An interface between life cycle assessment and design

Abstract

Results from a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a product contain complex information about its constituent components and materials; subsequent manufacturing processes, emissions, and potential environmental impacts. Understanding such LCA information in detail can help designers make robust decisions related to reducing environmental impacts of the product through appropriate choice of components, materials and processes during Eco-Design. A key resource for LCA information in a Full LCA tool (also called Detailed LCA, and henceforth referred to as LCA tool) is its databases. However, LCA tools have often been criticised for not being useful to designers. Among the various underlying causes, the issues with visual representation of LCA information and usability of LCA tools have gained minimal research attention. In order to address these issues, we adopt an information visualization approach. Information visualization is an interdisciplinary research area focused on computer supported development of visual representations of complex information in order to render it interpretable by humans. In this paper, we discuss the potential of using information visualization techniques as an interface for LCA tools for educating designers about the likely environmental impact of their design decisions. We also discuss potential benefits of using a novel interface developed by us using interactive, multi-view based visualization techniques in understanding context sensitivity of LCA information. The proposed interface is part of an ongoing research effort for developing user friendly interactive visual representations for LCA. Ultimately, the proposed interface is intended to enhance designers’ capabilities for developing environmentally benign product life cycles.