Sustainable development is more and more at the core of government and industry policy. Industrial production and consumption culture are facing dramatic changes due to pollution and waste problems, exhaustion of available non-renewable resources and rapid growth in world population. So, the environmental focus has shifted from production processes to the product’s entire life cycle. The potential of technology to create synergies between environmental protection and economic growth has been recognized. Life cycle engineering aims at providing engineering tools targeted towards cleaner product-oriented activities for improving the environment while contributing to competitiveness and growth.

This book is of interest to academics, students and practitioners, specializing in environmental issues in mechanical engineering, design and manufacturing. This volume is recommended as a reference textbook for all researchers in the field. It will give teaching staff confronted with training methodologies in integrated design and environment a tool to assess the scope of the development prospects in an extremely wide ranging field.