Designing environmental considerations in to products-a novel qualitative life cycle approach

This paper introduces a novel life cycle approach to designing environmental considerations into products. The approach consists of a qualitative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework for both single and multiple life cycle electromechanical products. The LCA framework will consist of a `body of knowledge´ and a methodology for applying this knowledge to evaluate designs. It will be able to integrate quantitative and qualitative data, consider the views of all the life cycle participants and be implemented as part of a Concurrent Engineering (CE) structure. Details of a pilot study on a sample number of consumers, including users, are given. The study involved undertaking questionnaires and informal interviews to identify, rank and weight consumers key product requirements and environmental considerations. It also involved gathering of participants views on general environmental issues such as product take back, rental/leasing and willingness to pay extra for perceived environmental benefits. A summary of the results and conclusions drawn from this study are given with a discussion of future work planned