Sustainability Through Innovation in Product Life Cycle Design (EcoProduction)

This book consists of chapters based on selected papers presented at the EcoDesign2015 symposium (9th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing). The symposium, taking place in Tokyo in December 2015, has been leading the research and practices of eco-design of products and product-related services since it was first held in 1999. The proceedings of EcoDesign2011 were also published by Springer.

Eco-design of products and product-related services (or product life cycle design) are indispensable to realize the circular economy and to increase resource efficiencies of our society. This book covers the state of the art of the research and the practices in eco-design, which are necessary in both developed and developing countries. The chapters of the book, all of which were peer-reviewed, have been contributed by authors from around the world, especially from East Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

The features of the book include (1) coverage of the latest topics in the field, e.g., global eco-design management, data usage in eco-design, and social perspectives in eco-design; (2) an increased number of authors from Southeast Asian countries, with a greater emphasis on eco-design in emerging economies; (3) high-quality manuscripts, with the number of chapters less than half of that of the previous book.

Dr. Mitsutaka Matsumoto, Senior researcher, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
Dr. Keijiro Masui, Research group leader, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
Prof. Shinichi Fukushige, Associate professor, Osaka University, Japan
Dr. Shinsuke Kondoh, Senior researcher, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan