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.