Eco-design integration: Methodologies and deployments

Abstract

The engineer's doings in the new millennium have to cope with the ecological quality objectives, claimed by requirements for sustainable long-term growth; the challenge is extraordinary and involves socio-cultural aspects, too. Here, an overview of the state of the arts is flashed, in particular addressing: - the design of 'product-service' items, deliberately considering the early specifications for the lifecycle and the dismissal phases and: - the integration prerequisites in the supply chain management, explaining the usefulness of networks aids and the connected commercial modifications. The discussion, although offering sketchy suggestions, concerns the proper assessing of the life cycle eco-coherence as utter entrepreneurial challenge: the business design prerequisites incorporate legal issues, so it is not sufficient they are separately dealt with outside the firm. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.