Combing TRIZ and LCA for a Better Awareness of the Sustainability of a Technical Solution

A reflection about the evaluation of the environmental impacts arising from a technical solution obtained by applying some of the most common TRIZ (Russian acronym for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) strategies is provided in this study. In fact, some of them provide suggestions to minimize the resources and make a device work better without adding additional substances or energy flows. However, the contained shortcomings for improving the environmental sustainability can only be fully understood only when applying a quantitative assessment such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This was done in this study, by considering a selection of TRIZ strategies and collecting their pros and cons about environmental sustainability by applying LCA. To do this, the discussion of each strategy was supported by exemplary case studies about Comparative LCA, collected from the scientific literature. The intent of the authors is not to bring experimental evidence, but to provide a further and preliminary judging method to select the TRIZ strategies. In this way, problem-solvers can also base their choice on environmental sustainability.