Method for Setting Environmental Targets in Product Development: Incorporating Use-Phase Impact by Subsystem

In order to address environmental aspects during redesign, the product specification must include related targets that are reachable and challenging. To do so, this article presents a stepwise approach for combining benchmarking information and component impact, out of life cycle assessment (LCA) scaling. This approach requires allocating environmental impacts to each subsystem, which is not commonly done for some life cycle phases in LCAs, most particularly for use phases. This article includes a methodology for allocating such impacts. The underlying criterion is avoiding complex calculations, to make the method more agile.

The methodology was applied to a professional dishwasher, showing how targets can be set for different subsystems. The results show that the proposed method is able to provide a set of targets that are consistent with the product’s environmental profile and the company’s strategy, while being easy to communicate to the design team.

Authors: Daniel Collado-Ruiz and Hesamedin Ostad-Ahmad-Ghorabi Journal: Journal of Industrial Ecology Year: 2015/2016