Dear Ben,
It may be of interest to look at PLM.
PLM (Product LifeCycle Management) is a more sophisticated design and
management software for green design than LCA.
PLM was a development of LCA about 25 years ago and is the de-facto
standard.
The origins of PLM were in vehicle and aerospace production because green
design emerged as a significant issue earlier in these areas than in most
other areas of product design or building design.
Also with variants, PLM is sometimes called Product and Process Lifecycle
Management (PPLM).
The PLM/PPLM approach is much more sophisticated than LCA, rather LCA fits
within the PLM/PPLM approach.
PLM is the process of managing a product from cradle to grave or cradle to
cradle (called closed-loop life-cycle management or CLLM or CL2M).
Most of the serious software is beyond the scale that small design companies
would have typically access to. It provides 'whole of organization'
services to the likes of General Motors and Intel. Software is by Dassault,
Seimens, SAP, EDS, Oracle, IBM - there are many other large companies with
software and processes in this area such as AutoDesk. For open source try
Aras.
Most significantly as a design tool, PLM can be viewed in innovation-driven
companies as situating the product design process as the primary business
function containing all other business processes. PLM has been used in this
role since the mid-eighties. This history contradicts current hype about the
newness of 'design-based' business practices.
Fils' comment about accuracy is spot on. LCA is dependent on knowing the
figures for the exact path of production of the whole lifecycle of all
elements of a design. Each element and raw material can vary in life-cycle
costs depending on sourcing. An example from agriculture design, it can be
'greener' to grow food where it grows more easily and fly it to where it is
consumed than to grow locally.
Best regards,
Terry
===
Dr. Terence Love, PhD, FDRS, AMIMechE, PMACM
Love Design and Research
Tel/Fax: +61 (0)8 9305 7629
Mobile: +61 (0)434 975 848
[log in to unmask]
www.love.com.au
===
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Benjamin
Pratt
Sent: Wednesday, 3 February 2010 1:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: green estimator
A couple of questions:
1, Could anybody recommend software or a database that helps one
assess the environmental impact of a product design, or/or different
materials used in product design? The LCA (life cycle assessment)
software I can find is focused on buildings.
2. What standard is Wal-mart using in their initiative to give green
ratings to the products they sell? My guess is that this could become
THE standard.
Thanks in advance,
Ben
--
Benjamin G. Pratt
Professor, Design
The University of Wisconsin-Stout
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