Sustainability with the Help of Digital Twins

Product developers are responsible for designing their products as optimally as possible. This includes not only functional design, but also resource-efficient, low-emission, and socially responsible design. It is important to consider all phases of the product life cycle in advance – a classic task of product lifecycle management. In order to be able to make statements about the actual sustainability of a product or system, a great deal of information must be collected and evaluated throughout the product's life cycle – from material procurement to end of life. There are various approaches to sustainability assessment, such as life cycle assessment or life cycle sustainability assessment. Various approaches, such as ecodesign guidelines, already support engineers in designing their products to be more sustainable.

In the context of sustainability assessment, the concept of digital twins is particularly interesting, as it enables product-specific data to be collected, linked throughout the life cycle, and used for evaluation and optimization. Live evaluations can be used to intervene in the product life cycle and draw conclusions about product development – known as feedback to design.

Initial study results show great potential for ecological sustainability assessments using digital twins. For many companies (52 percent), mapping and optimizing the energy consumption of individual products or production facilities is already a relevant and addressed issue. 42 percent of companies also see other ecological indicators as being mappable and optimizable by digital twins in the future through better and earlier forecasts.