Page 166 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Accelerating life cycle assessment uptake: life cycle management and ‘quick’ LCA tools

Global Warming 153
2.26e+0 kg CO eq.
2

Solid Waste Cumulative Energy Demand
4.58e-1 kg 3.28e+1 MJ LHV

Water Use Photochemical Oxidation
2.74e-2 kL H O 1.88e-3 kg C H eq.
2 2 2

Format 1 Format 2
Figure 11.6 The relative impact of selected scenarios on equally weighted indicators. The closer to
the centre, the lower the impact.

carbon dioxide generation, followed by the converting process. The negative result shown in
the figure is an environmental benefit and is due to the benefits gained in recycling of the
material for this particular format.
Figure 11.6 provides a comparison of two different packaging formats against five different
impact parameters: global warming, solid waste, cumulative energy demand, water consump-
tion and photochemical oxidation (smog). PIQET automatically normalises the results so that
the axis for each parameter extends to the highest scored result. This allows users to make
their own trade-offs and comparisons according to their own company policies and business
drivers, rather than forcing a particular policy objective by prioritising one issue over another.
With this in mind, the results show that, in this example, format 2 is the best performer across
all five impact categories, except water use.
PIQET was developed to meet a range of functional requirements (Table 11.3), and these
have been met or exceeded in the first version of the Internet-based tool.
11.5.2 Case Study 2: Development of a product-design quick LCA tool
Product eco-design strategies are increasingly drawing on both eco-design principles and LCA
data. However, there is a particular need for quick LCA information due to the nature of typical
product design processes. Concept design, which establishes key aspects of look, feel, function-
ality and aesthetic quality, effectively also ‘locks in’ many environmental burdens early in the
design process. Therefore, waiting for detailed design before undertaking detailed LCA misses
out key opportunities to ‘design out’ some environmental burdens.
The need for a concept-stage quick LCA product design assistant led to the research and
development of Greenfly, a web-based software tool based on LCA algorithms and data, but
with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. Greenfly allows product designers to improve environ-
mental performance of products, from design concept through materials selection to detailed
design. As with PIQET, a collegiate approach has been adopted in the Greenfly development
process, with the core research team led by the Centre for Design at RMIT University and
including WSP Environmental, the Design Institute of Australia and Sustainability Victoria. A

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