SolidWorks Sustainability Software: ‘Best New Green Product Innovation’

SolidWorks Sustainability software, which empowers designers and engineers to easily reduce their products’ environmental impact, won the first-ever Best New Green Product Innovation honor last week at the global GREEN AWARDS 2010 in London. 

Accredited by the UK Royal Society of Arts, the awards recognize creativity that conveys the importance of corporate and social responsibility, sustainable development, and ethical best practices. Best Green New Product Innovation was a new category this year.

“This entry is our favorite,” said the judges, who are noted professionals in communications, environmental and sustainability fields. “[SolidWorks Sustainability] software has the potential to revolutionize the way designers design their products. By integrating life cycle thinking into the design process, SolidWorks [Sustainability] helps designers to lower the environmental impact of their creation from the design stage. Their partnership with independent organization PE International, which provides a life cycle inventory database, makes their product robust and reliable. A must-have in any designer’s tool box.”


A representative from Dassault Systèmes (DS) SolidWorks Corp. of Concord, Mass., developer of the software, accepted the award Thursday night at the London Natural History Museum from Mary Anne King, head of environmental sustainability for Microsoft. Also attending the gala ceremony was Sir David Attenborough CBE, who accepted the inaugural green Lifetime Achievement Award for his efforts to broaden public understanding of environmental issues.


What’s your environmental footprint?

Fully integrated with SolidWorks computer-aided design software, SolidWorks Sustainability incorporates powerful Life Cycle Assessment-based tools that gauge impacts on carbon, energy, air, and water throughout the product life cycle, including material selection, manufacture, use, and end of life. DS SolidWorks co-developed Sustainability with PE International, the established experts in environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), whose pioneering GaBi software is the world’s leading LCA package. SolidWorks Sustainability incorporates GaBi’s LCA process models and databases to employ high-quality scientific data in assessing environmental impact.


SolidWorks Sustainability’s material selection tool provides instant feedback to help product designers choose the most environmentally friendly material for a particular design. One-click report generation makes it easy to communicate the findings with the rest of the company.


“We’re grateful for this honor,” said Asheen Phansey, Sustainability product manager for DS SolidWorks. “Consumers are increasingly demanding greener products, and product designers have a tremendous impact on the environment given that they make the products we use every day. That’s why we’ve made sustainable design easy, accessible, fun, and empowering. We’re working toward the day when all design is sustainable design, and we’re leading our passionate customers along this path.”

Pictured at the GREEN AWARDS 2010 are (left to right): event co-host Wayne Hemingway (Designer & Founder of Red or Dead, fashion designer and manufacturer); Mary Anne King, Head of Environmental Sustainability, Microsoft; Simon Booker, Marketing Vice President EMEA, Dassault Systems Solidworks accepting the award for the company; and co-host Janey Lee Grace, BBC Radio 2.