# Analysis of Selected IT Tools for Environmental Product Assessment
## 3 Materials and Methods
### Reference Products
#### 3.3.1 Product A  
Product A is a more complex product with a greater number of subassemblies and parts. It consists of 4 subassemblies, which have a total of 14 parts. The elements are made of steel, aluminum, and plastics. One of the subassemblies consists of electronic elements (e.g., control elements, power supply systems, etc.). A list of all the parts of product A, in the form of a BOM (bill of materials) structure, is shown in Figure 1.  
Product A consists of four subassemblies: K, L, M, and N. Subassembly K consists of four parts (K1-K4), all of which are made of steel. Part K1 weighs 1 kg and is cast; part K2 weighs 1 kg and is processed by laser, which lasts 5 min. Part K3 consists of two parts: K3.1 weighing 1 kg is processed by pipe drawing, and K3.2 is processed by turning. Part K3.2 weighs 1 kg before processing, and 0.5 kg is removed during turning. Part K3 is drilled, and 0.1 kg of material is removed during this process. Part K4 weighing 1 kg is processed by forging. Subassembly K is processed by arc welding. The weld length is 50 cm. Subassembly L consists of four parts (L1-L4) made of aluminum. Part L1 is turned, removing 0.5 kg of material. Part L2 is drilled, removing 0.1 kg of material. The surface of part L3 is anodized (0.5 m2), and part L4 is enameled. A surface of 1 m2 of the L subassembly is powder coated. Subassembly M consists of four parts (M1-M4) made of different plastics. Part M1 is made of high-density polyethylene using injection blow molding technology, and part M2 is produced by the extrusion of polypropylene. Part M3 is made of polyurethane and is produced by foaming. Part M4 is made of polystyrene and is produced by injection molding. Each of the parts that make up the M subassembly weighs 1 kg. Subassembly N consists of two electronic parts. Part N1 is a printed circuit board weighing 0.1 kg. Part N2 is a 50 W power supply. Two variants of product A were prepared. The first, called the A_EU variant, is manufactured and distributed in Europe, where the product is largely recycled, and the second, called the A_RoW variant (RoW--Rest of the World), is manufactured in Asian countries, imported to Europe, and stored in a landfill. In the case of the A_EU variant, road transport was assumed over a distance of 300 km (meeting the EURO 5 exhaust emission standard), while in the A_RoW variant, sea transport and container transport were assumed over a distance of 18,000 km. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Tool** & **Publisher** & **Level of** & **Access to** & **Content of** \\  & & **Advancement and** & **Software** & **Databases** \\ \hline SimaPro & PRé Sustainability & High & Educational License & Extensive \\ OpenLCA & GreenDelta & Medium & Free of charge License & Medium (possibility of access to additionally paid databases) \\ Sustainable Minds & Sustainable Minds & Low & Educational License & Medium \\ GaBi (Sphera) & Sphera Solution & High & Educational License & Medium \\ EcoChain & Ecochain & Medium & Commercial License & Extensive \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: List of IT tools for environmental analysis. The assumed useful life of product A is 1 year. The power consumed by the device is 50 W. It is assumed that the product is used daily, with an average daily use time of 2 h. In total, the product was used for 730 h. With the specified power of the device, the electricity consumption over the entire useful life of the product is 36.5 kWh. Most of the analyzed tools allow for the division of the processes performed into regions in which they are carried out. In the A_EU variant, it was assumed that the processes were performed in European countries, and at the end of the product life cycle, subassemblies K and L were recycled. Parts M2 and M4 from subassembly M are also recycled, while parts M1 and M3 go to a landfill. It was assumed that the parts that make up subassembly N will be recycled. In the A_RoW variant, on the other hand, the processes are carried out in Asian countries and no elements are recycled.