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Analysis Methods for Design Decisions 195

• What is the sensitivity of the environmental performance
estimates to specific design parameters? Are there particular
features that account for the majority of the impacts?
These are challenging questions that will force analysts to look
beyond the mechanics of their standard methodologies and adapt to
the needs of decision-makers, who prefer simple insights to complex
mathematical results.

References
1. S. J. Skerlos, W. R. Morrow, and J. J. Michalek, “Sustainable Design Engineering
and Science: Selected Challenges and Case Studies,” in M. A. Abraham (Ed.),
Sustainability Science and Engineering (Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V., 2006).
2. Sustainability ToolKit and Scorecard, Norm Thompson Outfitters, Inc. and
Michael S. Brown & Associates, 2002.
3. B. R. Allenby and D. J. Richards, The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems (Washington,
D.C.: National Academies Press, National Academy of Engineering, 1994).
4. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Fourth Assessment Report:
Climate Change. (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
5. “The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting
Standard,” World Business Council for Sustainable Development/World
Resources Institute, 2004.
6. S. Bringezu, H. Schutz, and S. Moll, “Rationale for and Interpretation of
Economy-Wide Materials Flow Analysis and Derived Indicators,” Journal of
Industrial Ecology, 2003, Vol. 7, No. 2.
7. H. Schutz and M. J. Welfens, “Sustainable Development by Dematerialization
in Production and Consumption—Strategy for the New Environmental
Policy in Poland,” Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy,
Wuppertal, Germany, 2000.
8. Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden; CE, Solutions for
Environment, Economy and Technology; and Wuppertal Institute, “Policy
Review on Decoupling: Development of indicators to assess decoupling of
economic development and environmental pressure in the EU-25 and AC-3
countries.” Draft final report, European Commission, DG Environment,
October 2004.
9. M. Wackernagel, “Advancing Sustainable Resource Management: Using
Ecological Footprint Analysis for Problem Formulation, Policy Development,
and Communication,” Report to European Commission, DG Environment,
Feb. 2001.
10. OECD , Indicators to Measure Decoupling of Environmental Pressure from Economic
Growth, 2002. www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2002doc.nsf/LinkTo/sg-sd(2002)1-final
11. P. W. Gerbens-Leenes and A. Y. Hoekstra, Business Water Footprint Accounting,
UNESCO Institute for Water Education, 2008.
12. Water Footprint Network estimates. See www.waterfootprint.org.
13. M. A. Curran (ed), Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (New York: McGraw-Hill,
1996).
14. A good overview of life-cycle assessment methods and applications is:
G. A. Keoleian and D. V. Spitzley, “Life Cycle Based Sustainability Metrics,”
in M. A. Abraham (Ed.), Sustainability Science and Engineering (Amsterdam:
Elsevier B.V., 2006).
15. J. C. Bare, G. A. Norris, D. W. Pennington, and T. McKone, 2003. “TRACI—The
Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental
Impacts.” Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2003, 6(3-4), pp 49–78.
16. C. T. Hendrickson, L. B. Lave, and S. H. Matthews, Environmental Life Cycle
Assessment of Goods and Services: An Input-Output Approach (Washington,
D.C.: Resources for the Future Press, 2005).