Is there a sustainable future for electrical equipments through ecodesign?

For several years, companies have been optimising their products and components design by reducing their environmental impacts. The comparison of environmental impacts between two components is not always easy to interpret and can therefore lead to misleading results if not used with caution. These components are often referred to as “green” component. A state-of-the-art review is presented to explain what we commonly refer to as “green/ sustainable/ eco-designed” components which are directly linked to guidelines and standards. Examples on how manufacturers integrate this subject into their policies and targets is highlighted, with a focus on the 4R concept: Rethink, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. A methodology is proposed to illustrate how to develop an eco-design component. The eco-design approach is shortly reviewed, by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, highlighting why LCA is an essential tool to measure the environmental impact of a product and to ecodesign new components. Finally, different examples of eco-designed projects on electrical components such as switchgears and power transformers are presented.