Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process

Traditionally, the remedial ‘end of pipe’ control was applied to reduce environmental impact during a product’s entire life. Unfortunately, this method requires too much time to fix the problem rather than preventing it. Therefore, shifting from corrective into prevention act is more essential in pr...

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Main Author:	Hemdi, Abdul Rahman
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2015
Subjects:	TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Online Access:	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77620/1/AbdulRahmanHemdiPFKM2013.pdf
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spelling	my-utm-ep.776202018-06-25T08:57:33Z Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process 2015-04 Hemdi, Abdul Rahman TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery Traditionally, the remedial ‘end of pipe’ control was applied to reduce environmental impact during a product’s entire life. Unfortunately, this method requires too much time to fix the problem rather than preventing it. Therefore, shifting from corrective into prevention act is more essential in preserving our environment. The environmental consideration during design stage is the best preventive action to reduce the impacts. Additionally, economic and social factors also need to be considered in improving a product’s sustainability performance. Research has established the importance of developing a specific tool to fulfill the needs of a sustainable product. Several tools are available such as Eco Indicator 95 and 99, Life Cycle Index, Ten Golden Rules etc., however most of these tools only focus on one or two sustainability elements whereas sustainability requires the consideration of the environment, economic and social elements and the proposed method considers all three. Furthermore, sustainability elements involve various parameters including pollution, cost and energy, among others which then increase the complexity in decision making process. Subsequently, the quantitative and qualitative data of sustainability parameters further complicate this evaluation. In this study, a comprehensive method for evaluating sustainability is proposed to assist engineers and designers in making better decisions. A fuzzy approach has been applied in the sustainability evaluation because of its capability in reducing data uncertainty and simultaneous handling of qualitative and quantitative data. The sustainability input parameters from life cycle inventory databases such as European Life Cycle Database, Ecoinvent and others are converted into an index value which is known as sustainability indicator. A case study involving an automotive headlamp, passenger car and selection of a sustainable electrical power generation plant is presented. The results are also compared with Eco Indicator 99 to validate the accuracy of the assessment. From the comparison, it is found that the result of the developed sustainability indicator agrees with the Eco Indicator 99 approach. Therefore, the developed sustainability indicator is able to indicate the sustainability performance of a product and also highlight the critical area for improvement. 2015-04 Thesis http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77620/ http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77620/1/AbdulRahmanHemdiPFKM2013.pdf application/pdf en public http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:97940 phd doctoral Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
collection	UTM Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
spellingShingle	TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery Hemdi, Abdul Rahman Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process
description	Traditionally, the remedial ‘end of pipe’ control was applied to reduce environmental impact during a product’s entire life. Unfortunately, this method requires too much time to fix the problem rather than preventing it. Therefore, shifting from corrective into prevention act is more essential in preserving our environment. The environmental consideration during design stage is the best preventive action to reduce the impacts. Additionally, economic and social factors also need to be considered in improving a product’s sustainability performance. Research has established the importance of developing a specific tool to fulfill the needs of a sustainable product. Several tools are available such as Eco Indicator 95 and 99, Life Cycle Index, Ten Golden Rules etc., however most of these tools only focus on one or two sustainability elements whereas sustainability requires the consideration of the environment, economic and social elements and the proposed method considers all three. Furthermore, sustainability elements involve various parameters including pollution, cost and energy, among others which then increase the complexity in decision making process. Subsequently, the quantitative and qualitative data of sustainability parameters further complicate this evaluation. In this study, a comprehensive method for evaluating sustainability is proposed to assist engineers and designers in making better decisions. A fuzzy approach has been applied in the sustainability evaluation because of its capability in reducing data uncertainty and simultaneous handling of qualitative and quantitative data. The sustainability input parameters from life cycle inventory databases such as European Life Cycle Database, Ecoinvent and others are converted into an index value which is known as sustainability indicator. A case study involving an automotive headlamp, passenger car and selection of a sustainable electrical power generation plant is presented. The results are also compared with Eco Indicator 99 to validate the accuracy of the assessment. From the comparison, it is found that the result of the developed sustainability indicator agrees with the Eco Indicator 99 approach. Therefore, the developed sustainability indicator is able to indicate the sustainability performance of a product and also highlight the critical area for improvement.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Hemdi, Abdul Rahman
author_facet	Hemdi, Abdul Rahman
author_sort	Hemdi, Abdul Rahman
title	Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process
title_short	Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process
title_full	Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process
title_fullStr	Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process
title_full_unstemmed	Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process
title_sort	fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process
granting_institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
granting_department	Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
publishDate	2015
url	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77620/1/AbdulRahmanHemdiPFKM2013.pdf
_version_	1747817791757484032

Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process

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