Chapter One - Current tools and methodology for a sustainable product life cycle and design

Abstract

Sustainable product designing has become the major concern for industries due to increased awareness in the society towards climate change and green economy. Many tools encompassing methodologies and frameworks have been proposed on achieving sustainability in the entire product life cycle (from the cradle to the grave) considering the 3 important aspects, i.e., economics, social, and environmental. Based on the utilization of these aspects, sustainable product design tools can be broadly classified into eco-design tools, P-SPD tools, and SPD tools, the description of which has been detailed in this paper. A methodology for a closed loop material flow involving a multi-life cycle approach and evaluating the EOL strategies and prices of the product in the market has been explained in detail. The methodology employs a bass diffusion dynamic demand model, incorporating variations in the product pricing, maximizing the product life cycle profit, and minimizing energy and water usage over the entire life cycle, with a variety of product.