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Abstract
The goal of the paper is to present the ecodesign procedure developed based on the guidelines of ISO 14062 standard. The article has been divided into two parts. Part 1 presents the description of the procedure's structure and its most important elements. Part 2 (Kurczewski and Lewandowska 2010) focuses on the practical aspects and presents an example of the suggested methodology application in relation to a fridge freezer.
The example presented uses the environmental life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and environmental benchmarking; however, the use of other techniques, e.g., matrix methods, social life cycle assessment, or checklists, is also possible. An innovation is the development of assessment criteria concerning the interested parties and their requirements and the use of multidimensional comparative analysis in the assessment of the design variants.
The result of ecodesign application is the selection of the design that meets the assumed requirements to the highest extent. They are formulated not only on the basis of environmental or economic aspects but also in virtue of the interested parties' requirements, including functionality, ergonomics, safety, etc. Ecodesign requires relatively quick and clear responses.
The suggested procedure comprises all the key elements of ecodesign, and the result represents a compromise solution between various, often contradictory, requirements identified at different life cycle stages. The suggested procedure has been checked on a few practical examples, although it still requires verification in relation to products/services of various groups and representing various specific features (electrical and electronic equipment, packages, clothes, furniture, services, etc.).[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]