Better products with ECODESIGN+

In the recent ORF TV documentary “Alles Müll – kein Mist!”, about the growing generation of wastes and the loss of valuable resources, products play a significant role. Dr. Wolfgang Wimmer from the ECODESIGN company explains the importance of understanding the environmental impacts of products along their entire life cycle. Dr. Wimmer presents the ECODESIGN+, a software tool to assess the environmental performance of products right from the development process. Such environmental assessments have been completed for companies like Philips, also presented in the documentary, for their dictation devices.

Click here to see the complete TV documentary.

ECODESIGN+ released

The ECODESIGN company GmbH developed the ECODESIGN+, a software tool that supports designers, product developers, engineers and practitioners to understand the environmental performance of their products. Its intuitive and easy to use interfaces help the user identify the material and process choices that contribute the most to the environmental impact over the product´s life cycle. Changes in product design and even other similar products can be compared. Strategies for product improvement can be reviewed through the linkage with the ECODESIGN Pilot. For more information please visit: www.ecodesignplus.com

Product Carbon Footprint for Companies

Dr. Wolfgang Wimmer from the ECODESIGN company GmbH discussed with Dr. Klaus Radunsky (Austrian Standards Institute and Co-Convenor of ISO 14067 working group) and Pro Carton´s president Mr. Roland Rex the current developments of the Product Carbon Footprint Standard ISO 14067.

Read more in the article (in German) which includes a link to the report of Dr. Wimmer on Management of Product Carbon Footprint for Companies (in English).

The SpeechMike 3 is a Philips Green Product

SpeechMike3 - Green Product Certificate 2011

Last January 2011 Royal Philips Electronics certified the SpeechMike LFH 3200 series as a Green Product. The product offers significant environmental improvements in the focal areas of energy efficiency, packaging, and product weight. The ECODESIGN company assisted Philips Austria, manufacturers of the SpeechMike 3, by completing the Life Cycle Assessment and delivering the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for this product. The LCA report supported the documentation of the SpeechMike 3 for becoming a Philips Green Product.

LCA job application at the VUT

The Vienna University of Technology seeks an expert in LCA for a position in an EU funded research project.

Details can be found under:

http://www.ecodesign.at/downloads/Ausschreibungen/LCA_Expert_02_2011_en.pdf

Job application at Steelcase

It is a pleasure for me to forward the following job offer from Steelcase Inc. one of our long term clients:

“Steelcase is in the office furniture industry – in fact, we are the global leader –
but we are in the business of creating inspiring spaces that help people love
how they work. We have been around for nearly 100 years but we are not
afraid to change with the times. Steelcase has 13,000 employees, multiple
manufacturing plants and sales offices, plus more than 650 dealers around
the world. We are small enough to know you but big enough to offer you
many different ways to learn and grow. Last year, we sold more than $3.4
billion worth of architecture, furniture and technology products.
For our location in Rosenheim, Germany we are looking for a highly motivated
and dynamic”

ECODESIGN-the competitive advantage (new Springer book)

I am pleased to announce the publication of our new book at Springer:

In “ECODESIGN the competitive advantage” we are addressing the chances and possibilities of managers and CEOs in their daily work to take advantage of the concept of Ecodesign and tranform it to a clear business opportunity. The book comes with 15 checklists. Please follow this link:

http://www.ecodesign-company.com/webpages/079f2686-ee90-11e0-b3fe-00163e004261

The password is provided in the preface of the book.

I hope you can use the advices and ideas given in the book to create your own competitive advantage.

Wolfgang Wimmer

Varroa Controller

Our latest product is a new device for heat treatment against the Varroa mite of honey bees. This treatment enables chemical free beekeeping.

For more information: www.varroa-controller.com

ECODESIGN Seminar and Workshop in Taiwan

The China Productivity Center (CPC) in Taipei (Taiwan R.O.C) hosted a three-day ECODESIGN event, from July 30 to August 01, 2010.
Dr. Adriana Diaz, from the ECODESIGN company was the keynote speaker during this event.

The first day seminar took place with 125 representatives of various Taiwanese industry sectors (electronics, plastics manufacturing, chemicals, tools, and research). The topics of the presentations included global and European trends on ECODESIGN, existing and developing regulations in the European Union, international energy efficiency initiatives, and concrete examples of successfully implementing ECODESIGN with clients.

The event continued with a two-day seminar for about 25 participants. More detailed ECODESIGN knowledge and strategies were presented and discussed. Participants learned and applied Life Cycle Thinking to real products, and derived quantifiable improvements using the ECODESIGN PILOT. Their workshop experience was valuable in thinking about the products and activities of their own companies and organizations, and how ECODESIGN can support them in making these more competitive, with a minimum environmental impact.

Green ICT and electronics in Austria

Austria hosted last March 01 to 05, 2010 the Executive Meeting of the international collaborative programme to promote wider use of more energy efficient electrical equipment of the International Energy Agency, best known as IEA Implementing Agreement “Efficient Electrical End-Use Equipment (4E)”.

The Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation, and Technology (BMVIT) is Member of the 4E Executive Committee coordinating Austria’s participation. BMVIT took the opportunity to organize a one day workshop titled “Electrical end-use Efficiency Chances for Green ICT and Electronics in Austria”. This event was moderated by Dr. Wolfgang Wimmer from the ECODESIGN Company and set the stage to discuss R&D topics and priorities as well as chances for Austrian industries and SMEs in this field. The workshop included presentations from known experts from Australia, The Netherlands, and USA as well as from representatives of top Austrian companies and organizations involved with ICT. The presentations of the workshop are available at http://www.energiesystemederzukunft.at/results.html/id5964 ,and at http://energytech.at/iea/results/id5964.html.

BMVIT will take the outcomes of the workshop to further the development of Austrian R&D programmes and strategies as well as for the work in the IEA Implementing Agreement 4E.