Building Sustainability from the Beginning

Sustainability and product development are becoming more interlinked every day. New regulations on product recyclability and con-sumer awareness of environmental issues are requiring new ways of thinking when it comes to creating new products. But how does one measure whether a product is truly sustainable or not?

Sustainable Minds (sustainableminds.com) has come up with a new software suite that it claims can help product developers and designers better tailor their products to be green.

Using the Okala Methodology, which merges data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute for Standards and Technology to provide 500-plus impact factors and their CO2 emission equivalent, the software can conduct product life cycle assessments based on multiple factors, including manufacturing and material selection.

The data can then be used to help designers and engineers make decisions on how to improve product recyclability, reduce material waste and reduce CO2 emissions generated during production.

While the software has been developed as a stand-alone product, it has the capability to interoperate with any CAD or PLM system for easy import of bill of material data and can access entire product system, assembly and parts data in all stages for ease in comparing against concepts.

“This system is helping us achieve our mission to generate thoughtful product solutions that are not only engaging and beautiful, but just as importantly, consider their overall environmental impact in a meaningful way. Sustainable Minds is an indispensable tool that allows our design teams access to more valid and concrete information for critical decision making early in the design process,” says Jeff Salazar, design director at LUNAR