Enhancing Eco-Design Methods Using TRIZ Tools: the Case of ECOFAIRE.

Green design is a relevant research topic because of the need of powerful and confirmed systematic methods that can support companies in their efforts to develop green products within acceptable time and costs. TRIZ, as a theory of invention problem-solving has proven its effectiveness in stimulating designer's creativity in several areas. Therefore, the main research question we address in this research is the following: how can TRIZ tools enhance the ideality of green-design methods? This paper presents an exploratory analysis of this question. First, our methodology aims to study the weakness of an open Eco-design method known as ECOFAIRE using a general problem solving methods characterization. Then, it attempts to enhance the ideality of ECOFAIRE through a reverse engineering process that has been applied to an eco-product known as Ecodistrib. As a result, ECOFAIRE's ideality improvement assumptions with TRIZ tools are derived. The conclusion presents some perspectives to validate these assumptions and move towards a systematic approach for Ecodesign based on ECOFAIRE.