofpl asti
csandmet alst
obe
comparedast ot
heirimpactsonGlobal Warming,f
orinstance.Thet abl
eabovegivessome
commonlyusedchar act
eri
zati
onfactorsforeachimpactcat egory.
41
Therearewel l ov
eradozencat egor
izat
ionandcharacter
izati
onmethods. Eachmaps
material
st oimpactsbasedonsci enti
fi
cresear
ch,wi t
hmanymat eri
alshavingimpactsin
multi
plecat egori
es.Cl
assifi
cati
onisusuall
yfaci
li
tatedbysoftwaret
hatcant akethecomponent
i
nputsandcal cul
ateal
locatedimpactsbasedonei t
heractualdat
agatheredorstandardi
zed
datatables.Whi l
ether
ear eprosandconst oeachclassi
ficat
iont
ool,
somehav ebeenadopted
morebr oadlythanothers.

3. Nor
mal
izat
ion(
opt
ional
)

Somepr acti
ti
onerschoosetonormali
zetheimpactassessmentbyscalingthedat
abya
ref
erencefactor
,suchast heregi
on’
spercapit
aenv i
ronmentalbur
den.Thi
shelpstocl
ari
fythe
rel
ati
veimpactofasubst anceinagivencont
ext.Forinst
ance,
ifgl
obalwarmingcont
ri
buti
ons
41
Foragoodover
viewofmanyoft hemajormethods,seeAppendixB:LCAandLCISof t
wareTool
sin
“Li
feCycl
eAssessment:Pr
inci
plesandPract
ice,
”Sci
entif
icAppl
icati
onsInt
ernat
ional
Corpor
ati
on,
EPA/600/R-
06/
060( May2006),pp.74-
77.

82
areal
readyhighinthecontexti
nwhicht
heproducti
sbeingassessed,arefer
encefact
orwould
normalizewhat
evertheproduct
’sgl
obalwar
mingcontr
ibut
ionsareinordertocl
ari
fyit
srel
ati
ve
i
mpact s.

4. Wei
ght
ing(
opt
ional
)

Thispr ocessentai
lscombi ni
ngalloftheindicat
orstogether
,eachwithitsownwei ght
ing,t
o
createasi ngl
e“score”thatrefl
ect
sacer tainpri
ori
ti
zati
onoft hei
mportanceofeacht ypeof
i
mpact .Weighti
ngismor eofapol i
ti
calthanscienti
fi
cprocesssincegiving,say
,gl
obal
war ming’sscoremor eweightthanacidi
ficati
on’
sisav al
ues-baseddecision.St
akehol
dersmay
di
f f
ersi gni
fi
cantl
yont hei
rv i
ewsaboutthei mportanceofimpacts,asshowni nthechart
42
below.

Manypract
it
ionerschoosetoleav
etheimpactscoresbrokenouti
ntocategori
es,wit
hno
wei
ghti
ngatall.Al
thoughthi
sapproachcreat
esamor ecomplicat
edreport
,itenabl
esimpact
compar
isonsbetweenproductsonamor egranul
arlev
el.

Weight ed“singl
escor e”LCAshav etheadv ant
ageofgener ati
ngone, easy -to-
communi cate
i
mpactnumber ,oftenexpressedas“mi l
l
ipoint
s.”Howev er,
ev enwithinthecommuni tythat
suppor tsthi
sappr oachtherearetwoschool softhought .Somebel i
evet hatthereshouldbea
standar dweighti
ng, whil
eothersfeelthatcompani esshouldbef reet owei ghtimpactsast hey
seefit.Oneoft headv antagesofastandar dwei ghting,asisusedi ntheOkal aapproachamong
others,isthatproductscanbecompar edtoeachot hermor eeasilysincet hesinglei
mpact
scoresar eonlymeani ngfuli
fcompar edamongpr oductswi ththesamewei ghti
ng.Asecond
benefitisthatcompani escan’t“game”t heassessmentt omaket heirproduct slookbetterthan

42
Sour
ce:T.G.Glor
ia,B.C.Li
ppi
att,
andJ.Cooper
,“Li
feCycl
eImpactAssessmentWeight
stoSupport
Envi
ronmentall
yPreferabl
ePurchasingi
ntheUni
tedStat
es,
”Envi
ronmentalSci
enceandTechnol
ogy
,
November/December2007.

