Sustainable Design: A Case of Environmental and Cost Life Cycle Assessment of a Kitchen Designed for Seniors and Disabled People

Anna Lewandowska, Bogdan Branowski, Katarzyna Joachimiak-Lechman, Przemyslaw Kurczewski, Jaroslaw Selech and Marek Zablocki
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Anna Lewandowska: Faculty of Commodity Science, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poznan 61-875, Poland
Bogdan Branowski: Faculty of Machines and Transportation, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan 60-965, Poland
Katarzyna Joachimiak-Lechman: Faculty of Commodity Science, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poznan 61-875, Poland
Przemyslaw Kurczewski: Faculty of Machines and Transportation, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan 60-965, Poland
Jaroslaw Selech: Faculty of Machines and Transportation, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan 60-965, Poland
Marek Zablocki: Faculty of Machines and Transportation, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan 60-965, Poland

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: Sustainable production and consumption patterns require a change in approach at the early conceptual stages, i.e., when planning and designing products and services. This article presents an example of sustainable kitchen design aimed at the needs of seniors and people with physical disabilities, which takes into account social, economic, and environmental aspects. The interdisciplinary project team used a variety of traditional design methods such as the identification of requirements using QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis), the development and verification of the technical concepts of the designed objects and their use, the development of construction and technological documentation, assembly drawings of the product architecture and its parts, function cost analysis, virtual and real prototyping, and tools based on the concept of a life cycle such as environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). The analysis of the design solutions from the point of view of several criteria and several life cycle stages shows the complexity of the decision-making process and the difficulties in selecting a clearly favourable solution. Environmentally preferred materials may be difficult for users to accept due to their costs. On the other hand, materials that have a high environmental impact at the production stage may show great potential for final disposal.

Keywords: environmental impact; costs effectiveness; life cycle design; disability; kitchen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1329-:d:106327

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