Ecodesign

Ecodesign of products and services

You would like better quality, less expensive and more environmentally friendly products? You need Ecodesign to systematically optimize your products and services covering all phases of their life cycle.

It is not sufficient to fulfil generalized demands like a «long life expectancy» or lightweight design. As part of Ecodesign all parts of the life cycle of the product as a whole have to be improved and optimized according to ecological aspects. This comprehensive life -ycle design requires a systematic approach and goal-oriented utilization of practicable methodology and tools.

Ecodesign is a process, i.e. a sequence of certain planning stages, within the framework of product development:

  1. 1

    Consideration and analysis of all product life stages; this is also called «Life-Cycle-Thinking».

  2. 2

    2. Determination of ecological weaknesses, this is an economical and ecological evaluation; finding economic and ecological strengths and weaknesses

  3. 3

    Determination of ecodesign strategy: Which topics are relevant? What does basically have to be achieved?

  4. 4

    Search and selection of appropriate improvement measures: Which additional requirements does the product have to fulfil?

  5. 5

    Implementation of product and market requirements in product development and marketing.

  6. 6

    Making ecodesign an integral part of the company - if necessary adapt / optimise the product design process.

 

EEst method to support core areas of Ecodesign

Especially in the field of mechatronic products / systems we have developed our own methods and tools - often financially supported by the government and foundations. One of these tools is EEst (= Energy Estimation Tool) for developing (=ecodesign) as well as the procurement of energy efficient machines and devices. Basically, this is about the following:

  • A simple identification of selected structural features of a complex machine / device (and not for example its physical shape) and
  • an automated analysis i.e. calculation of specific indicators which show strength and weaknesses and thus effectively support an optimization of the product with regards to their procurement.

Example of an EEst-application: Life-Cycle-Thinking

Example of an EEst-application: Indicators

The EEst tool, developed by Züst Engineering and ETH Zurich, also allows for a data comparison with a specific infrastructure (keyword cooling et al). This makes wide-ranging optimizations as part of product development or procurement of new machines and devices possible.

Züst Engineering AG supports you in the specific implementation of ecodesign steps. In the following, three examples:

  • Work out a concept and integrating the Ecodesign-process into the existing innovation and development process of a world- leading company
  • Planning a company- and product-specific communication of Ecodesign (company-specific description of the environmental performance of a product) for the machine tool industry
  • Development of a master plan Ecodesign for an organization of the public service sector including a portfolio of projects that could potentially be realized in the future