Welcome to the second issue of 2013. In this issue we present eight papers on a diverse range of topics that include design, manufacture, energy, and renewable and recovered materials. We open with two design-related papers, the first of which, by Aschehoug and Boks, considers sustainability information (SI). Important, accessible and accurate SI beyond product and process data is a prerequisite for making knowledge-based decisions in product development and for reducing the unsustainable impacts of products. The paper introduces a definition of SI relevant to product development and synthesises existing literature from the period 2000–2010 with the purpose of identifying, collecting and compiling relevant SI in a framework. We follow this with a paper by Vinodh et al. who consider that concept selection in the context of sustainability is a typical multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. The case organisation considered needed to select the best concept among five concepts which are used to infuse sustainability during early product design and development phases. The decision-makers of the case organisation felt that the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution is the appropriate MCDM technique for sustainable concept selection.
In the paper by Fargnoli et al., there is a focus on the development of a procedure for the definition of a products' ecological profile. The proposed methodology, named Life Cycle Compliance for Ecodesign, allows engineers to evaluate a product's eco-virtuosity, i.e. the environmental improvements over mandatory requisites, taking into account the whole product's life cycle. Continuing the theme of a product's life cycle, Vinodh et al. report the benefits of collecting the advantages of individual sustainability assessment models and how the implementation of the integrated approach has helped to identify the current sustainability level and the scope for future developments in an automotive industry company.
Moving on to the topic of energy, we have two papers on different aspects. That by Agung Pambudi et al. presents a prediction of the product gases of Jatropha Curcas Linn oil cake gasified in an entrained flow reactor. The results for gas composition show that the CO content at a temperature of 1000°C ranges from 41.35% to 53.36%. In a quite different consideration of energy, Daim et al. present a study that focuses on the technology purchasing decisions of a mid-sized firm (500 employees) which increase the energy efficiency of its computing systems while meeting its business objectives. The paper evaluates four energy efficiency technologies with respect to their impact on the reduction in energy consumption and also considers internal organisational processes and human aspects.
Finally, we present two papers that have an emphasis on efficient use of materials, from the perspective of either renewable materials or recovery and reuse of waste materials. The paper by Giancola et al. considers the production of composite polymers that include material from a renewable source. They describe components for binary polymer blends that could produce an immiscible blend of improved renewable character and with good structural properties. In the final paper of the issue, Tilmatine et al. present an overview of intense electric fields in applications for the environment. They review several processes that were developed in the laboratory, highlighting their economic and environmental benefits.