Eco-indicators in product development

Abstract

Industrial experience shows that many current eco-design methods, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), are very complex and cannot easily be used by designers. Such methods are primarily useful during detail design, when major design decisions have already been taken. Simplified, easy-to-use methods and tools for designers, such as eco-indicators, to be used during early design phases in product concept development, are therefore being developed. Examples of simple eco-indicators are recycling quotas, energy consumption, amount of material used and waste produced. Company-, business area- or product family-specific eco-indicators could be derived, using aggregations of commercially available and company-specific LCA data, combined with product user profiles and production process data. Irrelevant data can then be omitted. The reuse of eco-indicators should be justified in evolutionary product development, characterized by marginal improvements. The range of application and validity has to be specified carefully though. A generalized and simple set of eco-indicators would not be possible. Indicators for design should be defined for a specific purpose and several aspects must be considered. In this paper, a structured overview of various types of eco-indicator will be presented, in order to guide management, designers and other stakeholders in the selection of suitable eco-indicators to be used in product development.