Life Cycle Assessment Tool in Product Development: Environmental Requirements in Decision Making Process

Abstract

In recent years, sustainable development has acquired a relevant position in our society. In this context, the design of modern products must consider these issues when creating eco-friendly and socially acceptable solutions, seeing sustainability as a matter of optimization in the use of available resources along the entire product lifecycle. This research aims to propose a dedicated Environmental Assessment Framework, using LCA methodology allowing designers to make environmental sustainability as an achievable and measurable requirement for developing new products. The case study presented is adapting the Life Cycle Assessment framework in the household refrigerator sector, of comparison between conventional gas-compression refrigeration and magnetic cooling system. The critical point of magnetic refrigerator is the presence of rare earths, and for this reasons a Life Cycle Assessment toll is needed to investigate the whole lifecycle.