engleski

Estimation of environmental effects in early product development

Thinking ‘green’ early in product development process is of outmost importance while developing environmentally advanced products and solutions. Current Ecodesign practice is focused on product’s life cycle analysis, creating options for improvement of environmental effects of artefacts. The paper examines the potential of estimating environmental effects in conceptual design stage by assessing product’s working principles. Working principles are used to elaborate how the product fulfils its function, supply and facilitate effects to perform the desired transformation of energy, material and information. Working principles can be correlated with principle solutions recognized as being suitable for delivering desired functions and effects, where effects are defined by physical laws. The research is based on the assumption that when principle solutions for delivering required effects and product’s function are established, environmental impacts are indirectly implied and could be managed in the early stages of product development. Building the structure of future product, creating relationships between desired effects, principle solutions and chain of required internal transformations, secondary or side effects (outputs) towards active or immediate environment can be anticipated. Following the premise, analysis of working principles and physical effects could enable identification of environmentally advantageous concepts.

environmental effects; working principles; principle solution; physical effects; TTS

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