Anna Moreno

Application of Product Data Technology Standards to LCA Data

Applications of information and communications technology (ICT) for the management of environmental data, if used during the design and at the end of the product life cycle, can improve the environmental performance of products. This specific application of ICT for data management is called product data technology (PDT) and is based on the use of international standards developed by ISO TC184/SC4. PDT enables the computerized representations of information about products, processes, and their properties that are independent of any proprietary computer system or software application. The standard product data models are designed to integrate the necessary information about materials used in the product, and such information can be accessed and used at any point in the life cycle, from design to disposal. In the article, we present how PDT can support life cycle assessment (LCA) by focusing on a series of standards for communicating data for design and manufacture and standards for business and commercial information. Examples of possibilities for using PDT and semantic web for LCA data are introduced. The findings presented here are based on DEPUIS (Design of Environmentally‐Friendly Products Using Information Standards), a project aimed at improving the eco‐design of new products and services through the innovative use of new information standards.

DEPUIS project: Design of Environmentally-friendly Products Using Information Standards

The design of environmentally friendly products requires data to assess the impact of the product on the environment throughout its life and the original design and manufacturing information that should accompany the product to manage the end-of-life process. Both of these requirements can be satisfied by the innovative combination of two groups of International Standards. The DEPUIS project provides e-learning systems to introduce the technology of data representation by standardised information models – product data technology and shows how the information represented by data specified by these models can be used in Life Cycle Assessment to innovate life-cycle thinking in the design and manufacture of new products

ENEA e-Learn Platform for Development and Sustainability with International Renewable Energies Network

The UNESCO office in Venice (the Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe) has promoted, in collaboration with the Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and the Environment (ENEA), an e-learning project on renewable energy: the DESIRE-net project (Development and Sustainability with International Renewable Energies network). The projects aim is to share the best available knowledge on renewable energies among all the countries that have joined the project and exploit this knowledge at every level. Currently the project involves 30 Eastern European and Southern Mediterranean countries as well as Australia, Indonesia, and China.

Knowledge management and life long education in Science

In 1998 ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment, launched an e-learning platform with the mission of sharing scientific knowledge among everyone, not just workers but also students and the unemployed, in order to use its research results to support competitiveness and sustainable development. In 6 years, more than 20.000 users have followed one or more of the 46 on line courses. Many agreements with schools, universities, private and public training organisation are now under way to improve the dissemination of scientific knowledge and to build an open data base of scientific learning objects that anyone can use.

Direct bioethanol fuel cells

Abstract: Biomass can be stored and converted into any form of energy. Hydrogen is a ‘clean’ energy source: its combustion produces only water and energy. A new, eco-friendly reservoir of hydrogen is required to achieve clean and sustainable energy production. Ethanol is a suitable biofuel in this respect, being easy to produce and safe to handle, transport and store. Bioethanol plays an important role as a promising renewable energy source due to its useful properties; it can also be converted to hydrogen-rich gas through a simple reforming process, and is potentially ideal for molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs).

The Exchange of Data in the Global Market How to Avoid a Tower of Babel

To efficiently exchange data among different users and applications, it is necessary to define and use some common standards. This paper emphasizes this problem and discusses the importance of STEP standards in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).