Evaluation of an Eco Audit tool - through an LCA of a novel car disc brake [Elektronisk resurs]

• Transport of goods and people is increasing and causing strains on the environment. Road vehicles emit exhaust and non-exhaust emissions. One significant contributor to non-exhaust emissions is particulates generated through wear from braking. The particulates originate from the contact surfaces of the pad and the disc. Particulate emission is a known issue with considerable impacts on plant, animal, and human health. In the EU Horizon 2020 LOWBRASYS (a LOW environmental impact BRAke SYStem) project (LOWBRASYS, 2017), one of the objectives was to design a novel disc brake that reduces particulate generation during braking. One of the results is a novel disc brake with disc and pad-materials that indicate a significant decrease in particulate formation during use. This is accomplished by changing the materials of the contact pair regarding composition and coatings (Wahlström, Lyu, Matjeka, & Söderberg, 2017). Materials used in the disc brakes cause environmental impacts during their life cycle. Some parts and processes need for example critical raw materials such as tungsten, cobalt, and more (European Commission, 2017). This paper evaluates a material selection tool with an environmental perspective for product developers called Eco Audit (Ashby et al. 2008). This tool is featured in the CES Edu Pack software provided by Granta Design, Cambridge University (Granta 2018). The purpose of this study is to evaluate if the Eco Audit tool can provide a fast and valid impact assessment from an LCA perspective. Results of the Eco Audit compared to the SimaPro results indicate that it is possible to make valid conclusions. The validity of the tool is connected to the purpose of the study. If the purpose is to identify critical life cycle phases and environmental impacts, then the tool can accurately aid the user. It could potentially be difficult to make valid conclusions when assessing a product with more complex processes or advanced materials. The tool's strengths are the simplicity and easy accessibility for any user. The trade-off is precision, robustness, and representativeness of the target.  

Ämnesord

Engineering and Technology  (hsv)

Environmental Engineering  (hsv)

Environmental Management  (hsv)

Teknik och teknologier  (hsv)

Naturresursteknik  (hsv)

Miljöledning  (hsv)

Genre

government publication  (marcgt)

Indexterm och SAB-rubrik

Disc brake

Eco Audit

Life Cycle Assessment

Material choice

Product design

Brakes

Economic and social effects

Particulate emissions

Cambridge university

Critical raw materials

Disc brakes

Eco-audits

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Material selection tools

Particulate formation

Life cycle