Development of a tool for simplified life cycle assessment and ecodesign of electrical and electronic products

This paper describes the development of specifications for a tool that aims at assessing the environmental impact of electrical and electronic products. The emergence of new constraints, including European environmental regulations and the implementation of new requirements for environmental communication resulted in the appearance of new needs regarding the quantification of the environmental impact of an Electrical and Electronic product. Three development axes were identified: The first one was to improve the software user-friendly aspect. The second axis was to propose a database that is adapted to Electrical and Electronic product issues. The last aspect consisted in providing a highly accessible tool where the concept of collaborative work is the main goal; given that virtually, different actors are involved at each step of the product life cycle.