Dealing with environmental issues should no longer be considered simply as a cost of doing business. Effective environmental improvements to a company's products and services can be turned into business opportunities. This book was written with the express purpose of helping managers of companies, in particular of Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), to better deal with environmental challenges and address customer requirements, all in order to turn their environmental inve- ments into competitive market advantages. Several examples are provided throughout the book, but also warning signs (Alert Boxes). These "Alerts" are posted to help managers avoid typical traps when working with environmental considerations in business processes. The authors have many years of experience in the various aspects of impleme- ing Ecodesign. This experience includes working in industry for many years; le- ing the environmental departments in a multinational company; managing research projects in eco-product development; Life Cycle Assessment; and national and international environmental communication and marketing. This book is the latest in a series. The 2002 "Ecodesign Pilot" introduced a tool and software to help design more environmentally compatible products. It was directed specifically at designers. The 2004 book, "Ecodesign Implementation," was written to help project managers optimize product development processes from an environmental perspective.

Dealing with environmental issues should no longer be considered simply as a cost of doing business. Effective environmental improvements to a company's products and services can be turned into business opportunities. This book was written with the express purpose of helping managers of companies, in particular of Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), to better deal with environmental challenges and address customer requirements, all in order to turn their environmental inve- ments into competitive market advantages. Several examples are provided throughout the book, but also warning signs (Alert Boxes). These "Alerts" are posted to help managers avoid typical traps when working with environmental considerations in business processes. The authors have many years of experience in the various aspects of impleme- ing Ecodesign. This experience includes working in industry for many years; le- ing the environmental departments in a multinational company; managing research projects in eco-product development; Life Cycle Assessment; and national and international environmental communication and marketing. This book is the latest in a series. The 2002 "Ecodesign Pilot" introduced a tool and software to help design more environmentally compatible products. It was directed specifically at designers. The 2004 book, "Ecodesign Implementation," was written to help project managers optimize product development processes from an environmental perspective.

Stakeholders such as environmental directives and customer demands for reducing environmental impacts of a product require innovative and environmentally improved products. Therefore a systematic approach and effective methods and tools are needed in the early phase of product development.

The basic elements for optimized process management in the design department are described in this book.

The book provides twelve easy to follow steps for implementing ECODESIGN in a company. It gives clear advice how to integrate environmental considerations into product design and development, and combines ECODESIGN with Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Communication. Chapters on Product modeling, Life Cycle Assessment, ECODESIGN tasks, Product Improvement and Environmental Communication use the previously developed ECODESIGN PILOT (www.ecodesign.at/pilot) and show its application to a real product example.

The book comes with two web tools: one is the ECODESIGN PILOT, used to find measures to environmentally improve a product within a short time. The other is the ECODESIGN PILOT's Assistant (www.ecodesign.at/assist): an expert system, which helps to find the right improvement strategy for a product.

Audience: This book will be of interest to environmental and sustainability managers, engineers in research and product development, to designers, environmental experts, and consultants, as well as to students working in this field.

Up to now, environmental policies have relied mainly on rules, regulations, and prohibitions. This kind of environmental policy -- a clearly reactive approach - has shown a mounting array of limitations. There is a clear need to seek new solutions, in particular those involving the initiative of firms themselves. Since the mid-1980's, a new approach called "environmental management" has been established in research and practical applications; it is designed to systematically integrate environmental considerations into company activities. If, for instance, environmental objectives are being formulated for an enterprise, it is imperative to identify, highlight, and analyze real and significant environmental impacts of the firm's activities and to take appropriate measures to improve its performance. Controlling and implementing these environmental objectives requires suitable structures, procedures, and tools. Many motivated companies have approached the issue of environmental management through incorporating methods such "continual improvement processes" and "Life Cycle Assessment" into the various operational activities of the enterprise. Some firms initiated such transformation processes at their own production sites because it was easier to identify their own environmental impacts than to analyze, let alone mitigate, the effects of upstream and downstream processes. However, in many cases these processes are decisive factors in the overall environmental performance of a product. It has become clear that product design can influence these processes to a great extent.

Up to now, environmental policies have relied mainly on rules, regulations, and prohibitions. This kind of environmental policy -- a clearly reactive approach - has shown a mounting array of limitations. There is a clear need to seek new solutions, in particular those involving the initiative of firms themselves. Since the mid-1980's, a new approach called "environmental management" has been established in research and practical applications; it is designed to systematically integrate environmental considerations into company activities. If, for instance, environmental objectives are being formulated for an enterprise, it is imperative to identify, highlight, and analyze real and significant environmental impacts of the firm's activities and to take appropriate measures to improve its performance. Controlling and implementing these environmental objectives requires suitable structures, procedures, and tools. Many motivated companies have approached the issue of environmental management through incorporating methods such "continual improvement processes" and "Life Cycle Assessment" into the various operational activities of the enterprise. Some firms initiated such transformation processes at their own production sites because it was easier to identify their own environmental impacts than to analyze, let alone mitigate, the effects of upstream and downstream processes. However, in many cases these processes are decisive factors in the overall environmental performance of a product. It has become clear that product design can influence these processes to a great extent.

Ein Buch kann verschiedene Zwecke verfolgen. Es kann z. B. belehren oder unterhalten. Dieses kleine Buch hat das Ziel, dass der Leser die Welt mit anderen Augen zu sehen beginnt, und wenn es nur bei einem einzigen gelange, ware es nicht umsonst geschrieben. Es handelt vom Lebensweg. Wir kommen zur Welt, bleiben eine Zeitlang und verlassen sie wieder. Die Welt war schon da, das heisst vorhanden, als wir noch nicht waren, und sie wird noch da sein, wenn wir nicht mehr sind; ebenso die Dinge. Sie sind da und dort, an diesen oder jenen Stellen. Wir kommen nur hinzu. In die vorhandene Welt mit ihren Menschen und Dingen zeichnen wir unseren Lebensweg ein. Das ist, glaube ich, die naturliche Ansicht und eine andere, dass die Welt und die Dinge nicht ohne uns da sein konnen, ware in der Tat vermessen und geradezu lacherlich. Nun konnen wir allerdings auch sagen: Die Welt mit ihren Dingen und Menschen war noch nicht da, als wir noch nicht da waren, sie ist zeitweilig da und wird nicht mehr da sein, wenn wir nicht mehr sind. Wie lose ich den Widerspruch? Offenbar habe ich das Wort da auf verschiedene Weise gebraucht und je nach dem bedeutet es Verschiedenes. Einmal bedeutet es: vorhanden, an einer Stelle (auf die ich zeigen kann). Das andere Mal bedeutet es: zur Stelle sein (es zeigt sich), zugegen sein, anwesend sein. So konnen wir einerseits sagen, dass wir unseren Lebensweg in der vorhandenen Welt mit ihren Menschen und Dingen auslegen nach dem Modell: dies und das da und dort dann und w

Ein Teil der vorliegenden Geschichte wurde bereits ver ffentlicht (W. Wimmer: Denk einfach, diese Frau dort sei deine Mutter, Rowohlt, Taschenbuchverlag 1989). Ich habe darin erz hlt, wie mein Adoptivsohn und ich in seinem Heimatland Ecuador nach seinen Eltern gesucht und wie wir einige Berge bestiegen haben, zuletzt den Cotopaxi.