Metrics for telecom products: essential part of an ecodesign methodology

Alcatel SSD Antwerp (Belgium) has an "ecodesign toolkit" available, in order to reduce the overall environmental impacts of its telecommunications products. This toolkit contains three basic types of "tools": qualitative (guidelines and checklists); semi-quantitative (metrics); and quantitative (LCA based approaches). This paper specifically focuses on product related metrics, which indicate how well a product meets the requirements which are part of the ecodesign guidelines and checklist. This allows product designers to calculate a single value (expressed in environmental penalty points) which indicates the environmental performance of a specific product layout. In addition, the metrics reveals the key issues where environmental product improvements can be achieved. In this paper, the metrics approach is described and compared to two life cycle oriented approaches: life cycle assessment (LCA); and an eco-design analysis using software tool for quick eco-design assessments. The subject of this comparative assessment was a fan unit, a sub-assembly of a telecommunication broadband switching rack