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A multi-level approach to concept selection in sustainable design

  • Daniel Stratton
  • , Sara Behdad
  • , Kemper Lewis
  • , Sundar Krishnamurty
  • University of Massachusetts

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The motivation behind this work is to integrate economic and environmental sustainability into decision making at the early phases of design through the development of a hierarchical concept selection method. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a frequently implemented technique used to assess the environmental impacts of products, but it does not provide a simple means for including preference at different levels that can be used for comparison across design alternatives. A method is proposed to accommodate this issue expanding the Hypothetical Equivalents and Inequivalents Method (HEIM) to handle multi-level and multi-attribute trade-offs. The selection of a coffee maker design is used as an example to illustrate the implementation of the method with actual LCA results. The example provides valuable insights into how preferences may be elicited at different hierarchical levels and then combined to create a single utility score that represents to what extent each design alternative is preferred by the decision maker.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication19th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference; 8th International Conference on Micro- and Nanosystems
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Electronic)9780791846353
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
EventASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2014 - Buffalo, United States
Duration: Aug 17 2014Aug 20 2014

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
Volume4

Conference

ConferenceASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBuffalo
Period08/17/1408/20/14

Keywords

  • Attribute hierarchy
  • Concept selection
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Multi-attribute decision making
  • Multi-level decision making
  • Sustainability

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