Environmentally Conscious Design (ECD) as a proactive measure to reduce adverse environmental impacts has experienced rapid development in the past 30 years. As a key component of ECD, Environmentally Conscious Material Selection (ECMS) gained increasing importance and thus drew much research interest. This paper discusses ECMS with a focus on the materials’ toxic impact on the environment, one of the most important concerns of ECMS. It shows that current research has made significant progress in identifying a material’s toxic properties, toxic inventory analysis, source-to-dose process analysis and integrated evaluation methods. However, most of the research lacks sufficient detail in toxic impact analysis, and does not address eco-toxicity adequately. The complex interactions among the regulatory agencies, manufacturers, and consumers relating to environmental issues are also not reflected by current material selection methodologies. All these require further improvement of the ECMS methodology.
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Feng Lin is a PhD candidate in industrial engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. He received the B.S. in mechanical engineering and the M.S. in industrial engineering in Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, R. China, in 1993 and 2001, respectively. He worked in Xinhui Height Precision Machinery Ltd. from 1993 to 1998. His research nterests include environmentally conscious design and manufacturing, environmental management, product data management and simulation.
Dr Li Lin is Professor of Industrial Engineering at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. He has been a faculty member at SUNY Buffalo since he obtained his PhD in 1989 from Arizona State University. His research areas of specialty include manufacturing and heath care systems simulation and concurrent engineering and design, including environmentally conscious design and manufacturing. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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Lin, F., Lin, L. A Discussion of the State-of-art Research on Environmentally Conscious Material Selection Methodologies for the Reduction of Products’ Toxic Impact. J Sustain Prod Des 3, 119–134 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10970-005-3386-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10970-005-3386-1