This document discusses and compares several online life cycle assessment (LCA) tools that can help designers evaluate and reduce the environmental impacts of products across their full life cycles. It provides information on tools from Sustainable Minds, Greenfly, LCA Calculator, GaBi Software, and SolidWorks Sustainability. Sustainable Minds and Greenfly are free online tools that allow designers to model a product's life cycle stages and materials to generate impact charts and compare design concepts. They also provide ecodesign guidelines. More complex paid tools like GaBi Software and SolidWorks Sustainability allow for deeper LCA analyses within computer-aided design software but require greater expertise to use.

1.
01
Life Cycle Analysis
LCA Tools Because every life-cycle stage of
a product has potential human
and environmental impacts,
Life Cycle Thinking making informed decisions can
be difficult. Life Cycle Assessment
Ecodesign is a strategic design (LCA) is a method of measuring
management process that the relative human and
considers the full life-cycle impacts environmental impacts of
of products and services (e.g. products across their full life cycle.
energy, materials, distribution, LCA allows designers to make
packaging, use and end-of-life informed decisions on where the
treatment). As a process, greatest impacts are and what
ecodesign can help provide design strategies need to be
practical and creative solutions to developed to design out the
complex problems, especially with greatest impacts.
respect to sustainability. While not
all sustainability problems are There is a wide selection of LCA
related to design, ecodesign tool available. These tools range
methodologies and processes can from the relatively inexpensive
allow for consideration of multiple online tools to the more complex
issues and stakeholder interests. LCA tools used by larger
These methodologies are iterative organisations. Some of these LCA
and require a broad range of data tools are highlighted in this
and inputs. document.
Designers need to have reliable
and appropriate data on the
relative environmental impacts of
products, processes and materials Forward by Simon O’Rafferty
so they can make informed Ecodesign Centre
decisions.

2.
02
LCA Tools
Design Greener Products Right From The Start
A web-based tool with no download needed. Users can
Sustainable Minds compare results of any two concepts side by side. It also Charge
http://www.sustainableminds.com/ contains an expansive section to help designers understand
ecodesign strategies that may reduce the impacts
highlighted by the software,
Design Greener Products
An online tool that helps you design environmentally
Greenfly improved products. Results are broken down into charts Free
http://www.greenflyonline.org visualising carbon footprint, energy demand, water use and
waste generation. Includes a set of ecodesign guidelines to
help prompt users to consider the whole spectrum of goals.
The Tool For Sustainable Design
LCA Calculator A simplified, easy-to-use LCA online tool to estimate the
http://www.lcacalculator.com/ carbon footprint and energy use of a product. Adequate to Free
gain a basic understanding of LCA with very vague results.
Lacks guidelines or strategies to help reduce impacts.
Product Sustainability
GaBi Software A much more sophisticated LCA software package with a
steeper learning curve than with the previous. GaBi requires Charge
http://www.gabi-software.com/ users to build a process tree to link materials, processes and
energy to parts for an in-depth study of a products life cycle.
LCA Directly Within The Design Window
SolidWorks Sustainability Conduct LCA on parts or assemblies directly within the
design window. Search for comparable materials and see in Charge
http://www.solidworks.com/sustainability/ real time how they affect the environmental impact. Create
detailed reports that explain products’ sustainability.

3.
Sustainable Minds™
Design greener products right, from
the start
Sustainable Minds is an online LCA
tool that enables rapid iteration and
evaluation of product concepts
whilst designing.
Once life cycle stages have been
entered, the results are broken down
into easy to read charts. These
provide a quick idea of where the
main impacts of the products life-
cycle are. The environmental impacts
are rolled into a single number to
simplify the results and provide clear
information to act on. You can then
add as many concepts as you like
and compare any two side by side.
The software then indicates the
impact reduction between them.
Sustainable Minds also has an
expansive section that helps
designers to understand ecodesign
strategies that may help to reduce
the impacts revealed by the
software.

4.
Greenfly
Design greener products
Greenfly is another online LCA tool
with a user-friendly interface that
allows the user to enter design
attributes for all life cycle stages.
As information is added impact
charts are updated in real time on
the right-hand side of the screen.
Results in these charts visualise
impacts compared on global
warming, water use, energy
demand and solid waste
generation. Unfortunately, there is
no way of comparing two
scenarios side by side to view
relative differences.
The tool also includes a set of
ecodesign guidelines to help
prompt users to consider goals
relating to: dematerialization, low
impact material selection, cleaner
production, optimized distribution,
design for durability, use phase
impact reduction, and design for
waste avoidance and resource
recovery.