Generating infographics for environmental product declarations (EPDs) with I-tree software

This paper presents an interactive tool called I-Tree for supporting eco-assessment according to LCA approach. It works with two levels of detail. Through the introduction of a software framework working as a product configurator, LCA data are gathered in an aggregated form. The final impacts are updated in real time during Data Entry and final results about impacts visualized by infographics in order to have the clear picture in the most concise way. Indeed, infographics allow the user to understand where are the main criticalities of the products in terms of environmental impacts, according to the different life cycle phases and then deepen in a second round of information gathering only the components that affect more on the final result. Test on industrial case studies demonstrated important savings in terms of time and resources.