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Design for Environment (DfE) and Design for Disassembly (DfD) have been recognized as an effective sustainable manufacturing approach to reduce environmental impact during product's life cycle. Although Malaysian manufacturers have long demonstrated a strong global market presence, the implementation of DfE and DfD among manufacturers are found lacking. This paper attempts to investigate the current state DfE and DfD implementation and the local driving force in the local Malaysian industry by addressing four research questions (RQ): RQ1 – How do Malaysian designers value the importance of DfE? RQ2 – What are the current approaches used by designers to incorporate environmental issues during product development stage? RQ3 – What difficulties are experienced in the implementation of DfE and DfD in the product development stage? RQ4 – What are the approaches needed to enhance the engagement of DfE and DfD into product design practices? Targeting product designers in Malaysia, a multiple approach using survey and interview is conducted shown that the current state of implementation and awareness within the local industry is fairly low. The soft approach of the local legislation does not contribute much towards seeing a major change in attitude as will be discussed further in the paper. The above two concerns are major challenges that require immediate attention. However, there seems to be growing concern from the industry and the government that pushes the need for options that could leapfrog the current situation. This presents an opportunity for the local research community to come up with various strategies that will be discussed. Finally, the paper proposes a more comprehensive strategy that is tailored to the local business environment in order for the local industry to be capable of maintaining its market presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of lab-scale processes come with certain limitations as they are not reflecting e.g. higher efficiencies of large-scale production. To address this, we developed in an earlier manuscript a scale-up framework for chemical processes which is applied in this paper here. Following the framework's five-step procedure on the case of a new nanocellulose production pathway, a scaled-up LCA study for a future production of nanocellulose is performed. The comparison of these LCA results with competing and already commercially produced materials as well as with the lab-scale process demonstrates the usefulness of the whole scale-up procedure. The example shows that the environmental impact per kg of produced nanocellulose yarn can be lowered by a factor of up to 6.5 compared to the laboratory production, reflecting a projected impact that is closer to the values of an actual production plant in case the material will be commercialized. Our results got also better comparable to those of competing materials, showing values that are up to three times smaller than for carbon fibers. Looking into the process, the chosen example of nanocellulose shows a considerable change concerning the relative contributions of the various process steps. While in the lab scale, the enzymatic treatment step – which involved heating for an extended period – was the dominant contributor, this step proved to be negligible in terms of environmental impact at industrial-scale production given that a more efficient and well-insulated reactor is used. The identification of such changes is a major added value of the applied scale-up framework which cannot be achieved with scale-up procedures using a simple, global scaling factor. One of the main purposes of the whole scale-up at such an early stage is to give improvement recommendations. The framework can be considered as being an effective support for eco-design purposes, helping in identifying hotspots for process improvements. It gives a better understanding of the process and shows the practical scalability of the various steps. Overall, it can assist in steering the research of new chemicals and materials more towards an industrial application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambitions toward a circular economy will necessitate more pro-activity in the current practices of many organizations in order to reduce environmental impacts. Since a product's environmental fate is dictated by organization's product development, it is essential to better understand how environmental issues are taken into account in product development practices. Building on constructs from empirical research in eco-design, this paper investigates how these issues are integrated into product development practices based on the perceptions of employees drawn from a non-probability sample. We assessed employees' perceptions of how frequently these environmental considerations are applied within individual product development phases, and how are they managed. We also explored whether employee's attitudes influenced perception of these practices, and if so, how. For instance, different attitudes seem to influence product development practices at different levels of abstraction. Furthermore, these results suggest that indeed environmental considerations have not yet become a mainstream topic within product development practices; for instance, there remains much potential for more frequent inclusion of environmental considerations within various product development phases, and for highlighting their role as criteria in decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-innovation methodologies and tools are being applied in companies to an increasing extent. None of them, however, are particularly adapted to complex systems industries, where the eco-design requirements are highly specific. These systems are characterized by large size and mass, and relatively long and uncertain life cycles. The associated organization is also complex as there are multiple highly specialized experts, who rarely collaborate, and much less so on environmental aspects. In this paper, an adapted eco-innovation process based on the eco-design strategy wheel is proposed for use with a working group of internal technical experts. A first phase involves generating a high number of potential eco-innovative R&D projects that are then analyzed and assessed using an appropriate multi-criteria grid. Three structured filters enable an informed selection of the most promising projects that will then make up a balanced R&D project portfolio. The whole process has been successfully applied at Alstom Grid on large electrical stations used in the primary aluminium industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing concerns regarding the environmental pollution derived from anthropogenic activities, such as the use of fossil fuels for power generation, has driven many interested parties to seek different alternatives, e.g. use of renewable energy sources, use of “cleaner” fuels and use of more effective technologies, in order to minimize and control the quantity of emissions that are produced during the life cycle of conventional energy sources. The work presented in this paper focuses on the examination of the possibilities of integrating the environmental aspects in the preliminary phase of the conventional design and planning of energy systems in conjunction with other parameters, such as financial cost, availability, capacity, location, etc. The integration of the environmental parameter to the design is carried out within a context where Eco-design concepts are applied. Due to the multi-parameter nature of the design procedure, the tools that are used are Life Cycle Analysis and Multi-criteria Analysis. The proposed optimization model examines and identifiesoptimum available options of the use of different energy sources and technologies for the production of electricity and/or heat by minimizing both the financial cost and the environmental impacts, with regard to a multiple objective optimization subject to a set of specific constraints. Implementation of the proposed model in the form of a case study for the island of Rhodes in Greece revealed that an optimized solution both cost and environmental-wise, would be an almost balanced participation of renewables and non-renewable energy sources in the energy mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-design that