83
theyarebyemphasi
zingt
heareasi
nwhichthepr
oductdoeswel
landdecr
easi
ngt
heef
fectof
categor
iesi
nwhichthepr
oducthaspr
oblems.

Theadv antageofv ar
iabl
ewei ghti
ngappr oachesi st
hattheycanbecust omizedt ofi
tan
organizati
onsgoal sandv alues.Forinstance,ifanorgani
zat i
onismakinggl obalwarminga
pri
orit
y ,
itmaywantt owei ghtt hatcategorymuchmor eheav il
yasitisassessingtheimpactsof
i
tsproduct s.Asl ongast hewei ghtingremai nsconstantwithinit
sownLCAs, the
di
spropor ti
onatewei ghtitgi v
est othiscategoryisfi
ne.Ther earesomesust ainabil
i
ty
account i
ngandr epor t
ingst andardsthatfocusal mostexclusivel
yongr eenhousegasemi ssions,
makingi tusefulfororgani zati
onsusingt hem toputalmostal loftheweightont hatsubsetof
43
i
mpactf actor
s.

I
nter
pret
ati
on
Alt
houghl i
stedfourth,l
ifecy
cleint
erpretati
onactuall
yoccur sthroughoutthewhol
eLCA.It
i
nvolv
est heongoi ngprocessofclar
ifyi
ng, quanti
fyi
ng,checking,andevaluat
ingt
heinfor
mation
usedby,andr esulti
ngfrom,theli
fecycleinventor
y(LCI)andi mpactassessment(LCIA)phases.
Thestandardcov eringLCAs,ISO14044, givestwomai nobjectiv
es:

 Analyzer
esult
s, r
eachconclusi
ons,explai
nli
mitat
ions,
andprov
ider
ecommendati
ons
basedont hefi
ndingsoftheprecedingphasesoftheLCA,andt
orepor
tther
esul
tsof
theli
fecyclei
nterpr
etat
ioninatransparentmanner.

 Prov
ideareadi
lyunder
standabl
e,complet
e,andconsi
stentpr
esent
ati
onoft
her
esul
tsof
anLCAstudy,i
naccordancewit
ht hegoalandscopeofthest
udy.

43
Car
bonf
oot
pri
ntst
andar
dssuchasPAS2050andt
heGHGPr
otocol
fitt
hisdescr
ipt
ion.

84
Toachi
evetheseobj
ecti
ves,
theI
SOst
andar
dst
atest
hati
nter
pret
ati
onshoul
dcov
eratl
east
thr
eemajorel
ements.

 I
dentif
icati
onoft
hesi
gni
ficanti
ssuesbasedontheLCIandLCIA.Whi
chli
fecy
cle
phasesorcomponent
sstandoutasmaj orcont
ri
but
orstoover
alli
mpact
?Whataret
he
anomalies?

 Eval
uati
onwhi chconsiderscompl et
eness,sensi
tiv
ity,
andconsi
stencychecks.I
sallt
he
i
nformationneededf orinterpretati
onpresentintheLCIandLCIA?Howr eli
ablei
sthe
i
nformationr el
atedtoanyi dentifi
edsigni
fi
cantissues?Howmuchdochangesi nsuch
fact
orsinfluencetheov er
allresults?Arealloft
heassumptions,dat
a,charact
eri
zat
ion
fact
ors,
et c.thatwereusedi nt heassessmentconsi st
enti
nter
nall
yandwi tht
heoveral
l
goalandscopeoft heLCA?

 Concl
usions,r
ecommendations, andreporti
ng.Asdiscussedinlatersecti
onsofthis
gui
de,agreatdealofanLCA’sv aluedependsonhowi tsresul
tsarecommuni catedto
peopl
einvolv
edinmakingrelevantdecisions,whetherotherdesi
gners,engi
neers,
management ,mar
keter
s,orotherpartsoft hesupplychain.

