Environmental Materials Information Technology (EMIT) Consortium

The Environmental Materials Information Technology (EMIT) Consortium is a collaborative project launched by the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Granta Design, and industrial partners including Eurocopter, Emerson Electric, Rolls-Royce, and NASA. It is open to new members.

Controlling the environmental impact of products and meeting environmental regulations, such as REACH, are becoming critical success factors for engineering enterprises. Materials decisions are central to these issues, and so companies need:

• Accurate data on materials and processes – specifically, on 'eco properties' and on regulatory restrictions
• Decision support tools to apply this information in 'eco design' – i.e., reducing environmental impact during the design phase, where such decisions are most effective and least costly
• 'Product stewardship' methodologies – i.e., approaches that model and minimize environmental impact throughout the lifecycle, from a product's inception to its disposal

Few engineering enterprises have begun to develop such a portfolio. The Consortium is accelerating this process. Building on Granta Design's existing materials software and data for eco design (see separate entry for Granta Design), the Consortium aims not only to develop new ‘point solutions’ to key eco design problems, but to do so within a framework that enables an integrated approach to environmental issues across the product lifecycle. Consortium members get the latest software tools and data, a formal role in prioritising future software developments (thus ensuring that their critical needs are met), and networking and training that helps them to develop a best practice approach.