An Eco-Design Methodology Based on a-LCA and TRIZ

An Eco-design methodology based on two abridged Life Cycle Assessment (aLCA) tools and TRIZ Eco guidelines is presented. This method is one of the outputs of the European project REMake, which developed and tested new approaches for eco-innovation and optimization of energy and materials for 250 manufacturing SMEs in six countries. Unlike other Eco-design methods, this method couples a simplified but solid assessment phase, realized with an abridged LCA, to an advanced and structured product improvement phase (that normally consists of basic design suggestions). A set of over 300 Eco-design guidelines, coming from problem solving techniques as TRIZ and conceptual design are selectively introduced to develop design variants to the given system with the aim of providing a lower global environmental impact. The advantages and limits of the method have been evaluated versus other methods inside European project REMake, and in this article are presented two case study realized in an independent way by two research groups that have tested it in two industrial case studies.