Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process

Abstract

Traditionally, the remedial ‘end of pipe’ control was applied to reduce environmental impact during a product’s entire life. Unfortunately, this method requires too much time to fix the problem rather than preventing it. Therefore, shifting from corrective into prevention act is more essential in preserving our environment. The environmental consideration during design stage is the best preventive action to reduce the impacts. Additionally, economic and social factors also need to be considered in improving a product’s sustainability performance. Research has established the importance of developing a specific tool to fulfill the needs of a sustainable product. Several tools are available such as Eco Indicator 95 and 99, Life Cycle Index, Ten Golden Rules etc., however most of these tools only focus on one or two sustainability elements whereas sustainability requires the consideration of the environment, economic and social elements and the proposed method considers all three. Furthermore, sustainability elements involve various parameters including pollution, cost and energy, among others which then increase the complexity in decision making process. Subsequently, the quantitative and qualitative data of sustainability parameters further complicate this evaluation. In this study, a comprehensive method for evaluating sustainability is proposed to assist engineers and designers in making better decisions. A fuzzy approach has been applied in the sustainability evaluation because of its capability in reducing data uncertainty and simultaneous handling of qualitative and quantitative data. The sustainability input parameters from life cycle inventory databases such as European Life Cycle Database, Ecoinvent and others are converted into an index value which is known as sustainability indicator. A case study involving an automotive headlamp, passenger car and selection of a sustainable electrical power generation plant is presented. The results are also compared with Eco Indicator 99 to validate the accuracy of the assessment. From the comparison, it is found that the result of the developed sustainability indicator agrees with the Eco Indicator 99 approach. Therefore, the developed sustainability indicator is able to indicate the sustainability performance of a product and also highlight the critical area for improvement.