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LIFE CYCLE DESIGN GUIDANCE MANUAL - ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS AND THE PRODUCT SYSTEM
Citation:
Keoleian, G. A. AND D. Menerey. LIFE CYCLE DESIGN GUIDANCE MANUAL - ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS AND THE PRODUCT SYSTEM. EPA/600/R-92/226 (NTIS 93-164507), 1992.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
This document seeks to promote the reduction of environmental impacts and health risks through a systems approach to design. The approach is based on die product life cycle, which includes raw materials acquisition and processing, manufacturing, use/service, resource recovery, and disposal. A life cycle design framework was developed to provide guidance for more effectively conserving resources and energy, preventing pollution, and reducing the aggregate environmental impacts and health risks associated with a product system. This framework addresses the product, process, distribution, and management/information components of each product system. Concepts such as concurrent design, cross-disciplinary teams, multi-objective decision making, and total cost assessment are essential elements of the framework. Life cycle design emphasizes integrating environmental requirements into the earliest phases of design and successfully balancing these requirements with all other necessary performance, cost, cultural, and legal criteria. A multi-layer requirements matrix is proposed to assist the design team in identifying design requirements and resolving the conflicts between them. Design strategies for meeting environmental requirements are then provided. Finally, environmental analysis tools and life cycle accounting methods are presented for evaluating design alternatives. This report was submitted in fulfillment of Cooperative Agreement #817570 by the University of Michigan under the sponsorship of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Research for this report covers the period from January 1991 to December 1991. A draft report was submitted in April 1992, and the final report was completed in December 1992.