An Environmental Impact Scoring System for Manufactured Products

This paper presents an environmental impact scoring system to assess the greennes of a product from cradle to grave. The system infrastructure is designed with four hierarchical levels. Level 1 contains the six product life stages commonly existing in a product. Level 2 contains the environmental im...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of advanced manufacturing technology 2002-01, Vol.19 (4), p.302-312
Main Authors: Hui, I.K., Lau, H.C.W., Chan, H.S., Lee, K.T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dismantling
Environmental impact
Environmental quality
Impact factors
Levels
Recycled materials
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Summary:This paper presents an environmental impact scoring system to assess the greennes of a product from cradle to grave. The system infrastructure is designed with four hierarchical levels. Level 1 contains the six product life stages commonly existing in a product. Level 2 contains the environmental impact factors identified from the product life stages in Level 1. These impact factors are based on (i) the number of resources extracted from the environment, (ii) the effects of the residues on the environment, and (iii) whether the disassembled parts or materials can be recycled. Levels 3 and 4 are the environmental impact subfactors identified to reflect and highlight the impact consequences of Level 2. The usefulness and applicability of the proposed scoring system have been demonstrated in a real case study. It is concluded that by using the scores calculated with the system the environmental quality of products can be assessed and compared.
ISSN:0268-3768
1433-3015
DOI:10.1007/s001700200039