Beyond Life Cycle Assessment, an Integrative Design for Environment Approach for the Automotive Industry

Under constant pressure through both national and EC-wide regulations as well as increased consumer awareness the automotive industry has become more and more concerned with improving the environmental profiles of its products. Namely the end-of-life aspects have been pushed into the center of interest. Trying to minimize disassembly cost and to increase potential revalorisation profits, companies strive to integrate environmental constraints early in the design phase.

This paper describes how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Design for the Environment (DFE) respectively contribute towards the objective of improved environmental profiles of automotives and especially the handling of end-of-life vehicules.