Itisv eryimportanttonot et hatnomat t

erhowcar efull
yassembl ed,anal yzed, assessed, and
measur ed,LCAsar enev ert he“ real”answer .Theyr equi r
ei nterpretati
on, whi chi sturnrequi r
es
transpar encyandj udgment .Thedat asour ces,assumpt ions, andal lotherr elevantinformat i
on
needst obet r
anspar enttodeci sionmaker ssot hatt heycanunder standt hef ullcontextoft he
resultsoft heli
fecy cleinvent oryassessment .Decidingamongdesi gnopt i
onsi snotaseasyas
j
ustcompar i
ngLCI Anumber s,whet hersingle-ormul t
i-
factor, weightedornot .LCIAr esultscan
beasour ceofinsights,butdonotst andalonei nguidingpr oductdev elopmentchoi ces.
Engi neerswillneedt otaket hem i nthecont extoft heot herat tri
butest heyar et ryi
ngt oopt imize,
i
ncl udingcost, manuf acturabili
ty, performance, andsoon.I naddi t
ion, therear emy r
iadot her
factor sguidi
ngpr oductdev elopmentdeci sionsnotcov er edbyLCAs, includingsoci al i
mpact s
andaccept ance,prici
ng, politi
cal agendas, andr egulations.

Appendi
xC-LCATool
sandMet
hods
Commonl
yusedLCATool
s
A2006sur
veyof65LCApr
act
it
i s44r
oner epor
tedt
hat
:

58%*usedGaBi
(Spher
a)

31%*usedSi
maPr
o(PRéConsul
tant
s)

11%*usedTEAM (
Ecobi
l
an)

Ot
hert
ool
sci
ted:

 BEES(
NIST)

44
Cooper,J.
S.;
Fav a,
J.(
2006),"
Lif
eCycleAssessmentPract
it
ionerSur
vey
:Summar
yofResul
ts"
,Jour
nal
ofIndust
ri
alEcology
*percent
agesincludeover
lapduetousageofmulti
plet
ools

85
  Umber
to(
if
uHambur
g)

 ECO-
IT(
PRéConsul
tant
s)

 Excel
-basedspr
eadsheet
s

 Mat
hpackage(
e.g.MATLAB,
Mat
hemat
ica)

I
mpactAssessmentMet
hodol
ogi
es
Impactassessmentmet hodol
ogiesarethesystematiccalculati
onst hatareusedtogetf rom an
LCI(l
if
ecy cl
ei nventory
)f l
ow,suchascar bondioxi
deorsul furdioxide,t
ot heenvi
ronment al
i
mpactt hatitcauses.Ther esult
softhesecalculat
ionstypicall
ymeasur eeit
hermidpointor
endpoi
ntef f
ect s(endpointeff
ectsaresomet i
mescal l
eddamageef fect
s).Forexample,the
fol
lowi
ngchar tshowshowsomemi dpointeff
ectsmapt ot heirrespecti
veendpointeffects45:

Whilet
heendpoi ntordamageef fect
saretheoneswer eall
ycar eabout
,thesecanbedi f
ficul
tto
measuredir
ectly.Forexample,howmanydegr eesofglobalaveragetemperatureincreaseare
causedbyonef ir
m’sactivi
ti
es?It’
sveryhardtomeasuresuchaf r
acti
onaleffect
,sowet endto
measurethemi dpointef
fectofgreenhousegasemissions,whichleadtoglobalaverage
temperat
ureincreases.Mostimpactassessmentmet hodol
ogiesusemi dpointmeasur ements.

Ther
eareseverali
mpactassessmentmethodologi
esthatarecommonlyusedintheLCIAst eps
ofanLCA,whichincl
udecl
assif
icat
ionandcharact
eri
zati
on,andopti
onal
l
ynormalizat
ion
46
and/
orweight
ing.Someoftheseimpactassessmentmet hodol
ogi
esaredescr
ibedbelow.

45
Adaptedfrom "
IMPACT2002+"LCIAmethodology/Dr.Oli
vierJol
l
iet
,Uni
v.ofMichi
gan
46
http:
//www.gabi
-sof
twar
e.com/
suppor
t/gabi
/gabi-
5-l
cia-
documentat
ion/
li
fe-
cycl
e-i
mpact
-assessment
-
l
cia-
methods/

86
CML(
“CML1996”
,“CML2001”
)

TheCMLmet hodology ,developedbyt heInsti

tuteofEnvir
onmentalSciencesattheUniversit
yof
Leideni ntheNet herlands,isthemostwi del
y-usedandof t
enconsider
edt hemostcompl ete
met hodology.Itusespr imar i
lyEuropeandat atoderiveit
simpactfactors.I
tgroupstheLCI
resultsintomi dpointcategor i
es,accordi
ngt othemes; t
hesethemesar ecommonmechani sms
(e.g.climatechange)orgr oupings(e.g.ecotoxici
ty)
.Thereisa“CML1996”anda“ CML2001”
met hod.Itsresultscanbev iewedasaspr eadsheetthatpresent
scharacteri
zati
onfactorsfor
mor et han1700f lows( 2001) .

