Environmental Issues in Collaborative Design

Published

September 1, 2000

Author(s)

Robert Allen, Ram D. Sriram

Abstract

We report about environmental issues in collaborative design. Specifically, we present background and motivation for the need to design greener products. After defining the green design process, we demonstrate how that integrates with the typical product development process. Using examples from industry, we then describe the typical product life cycle and quantify how this life cycle affects the environment. Design for recovery is then presented with an eye towards minimizing the environmental effects of the product life cycle. Realizing that the green design process involves an even more multidisciplinary team of designers than usual, we describe a framework for collaborative design using an environmental database as an example. We conclude with a proof-of-concept example to demonstrate the efficacy of our collaborative environment for green design.

Citation

Mechanical Life Cycle Handbook

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

collaboration, database, environment, green design, green manufacture, pollution

Citation

Allen, R. and Sriram, R. (2000), Environmental Issues in Collaborative Design, Mechanical Life Cycle Handbook, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=821474 (Accessed October 24, 2025)