Ecological Impact Assessment and Eco-Design of Industrial Gearboxes

Abstract:

This paper presents an approach for ecological impact assessment of industrial gearboxes using Simapro and ReCiPe method. The importance and necessity of sustainability for product design and manufacture is introduced first, and then the methodology of ecological impact (eco-impact) assessment suitable for eco-design is presented, which includes the calculations of eco-impact elements and indicators, human labor eco-impact, a three tiers approach for eco-impact calculation, and an optimum eco-design procedure. A case study of a traditional spur gearbox is presented to illustrate the methods developed.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 486)
• Pages: 197-200
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.486.197
• Online since: July 2011
• Authors: Dai Zhong Su, Zhong Ming Ren
• Keywords: Eco-Design, Ecological Impact, Gear Box, Life Cycle Assessment, Sustainability

References

[1] Fabio Giudice et al., Product Design for the Environment: A Life Cycle Approach, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2006.

[2] Davis, G.A. et al., Extended Product Responsibility: A New Principle for Product-Oriented Pollution Prevention, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste, Washington, DC, 1997.

[3] EC-IPP, Green Paper on Integrated Product Policy, COM (2001) 68, 7/2/2001, Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, 2001.

[4] ReCiPe Mid/Endpoint method, version January 2010, http://sites.google.com/site/lciarecipe/project-definition (accessed 12th June 2011)

[5] http://gda.ciaa.eu/asp2/what_are_gdas.asp [accessed on 20 May 2011]

[6] Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics, Released on Regional Trends Online, 3 March (2011)

[7] Road traffic and speeds statistics, Department of Transport, 4 November,(2010)

[8] Jannick H. Schmidt, Documentation of the data consolidation and calibration exercise, and the scenario parameterisation, 2.-0 LCA consultants, 23rd February 2010.