Enabling designers to integrate the fundamentals of Life Cycle Assessment into design practices

Enabling designers to integrate the fundamentals of Life Cycle Assessment into design practices: A case study at the Industrial Design Engineering faculty in Delft

de Groot, Luce (TU Delft Technology, Policy and Management; TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering; Institute of environmental sciences (CML), Leiden University)

Sprecher, B. (mentor)
Guinée, Jeroen (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Industrial Ecology

2023-04-19

This study answerd the research question, What is needed to enable design students, particularly at the Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) faculty in Delft, without prior experience in Life Cycle Assessment to effectively incorporate the fundamentals of the LCA method into their design practices? Through empirical research (interviews and observations) at the IDE faculty in Delft, student problems regarding LCA have been identified. The data analysis finds 5 themes that overarch the problems and so influence the effective incorporation of LCA from within the designer. The 5 themes are a designers’ motivation, mindset, time for LCA, capabilities and comprehension of LCA. Additionally, there are 5 external themes influencing the effective incorporation of LCA. The total 10 themes are interrelated and make up a system. The external themes and system dynamics lead to possible interventions of which one is tested at the IDE faculty with Master students. The main student problems have been implemented into an improved LCA tool and tested through an assignment. The main tool improvements were a better fit to design practices and a complete overview of LCA fundamental elements. It also offers early LCA implementation through an inventory phase that slowly increases complexity matching to the designers’ capabilities. This is supported by easier and earlier implementation of robustness assessment (sensitivity analysis or scenario tests) to enable low threshold assumption making and testing to help nuanced result interpretation. Students responded positively to the main tool improvements. Further testing of the tool is needed and other interventions to the system should be tested as well.

Life cycle Assessment
Design for Sustainability
LCA tool

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:42d24762-f6e3-426c-b27a-8e54a4bc9a1f

Student theses

master thesis

© 2023 Luce de Groot