Streamlining sustainability and circular economy decision-making through the GRETA platform
By Riccardo Canavesi (SUPSI)
GRETA is a modular and dynamic prototype platform developed by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) to facilitate sustainable decision-making in various industries. This multi-service architecture tool is designed to assist in the early design stages of new products, as well as in refining existing processes or commercialized products by providing extensive sustainability information. GRETA's comprehensive sustainability profiles cover environmental, social, and economic factors, guiding users towards eco-friendly and cost-effective solutions.
GRETA uses OpenLCA to support sustainability experts in developing and importing detailed macro-models for each life cycle phase. Designers and technicians from the company can then fine-tune scenarios for products and processes to devise company-specific solutions. This modular approach is essential for thorough sustainability assessments, separating the responsibilities of sustainability experts—who describe process archetypes from a sustainability perspective—from those of designers and process managers in companies, who use these archetypes to create and optimize their specific product and process scenarios.
GRETA will be included in the "Business Level" of DaCapo architecture, as a part of the Decision Support tool for Circular Economy (CE-DSS). It will assist users in making sustainability-driven decisions by providing LCA, LCC, and s-LCA analyses. The tool will be continuously developed and integrated throughout the project lifespan and will be applied to at least two of the project use cases.
