Main objectives of the project are:
1. To introduce the environmental data in the design processes
2. To facilitate data exchange and independence from any computer system
Those objectives are both “key points” and “bottle necks” for a wider diffusion of LCA and eco- design tools.
They are achieved adapting the standards developed for the communication of product, process and property data in design and manufacturing to the requirements for LCA. Three types of standards for computerised information representation and communication have been adopted:
• ISO 10303 provides entity-relationship models for product, property and process data;
• ISO 15926 provides classification structures for the description of industrial data
• Web ontology provide web-based classification structures for the description of information.
These standards are used for the representation of examples of LCA data in accordance with ISO 14048 and their communication between different systems.
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The CASCADE project guideline addresses a practical challenge in life cycle assessment: making environmental data usable within product design processes. It identifies two linked aims: introducing environmental information into design and enabling data exchange between computer systems. These aims are presented as important conditions for broader use of LCA and eco-design tools.
The introduction describes three complementary ways to structure information. ISO 10303 represents product, property and process data through entity-relationship models. ISO 15926 provides classifications for industrial data, while web ontologies provide web-based classifications. The guideline applies these standards to examples of LCA data represented according to ISO 14048 and exchanged between different systems. Together, the examples show how consistent data structures can support communication across design and manufacturing software while keeping environmental data connected to the information used in product development.
