Design is a decision-making process for which knowledge is a prerequisite. Most decisions are taken at the conceptual stage and have pronounced influence on the final design. The literature, therefore, recommends the incorporation of sustainability criteria, such as environment, at this stage. Difficulty in performing life cycle assessment (LCA) due to low availability of information at the conceptual stage for evaluation and highly abstract nature of solutions, inadequate incorporation of DfE (Design for Environment) guidelines and LCA reports into the design process, and a lack of effective communication of the same to the designers for prompt decision-making are major motivations for the development of a support. This paper discusses a “conceptual Tool for environmentally benign design” – concepTe – that supports designers in decision-making during the conceptual design stage, by offering environmental impact (EI) estimates of abstract solutions with associated uncertainty, for evaluation and selection of the most environmentally benign solution as concept. The EI estimates are calculated by a module in the tool based on a proposed EI estimation method, which requires the support of a knowledge base to fetch appropriate LCA information corresponding to the design element being conceptualized. This knowledge base is grounded in the domain-agnostic SAPPhIRE model ontology, allows semantic operability of the knowledge, and offers the results to the designers in a familiar domain language to aid decision-making. A “proof of concept” of the tool is developed for application in design of building in the AEC (Architectural design, Engineering, and Construction) domain. Further, empirical studies are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the “proof of concept” to support decision-making and results are found favorable. The paper also discusses the future scope for further development of the tool into a holistic design decision-making platform.

中文翻译：

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环保设计的概念工具：“概念证明”的开发和评估

设计是一个以知识为先决条件的决策过程。大多数决定是在概念阶段做出的，对最终设计有显着影响。因此，文献建议在此​​阶段纳入可持续性标准，例如环境。由于在评估概念阶段的信息可用性低以及解决方案的高度抽象性，DfE（环境设计）指南和 LCA 报告未充分纳入设计过程，以及缺乏与设计人员进行有效沟通以迅速做出决策是开发支持的主要动机。本文讨论了一个“概念实际吨为e无害环境设计”——concept——通过提供具有相关不确定性的抽象解决方案的环境影响 (EI) 估计，为设计人员在概念设计阶段的决策提供支持，以评估和选择最环保的解决方案作为概念。EI 估计是由工具中的一个模块基于提出的 EI 估计方法计算的，该方法需要知识库的支持来获取与正在概念化的设计元素相对应的适当 LCA 信息。该知识库基于与领域无关的 SAPPhIRE 模型本体，允许知识的语义可操作性，并以熟悉的领域语言向设计人员提供结果以帮助决策。该工具的“概念验证”被开发用于 AEC（建筑设计、工程和施工）领域的建筑设计。此外，还进行了实证研究以评估“概念证明”在支持决策方面的有效性，并发现结果是有利的。本文还讨论了将该工具进一步开发为整体设计决策平台的未来范围。