Users of Autodesk Inventor can now try out EcoDesigner plug-in to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) on their products.
The LCA software plug-in was originally released by Trayak in 2011 for Siemens PLM Software’s Solid Edge, but Trayak has taken the extra step to make the software accessible to more engineers.
“Trayak’s stated goal is to help mainstream sustainability,” said Trayak CEO Prashant B. Jagtap. “We help all manufacturers to design sustainable products and packages. Therefore, we want to put EcoDesigner software in the hands of as many designers and engineers as possible. Adding it as a plug-in into Inventor makes LCA available inside their everyday work process and software application.”
What Is Its LCA Based On?
LCA is a way of examining a product’s environmental footprint from its beginning to its end of life.
EcoDesigner conducts LCAs that are based on a framework from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The standards are defined under ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006. Curious Autodesk users can learn more about who is involved in developing these guidelines from the Environmental Management department of ISO.
Rigorous guidelines such as these take enormous time and effort to develop. Software like EcoDesigner is needed to translate these standards into a program that enables engineers to make their products more sustainable at the click of a button.
The LCA calculation from EcoDesigner is based on material information, production method, transportation and the location of the supplier. Some of the commonly used indicators are as follows:
- Acidification: The potential of a material to emit substances that lower the pH of water and soils
- Total Energy: Going beyond the energy used to operate the product to its manufacturing, transportation and the energy requirements for its end-of-life disposal
- Eutrophication: Defined as the depletion of oxygen in a water body as a result excessive nutrient pollution
- Global Warming: The emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) throughout all stages of the product’s life
Users also have the option to choose between methods of calculating LCA. They include:
- IPCC 2013 GWP (from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s global warming potential estimation)
- ReCiPe (from the Institution of Environmental Sciences, Radbound University and other organizations)
- TRACI (from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- CML-IA (from the Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University)
EcoDesigner Also Now Analyzes Cost
A benefit of using EcoDesigner as an LCA tool is that users can simultaneously evaluate cost and sustainability as the design of a product is altered. This recent addition allows engineers to more easily make a cost-benefit analysis of their products.
“Frequently, our customers are concerned about the cost impact of making design changes for sustainability,” said Jagtap. “We now allow users to evaluate them side by side. This has shown that sustainable design decisions don’t always have to cost more. Lean design (just like lean manufacturing) can also save manufacturers money.”
EcoDesigner is now available in the Autodesk app store at the price of $3,000. The plug-in shows up as a tab in the CAD program and can work on both parts and assembly files.
“EcoDesigner can be used by designers or engineers who are responsible for designing components or assemblies for a range of products,” said Jagtap. “For example: appliances, consumer goods, furniture, any industry where sustainable design is a business driver. They could also be package design engineers in a range of industries.”
For Engineers and Those Without CAD
The company Trayak also offers EcoImpact, which provides the same functionality as EcoDesigner, but without CAD. Users can either manually describe the product and its components, or they can input bill of materials (BOM) data from a product life cycle management (PLM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, saving them time.
The development of LCA modules such as EcoDesigner enables design variant composition, or makes it possible for engineers to work with two or many different variabilities of their design. Such tools make designing for sustainability a more achievable and less strenuous goal.
“Overall, software solutions like EcoDesigner and our other solutions like EcoImpact (cloud based), COMPASS (cloud based and focused on packages), EcoScore and EcoLabel are striving to bring sustainability into the mainstream,” said Jagtap. “We are achieving that by bringing complex LCA methodology as well as other sustainable design practices into the hands of every designer and engineer.”
For more information on any of the listed software products above, see Trayak’s website.