How to do eco-design?

Developing economic well-being and preserving a healthy environment are not opposed forces but do, on the contrary, have a primary relationship and require a similar way of thinking: Maximising the efficiency of a product over its life cycle will minimise its total financial cost as well as the total environmental impact over its life cycle.

LCA is a methodology used for assessing the impact over a product complete life cycle on major environmental parameters. It requires a large amount of input data from often many different players, and calculations quickly become extensive. Eco-design uses life cycle thinking to develop and assess different design options that should benefit the environment over the life cycle of the product.

Leonardo ENERGY has developed an Ecodesign Toolbox with and interface designed to overcome this complexity and facilitate the use of the models by non-LCA experts. At the click of a button it quantifies major environmental discharges and produces related environmental impact reports, based on technical input parameters and a comprehensive database.

Session 1 - Eco-design for buildings and their energy needs

21 April 2010; 14:00 - 15:00, Brussels time 

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• What are the most important aspects of eco-design in the context of buildings in use?
• From theory to practicality: translating aspects into technical parameters
• Ecodesign analyses of all important aspects of manufacture and use of buildings in one shell

Session 2 - Practical case-studies

29 April 2010; 15:00 - 16:00, Brussels time

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Practical examples applying LCA (problem formulation, system definition, toolbox settings, results and analysis)to the following cases:

1. Power grid mix today and in the future
2. Investment into green Power Generation and energy use
3. Investment into Efficient Housing

 Speakers for both sessions: Flora Vadas, Constantin Herrmann and Alexander Stoffregen; from PE INTERNATIONAL.