A Systems Approach to Sustainable Technical Product Design

Abstract

Summary Many existing methods for sustainable technical product design focus on environmental efficiency while lacking a framework for a holistic, sustainable design approach that includes combined social, technical, economic, and environmental aspects in the whole product life cycle, and that provides guidance on a technical product development level. This research proposes a framework for sustainable technical product design in the case of skis. We developed a ski under the Grown brand, benchmarked according to social, environmental, economic, and technical targets, following an initial sustainability assessment, and delivered the first environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA) and the first social life cycle assessment (SLCA) of skis. The framework applies a virtual development process as a combination of ELCA to calculate the environmental footprint as carbon equivalents of all materials and processes and a technical computer‐aided design (CAD) and computer‐aided engineering (CAE) simulation and virtual optimization using parameter studies for the nearly prototype‐free development of the benchmarked skis. The feedback loops between life cycle assessment (LCA) and virtual simulation led to the elimination of highly energy intensive materials, to the pioneering use of basalt fibers in skis, to the optimization of the use of natural materials using protective coatings from natural resins, and to the optimization of the production process. From an environmental perspective, a minimum 32% reduction in carbon equivalent emissions of materials in relation to other comparably performing skis has been achieved, as well as a pioneering step forward toward transparent communication of the environmental performance by the individual, comparable, and first published ski carbon footprint per volume unit.

Review of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment and Potential for Its Adoption at an Automotive Company

“…Some authors took LCSA elements and either developed a simplified tool that allows quick assessment of wastewater treatment options based on LCA and LCC [60] or combined LCA and economic indicators to assess biogas production options in Kenya [61]. Other partial integration was done by Luthe et al [62] who developed a tool that integrates LCA, S-LCA, and economical aspects into product design, while Mjörnell et al [63] claimed to integrate all three LCSA components into their sustainability assessment, even though they chose indicators from the S2020 Knowledge Matrix instead of established S-LCA sources.…”

Life Cycle Assessment of Selected Single-Use Plastic Products towards Evidence-Based Policy Recommendations in Sri Lanka

“…It quantifies the relevant emissions, consumption of resources and energy, and environmental impacts associated with the product, process, or system. The LCA is, therefore, a vital and robust decision support tool, complementing other methods which are equally necessary to help effectively and efficiently make consumption and production more sustainable [24]. Moreover, LCA brings a holistic perspective to decisionmaking and has gained acceptance as a decision-making tool in industry, procurement and policymaking.…”

Winter Sports Resorts and Natural Environment—Systematic Literature Review Presenting Interactions between Them

“…Decisions on which directions and what methods will be developed by the resorts, which are taken at the level of the management boards of individual resorts, were often criticized for disregarding the principles of nature protection, including fundamental ones like the protection of plant and animal species under legal species protection [63,70]. According to Luthe et al [91] it is necessary to take a comprehensive view of how the tools and activities are designed in winter sports resorts to assess their impact on nature and make it as little as possible. On the other hand, Krtička et al [53] called for allocating the profits from the operation of individual resorts to nature protection instead of further development of infrastructure.…”