The Directive on Energy using Products — an Approach for an Efficient Implementation in Industry

Abstract

This paper presents the approach and first results of the project "EuP-Implementation", which started in January 2005 as a co-operation of the Technical University of Darmstadt and the Hilti Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (hereafter Hilti). The key goal of this project is the integration of ecodesign methods into the general development process based on the prospective investigation of the potential impact of the EuP-Directive on the company. This paper introduces the reader to this far reaching directive and to the project, which acts as a case study for the practical implications of the directive. An analysis of several typical products serving as example helps to determine the state of the art regarding the likely requirements of the directive in order to identify measures necessary to be taken. The analysis is conducted with various simplified LCA methods, namely Cumulated Energy Demand (KEA), Eco-indicator '99 (EI'99) and the Eco-design of EuP methodology (MEEuP). The aim is twofold: 1. the use of various methods provides an insight in the expressiveness of the results (i.e. whether the results of different methods point to the same direction), 2. it is an opportunity to test the methods on applicability, user-friendliness, quality etc. in order to choose the most suitable method for further analyses throughout the project.