Consultancy · Education
RMIT University
Shaping the future of industrial design through life cycle assessment.
Customer profile
RMIT is a Melbourne-based university specialising in technology, design and enterprise. Industrial design students learn LCA methodology as a core component of their curriculum, applying industry tools to real-world design challenges through hands-on, practical instruction and the reimagining of electrical appliance designs.
Situation
The challenges that needed addressing.
Teaching real-world practice
Industrial design students needed practical exposure to the tools industry professionals use, including ISO-standard LCA methodology applied to actual product scenarios they would encounter professionally.
Accessible for non-experts
LCA tools in common use produce results that are difficult to decipher. RMIT needed a platform that could onboard students quickly and deliver clear, actionable output without specialist expertise.
Remote-ready learning
Students working remotely required instant, cloud-based access to LCA tooling without complex installation or configuration requirements.
Solution
How Empauer helped.
Empauer's life cycle assessment tool was selected by RMIT to teach students the importance of LCA methodology and, at a practical level, how to build a baseline product model and design scenarios that improve environmental impacts. Cloud-based and built for non-experts, the tool enabled students to onboard in under an hour. Students invest approximately 10 hours working with the tool: preparing a baseline model, then modelling scenarios that improve the environmental impacts of their chosen electrical appliance, covering manufacturing location, power consumption, water consumption and other key data across production, use and end-of-life phases.
“The results of a lot of known LCA tools are just really hard to decipher, while Empauer lays it out in a clear and visual way. Dr Simon Lockrey, Senior Lecturer, School of Design, RMIT University”
Outcomes
What the work delivered.
ISO-standard LCA, delivered clearly
Students received a robust set of LCA data and methodology based on ISO standards 14040 and 14044, delivered in a clear, actionable form that made informed design decisions straightforward.
Immediate design feedback
The ability to iterate on product designs and instantly discover the environmental impact of changes to materials, manufacturing or sourcing gave students genuinely useful, real-world insight.
A consistent comparative framework
Comparing multiple models within the same tool gave students a consistent framework for making evidence-led product redesign propositions at the end of the course.
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