A software-based environmental data analysis for product life cycle

One of the major opportunities for practicing sustainability in material usage is selecting materials with minimal environmental degradation over the entire life cycle of a material. This includes initial acquisition, manufacturing, use and eventual disposal/recycling stages. This study provides a data analysis approach for investigating the impact of material selection decision on environment. Several eco-sustainability metrics including embodied energy, CO₂ footprint, water usage and processing energy will be reviewed. A product example will be used to illustrate the application of a digital database for environmental data analysis. The results of this analysis can assist product managers and designers in incorporating environmental factors into the business and product design decisions.