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12
chapter
Eco-design
Environment concern shall take into account
several requirements as:
selection of raw materiel at the design stage,
energy consumption during operation,
recycling capability at the end of lifetime.
Summary
12. Eco-design
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M
12.1 Foreword
280
12.2 Concepts and main directives
281
12.3 Standards
282
12.4 Eco-design
283
12.5 Lifecycle
283
12.6 Main rules of eco-design
284
12.7 Conclusion
287
12.8 Applications
287
12.1
Foreword
12. Eco-design
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12.1
Foreword
The term “eco-design” means products (goods and services) designed
with the environmental factor in mind.
It implies that this factor is included with the rest of the conventional
design ones (customer requirements, cost control, technical feasibility,
etc.) (C Fig.1).
This policy involves different players in the economy – suppliers,
producers, distributors, consumers, and private buyers – who wish to
offer or choose products that offer the same service but are more
environment-friendly.
Because is it upstream of the decision-making process, eco-design is a
preventive policy. It is based on a global attitude, a multicriteria approach
to the environment (water, air, soils, noise, waste, energy, raw materials,
etc.) encompassing all the stages in the lifecycle of a product: raw
material extraction, production, distribution, use and disposal at the end
of the lifetime.
This double nature of eco-design (multicriteria and multiple stages) is
what may be called its signature.
Investigation methods can be described as in-depth or simplified
depending on the degree to which they keep account of environmental
impact throughout the product lifecycle.
Excerpt from the definition of eco-design by Ademe (the French environment and
energy agency).
In this guide, we propose a general methodology for eco-design which
can be used for any new development of products or services and for
new versions of existing ones.
b Introduction
It is Schneider Electric’s policy to act as an environmentally responsible
company. As re