Sustainable design

Fitting in with a "sustainable" sub theme (and I'm sure to get more on the subject next week), I saw this news from an area that I don't cover in as much depth as I probably should--product design. A company called Sustainable Minds (dubbing itself "a greener product design software and information services company") has released Sustainable Minds 1.0--a Software as a Service (SaaS, also known as cloud computing) application that enables companies to create more environmentally sustainable products. It integrates on-demand, Web-based software with educational content enabling users to apply ecodesign strategies to generate innovative and greener product concepts, and use life cycle assessment (LCA) to measure the potential environmental and human health impacts of the concepts. This delivers quantified performance metrics to facilitate design decisions that support greener products.

It is designed for product designers, mechanical engineers, product managers, marketers and sustainability leads in manufacturing companies and consultancies, as well as educational institutions teaching product design, engineering and/or sustainable business. It works within a browser and can work with CAD applications.

You'll have to check it out here.