addresses the consumption of resources and energy, as well as pollution emissions from a product life-cycle perspective, is an effective way to solve environmental problems. However, the optimal eco-design solution is hardly generated in the conceptual design stage due to the complex association of the life cycle design information. To this end, this paper proposes a new eco-design model based on a life cycle integrated framework to effectively manage life cycle information in the conceptual design phase. In this work, (1) The life cycle-oriented model is proposed to integrate the product design information in terms of a systematic association mechanism between function, structure, material and process to construct the design space. (2) A life cycle design scenario-based similarity matching method is developed to support the environmental impact assessment of design options in the design space. (3) A hope tree-based heuristic search algorithm with the principle of minimizing environmental impact is proposed to efficiently obtain the eco-design solution. An application for eco-design of the lift equipment is given to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method. The results show that the environmental impact of the generated eco-design solution is improved by 19.48%, and the material and use stage has the highest environmental impact which accounts for 39.59% and 47.74% respectively. This work provides a targeted method for guiding designers to implement eco-design in the conceptual design phase through the life cycle. [Display omitted] • An integrated life cycle model is proposed to express the design information of function, structure, material and process. • A scenario-based similarity matching method is proposed to acquire the LCI for the design options. • Hope tree-based algorithm is used to efficiently obtain the optimal eco-design solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction in the use of raw materials and the spread of energy efficient processes and components are necessary from both the economic and the environmental viewpoints. This paper presents the design of an innovative multi-functional agricultural machinery able to integrate three separate traditional implements used for hay raking, hay baling and bale wrapping, i.e. hay rake, round baler and bale wrapper machines, with the aim of speeding up the harvesting operations and reducing both the energy consumption and the global environmental impact. A comparative analysis about the adoption of the traditional implements and the new multi-functional machinery is reported. Particularly, the reduction in both the fuel consumption (−32%), the human labor (−66.7%) is discussed together with a differential environmental analysis of the proposed system and the traditional implements. To meet such a last purpose, the study adopts the life cycle assessment methodology carefully quantifying the impact indicators for three different categories, i.e. human health, ecosystem quality and resource depletion. The results highlight a global environmental impact reduction of about 35%. The proposed system represents an effective and competitive improvement to ease and speed the haymaking process and to reduce the environmental impact of such a key farmer activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Electric motors are one of the most common electrical components used both in industrial and household applications. In order to reduce world energy consumption and environmental impact, electric motors need to be improved in terms of efficiency and eco-sustainability. For this reason it is necessary to improve environmental consciousness, favouring the application of eco-design guidelines in the design phase, which is the most important stage where “green” solutions can be rapidly ideated, evaluated and optimized. Different aspects have to be concurrently considered in order to achieve a high quality product in a short time to market. In this context, the present paper describes an innovative web-based software platform to configure and simulate customized energy efficient electric motors. The core of the platform is a knowledge-based system which aims to standardize the design process according to the rules which represent the company know-how and best practices. The platform integrates different software tools to support the development from conceptual design to detailed design, and from the configuration of design solutions up to environmental impact assessment and manufacturing cost evaluation. It also provides a collaborative area in order to improve the collaboration among remote users involved in the design process, thanks to the sharing of important design data and models. The presented practical case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the platform application. The achieved results demonstrate the improvement of the configured solutions in comparison with the traditional adopted motors. The new motors exhibit both a considerable increase in energy efficiency and at the same time relevant improvement in product sustainability combined with acceptable production costs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Pressure on consumer goods manufacturers to develop new products with significantly less environmental impact is growing, through increased consumer awareness of environmental issues and governments setting ambitious emissions reductions targets. A strategic response to this pressure is to prepare a portfolio of innovative product ideas to meet a range of future emissions reductions targets. However, although extensive work exists on ideation (the generation of novel product ideas) and eco-design (design for reduced environmental impact), eco-ideation (generation of ideas that particularly aim to reduce environmental impacts) has had little attention. The challenge of eco-ideation is to release the creativity of a broad range of employees, only few of whom may be familiar with the drivers of environmental impact. This paper proposes a novel tool to facilitate the generation of radical product and process ideas giving step-change reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The features of products and processes that drive greenhouse gas emissions across the product life cycle were characterized with a set of indicators. A simple visual tool was created to show these indicators on a sliding scale between best and worst imaginable performance. A leading question associated with each slider was designed to stimulate lower impact ideas. The tool was iteratively refined and simplified through structured testing with individuals from across a range of roles and differing knowledge of environmental impacts. The final eco-ideation tool used 14 scales, with leading questions for each scale developed to stimulate idea generation. The tool’s effectiveness was evaluated through use in a series of 15 individual workshops and compared with the outcomes of an equal number of conventional 12-person group-brainstorming sessions. The comparison suggests that using the simple tool generally leads to a wider range of more radical ideas than emerge from group brainstorming. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study attempts to contribute to the scarce knowledge on how eco-design, and to broad extent sustainability, is connected to innovation driven companies. In particular, this cross sectional research verifies i) perception and knowledge of eco-design of the professionals from innovation driven companies in Spain, ii) specific eco-design strategies towards sustainability that innovation driven companies are integrating in their strategic plans and their application in the supply chain and iii) the companies’ future predictions on innovation and eco-design linkage. The methodology of this paper is based on a survey, developed defining measurable proxies for both eco-design and innovation approaches and conducted on 10,000 multidisciplinary professionals from Spanish innovation driven companies. The study shows that sustainability is a cardinal driver for innovation and that responses have specificities regarding company size, activity or respondent position. Innovation and eco-design strategies for the future aim to use materials with a lower environmental impact and to develop new concepts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]