TheCMLi mpactassessmentmethodol
ogyi
stheonewehav
echosent
ocal
cul
atet
her
esul
ts
forSOLI
DWORKSSust ainabi
l
ity
.

Formoreinfor
mat i
on,seehttps:
//www.univ
ersi
tei
tl
eiden.
nl/
en/
resear
ch/
resear
ch-
output
/sci
ence/cml-
ia-
character
isat
ion-
fact
ors

Eco-
Indi
cat
or(
“95”
,“99”
)

Li
ketheCMLmet hodology,t
heEco-I
ndi
catormet
hodincl
udesclassi
fi
cat
ion(
“cat
egori
esof
ef
fect
”)andchar
acter
izati
onsteps,
groupi
ngtheLCIr
esul
tsint
omi dpoi
ntcat
egori
es.

Theseimpactdataarethenwei ght
edaccordingt
oasoci alev
aluati
onpr ocess.Forexampl e,the
Eco-I
ndi
cator95methodspeci fi
esthat1deathper1,000,
000inhabitantsi
sequal to5%sur face
l
ossofanintactecosystem.Thisweighti
ngisperfor
medi nordertocompar ediffer
enttypesof
envi
ronmentaleff
ect
sdir ect
lyt
ogether;
theresul
tscanthenbepr esentedasasi nglescore,the
so-
call
edEco-Indi
cat
orscor e.

I
mpactf actor
sf orEco-Indicator99arecoll
ectedandpubl
ishedinaspreadsheetbyt
heI
nst
it
ute
ofEnvi
ronment alSciences, LeidenUni
versi
ty,
TheNetherl
ands,andarefurni
shedbyPRé
Consul
tants,maker soft heSimaPr oLCAsof twar
epackage.

Thedataarethennormaliz
ed,ordiv
idedbyacommonr efer
encevalue,
tofacil
itate
communicati
on.Int
hecaseofEco- Indicat
or95,
t hedataarenormali
zedafterclassif
icati
on
usi
ngtheannualEuropeancontri
butionsperi
nhabitantf
ortheimpactcategory.InEco-Indicat
or
47
99,t
hedataarenormalizedbasedonpubl i
shedinformati
onfurni
shedbyPRéConsul tants.

BecauseEco-
Indi
catori
sasingl
e-scor
eLCAmet
hodol
ogy
,wedonoti
ncl
udei
tasanopt
ioni
n
SOLIDWORKSSust ai
nabi
li
ty.

TRACI

The“ToolfortheReducti
onandAssessmentofChemi cal andOt herEnvironment alI
mpacts”,
or
TRACI,isanimpactassessmentmet hodologydev el
opedbyt heUSEnv i
ronment alProt
ecti
on
Agency.Aswiththeotherimpactassessmentmet hodologies,TRACIi sprimari
lyami dpoi
nt
appr
oach.Itdiff
ersfr
om theCMLmet hodologyinthatthedat acomespr imari
lyfrom North
Americansources.However,
theTRACImet hodologyisnotascompr ehensiv
eorcompl et
eas

47
ht
tps:
//pr
e-sust
ainabi
l
ity
.com/
art
icl
es/
eco-
indi
cat
or-
99-
manual
s/

87
t
heCMLmet hod.Fort
hisr
eason,
wehavepr
ogrammedSOLIDWORKSSust
ainabi
li
tyt
operf
orm
t
hecal
cul
ati
onsusingTRACIaswell
asCML,buthav
en’
tenabl
edt
heTRACIresul
tsasanopti
on.

Thefol
lowingisahandychar
tthatdemonst
rat
esthediff
erencebet
weensi
ngl
e-scor
eand
mult
ipl
e-i
ndicat
ori
mpactassessmentmethodol
ogies.

88
89