Title: Study of an exergy method for environmental evaluation assessment in the early design phase using comparative LCA and exergy approach

Authors: Galina Medyna, Harri Nordlund, Eric Coatanea

Addresses: Machine Design Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 4100, FIN-02015 TKK, Finland. ' Foundry Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 4100, FIN-02015 TKK, Finland. ' Machine Design Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 4100, FIN-02015 TKK, Finland

Abstract: Environmental evaluation analysis made at an early design stage is an important practical problem because existing approaches such as the LCA method require detailed information about the studied product or service. Consequently, to be efficient such a method requires a product or service located in an advanced development phase. An exergy method offers an appropriate solution for an environmental evaluation analysis at an early design stage. The theoretical model has been validated in previous journal articles. The goal of the present article is to validate the concordance of the results provided by the exergy and LCA approach, as LCA is a widely used approach even though the scientific reliability of LCA techniques has been questioned. This paper addresses the last phase of the validation of the exergy approach by comparing results of a case study analysed through both commercial LCA software and an exergy approach.

Keywords: exergy; environmental evaluation analysis; life cycle assessment; LCA; validation; early design; product design; design engineering; sustainable design; ecodesign.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDE.2009.030178

International Journal of Design Engineering, 2009 Vol.2 No.3, pp.320 - 345

Published online: 11 Dec 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article