Life Cycle Assessment Tool Implemented in Household Refrigeration Industry: A Magnetic Cooling Prototype Development

The development of innovative technologies of energy conversion devices such as domestic refrigerators, has the goal to improve the energy and resources efficiencies without increasing the pollution. During the design phase of the product is then important to have a clear vision of the impact that design choices have on pursuing this goal. For this reason, a Decision Support Toolbox based on Life Cycle Assessment methodology was developed to help the designers to drive their work during the prototype development phase of new high efficient innovative technologies. In this paper, the use of a Decision Support Toolbox during the prototyping phase of a magnetic refrigerator is presented and preliminary results are discussed.