VDI 4800 Blatt 1:2014-07 - Draft

The application of this standard helps to protect natural resources, in particular to reduce the use of raw materials, to reduce the use of land and to avoid their degradation, to reduce environmental pollution and thus to preserve the livelihoods of present and future generations. For this purpose, the standard offers a methodology for evaluating resource efficiency of products and product service systems. Resource efficiency is defined as the ratio of a quantifiable benefit and the associated natural resource amount. The resource amount can be quantified and evaluated by a number of indicators (cumulative raw material demand, cumulative energy demand, water and land demand and ecosystem services, including environmental sinks). The result is highly dependent on methodological decisions and rules (e.g. choice of system boundaries, allocation rules). The standard gives assistance and recommendations for this. The standard emphasises that optimising resource use is possible at all stages of a product life cycle chain and in the production system (raw material extraction, production and manufacturing, use and end of life phase). Furthermore, the standard describes strategies and measures to increase resource efficiency and to enable industry and service providers to identify potentials for improvements.

03.100.01, 13.020.01

This document has been replaced by: VDI 4800 Blatt 1:2016-02 .