Gravity’s Post

2011 was when I first learned about the concept of CO2eq. I was a freshly minted Structural Engineer, undergoing my professional internship at LNEC, and was challenged by my lifelong mentor Prof. Jorge Saraiva to find out what the difference in carbon footprint would be between refurbishing, demolishing or partially demolishing and refurbishing one of Lisbon’s historical Pombalino buildings. (Spoiler: my findings made a few refurbishing advocates quite mad at the time 😅). Enter CO2eq. Now being closer to the Manufacturing industry, and seeing CO2eq being used as the key metric for sustainability optimisation, spurs my mind to wonder how my 2011 analysis would differ today. With AEC and Manufacturing coming closer together, I wonder what industrialised practices will bring to the construction industry, and to the renovation of historical builds in particular. The future is exciting and I am confident that Autodesk will play a major role in enabling its creators.

Design and manufacturing companies are under increasing pressure from customers, competitors, and investors to build greener products. According to McKinsey & Company (see comments), up to four-fifths of a product’s lifetime emissions are determined by decisions made during the design stage.  New design and make software advancements are now enabling easier and earlier sustainable design decision-making. The latest advancement is the new Manufacturing Sustainability Insights Add-on (MSI), free for Autodesk Fusion customers.

“Good decisions are driven by good data.” This is a guiding principle at Autodesk and drives our decision-making processes - including how to be a more sustainable company, and how to support our customers to do so as well. Our Autodesk FY24 Impact Report is now out - and it showcases this in action! Our impact report outlines the capabilities & support we provide to our customers to decarbonize their work output, the systemic actions we are taking to advance our industries to be more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. And it highlights on our progress towards our own corporate impact goals. According to our annual State of Design & Make Report, 97% of the business leaders from around the world surveyed have taken actions to improve sustainability over the last year. I encourage you to read the stories from Perkins&Will, Sweco, Decathlon , Heirloom, and more! For more than a decade Autodesk has publicly reported metrics that demonstrate our progress and impact. Head to the link below learn more about our achievements last year.   #sustainability #ESG #Autodesk

In a micro-factory the size of a garden shed, big minds are tackling a tiny problem: How to use the software that built a laptop to carefully dismantle it, robotically harvesting and sorting its components for reuse and recycling. A few years ago, most of these aging consumer workhorses might have ended up on a scrap heap. But innovators at Molg, with help from Autodesk technology, are efficiently transforming the raw materials of end-of-life products into a more sustainable future. For Autodesk and its customers, this little laptop is a major sign that we’re moving in the right direction. Learn more here: https://hubs.la/Q02Cfsyl0 #PartnerInsights Joe Speicher

In a micro-factory the size of a garden shed, big minds are tackling a tiny problem: How to use the software that built a laptop to carefully dismantle it, robotically harvesting and sorting its components for reuse and recycling. A few years ago, most of these aging consumer workhorses might have ended up on a scrap heap. But innovators at Molg, with help from Autodesk technology, are efficiently transforming the raw materials of end-of-life products into a more sustainable future. For Autodesk and its customers, this little laptop is a major sign that we’re moving in the right direction. Read more here: https://hubs.la/Q02Cf8jV0 #PartnerInsights #tech #software #sustainability Joe Speicher

Join the conversation on sustainability in design and manufacturing with Autodesk, and how Gen Z is making an impact in the workforce.

Join the conversation on sustainability in design and manufacturing with Autodesk, and how Gen Z is making an impact in the workforce.

Join the conversation on sustainability in design and manufacturing with Autodesk, and how Gen Z is making an impact in the workforce.

CURRENTLY on ENGINEERING.com: An in-depth interview - Florence Verzelen, EVP, DASSAULT SYSTEMES: Perspectives on the Path to Sustainable Design A striking fact when discussing sustainable design with PLM developers is a strong sense that engineers, product developers and innovators will play key roles on the path to a more sustainable society. They cannot save the world alone, but "They both can and will deliver the technology needed to contribute to this," says Dassault Systeme's Florence Verzelen, Executive VP of Industry, Marketing & Sustainability, noting that technologies and innovative technologically developed solutions throughout history have always characterized human progress. The optimism is supported by several things, including research that shows that 80 percent of a product's environmental footprint is determined by the design, which the American environmental organization, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, points out as a fundamentally important condition when drawing up a circular. economy: "Design is at the heart of the circular economy. Decisions made in the design phase affect how long something lasts, what it's made of, whether it can be repaired and what happens to it at the end of its life. In fact, 80% of a product's environmental impact is affected by decisions made in the design stage," the organization writes on its website. It is not difficult to agree and Florence Verzelen does. As enthusiastic as she is about the possibilities that today's digital platforms, such as 3DEXPERIENCE, offer in this context, she can also feel frustrated by how slowly things are going. "There is a growing need to change our ways of producing and consuming. We have to rethink everything. Using technology to solve problems more sustainably is a great opportunity that can be realized with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, says Verzelen. For Dassault Systemes, LCA, life cycle analysis, integrated into the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a cornerstone of sustainable development. The logic is crystal clear: DS develops PLM systems. These manage each product's life cycle from cradle to renewal and grave. If you can build in capable and accurate tools that underpin concepts whose idea is to simultaneously build societal sustainability into all technology, sooner or later we will get there. Therefore, DS PLM tools equipped with an LCA-integrated virtual twin and with Ecoinvent databases for environmentally friendly material selection are the key to supporting such developments. In conclusion, with these features of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, its traceability tools and advanced simulation solutions, "companies are better prepared to innovate towards circular product life cycles, gain a competitive advantage and win the climate battle", according to Florence Verzelen. But there is more - click on the heading below the picture to find out more about, for example, the eco-design principles that the DS EVP suggests is a relevant first step to establish.

The built environment and manufacturing sectors are significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions, but they're also industries that provide immense value. The problem of how to build and manufacture more sustainably not an easy one to solve, but cloud platform technology, data interoperability, and generative AI can help a lot. Autodesk Chief Sustainability Officer Joe Speicher explains how our company is incredibly well-positioned to deliver value to our customers that will enable them to deliver more sustainable projects. #autodeskemployee #autodesk #smartmanufacturing #industrialdesign #design #machinelearning #innovation #MakeAnything #WeMAKE #AutodeskEmp #AutodeskPartner #AutodeskStudentExpert #AutodeskExpertElite #AutodeskLife