CAD tools for sustainable design

In the past engineering design would focus on in-service requirements such as functional and strength requirements. Today, design must also consider stringent environmental requirements and the handling of products after their “death.” Sustainable design requires that designers consider the environmental consequences of product creation, use, and after death. In all these three phases, product designers must minimize energy consumption and damage to environment. One of the challenging tasks is the quantification of sustainable design theory and concepts. A large body of sustainable design knowledge is qualitative, making it hard to develop tools for designers and engineers to evaluate their designs for sustainability. This paper discusses the product cycle and sustainable design concepts and how they are implemented in commercial CAD/CAM systems. The paper provides hands-on example on to use the sustainability module of Solid-Works, a popular CAD/CAM system.