More sustainable software

Earlier this month I blogged about SolidWorks' sustainable software features that are embedded in SolidWorks. Well, now Autodesk joined the bandwagon. While Inventor 2010 does not have sustainability features built-in as a standalone product, it recently announced that it joined forces with an outfit called Sustainable Minds -- a software firm that just launched its "life cycle assessment" product called Sustainable Minds Release 1.0.

It is reported that the interoperability between Sustainable Minds and Inventor helps manufacturers using Inventor to measure the environmental impact of a product design including assemblies, sub-assemblies, and parts. Inventor users can estimate the environmental and human health impacts of their design decisions across the product life cycle.

Sustainable Minds evaluates 10 environmental impact categories and includes more than 500 factors and CO2 equivalent values for materials, processes, consumables, transportation, and end of life methods. Sustainable Minds 1.0 is available now and you can sign up for a free 30-day trial subscription at www.sustainableminds.com. It is unknown whether or not Autodesk plans to incorporate Sustainable Minds features into its 2011 product line.

You can check out a video at www.sustainableminds.com/autodesk.

A single user annual subscritpion to Sustainable Minds includes the software, content, and data updates costs $700.