In Mobius, you can create life cycles for your products, allowing you to structure your Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) according to different life cycle phases (e.g., production, use, end-of-life, transport, etc.) of a product in a structured way. This helps you gain insights into the full environmental impact of your products and make more informed decisions regarding their sustainability. This article covers the following questions:
What is the life cycle feature?
How to create life cycles?
How to reuse objects?
Next steps.
Don't feel like reading an article? Watch a video tutorial on this subject instead!
Feel like you're missing information? This article builds upon the following articles, check them out if you want to learn more:
On life cycles: Explained: Products, objects, and life cycles
What is the life cycle feature?
The life cycle feature in Mobius provides a template for creating your cradle-to-grave LCA. It is structured according to the different phases (e.g., production, packaging, transport, use, and end-of-life) of your product's life cycle. This feature is customizable; you can choose what phases to include or omit!
How to create life cycles?
1. Access the life cycles overview page: Find the life cycles overview page at the bottom of the blue menu on the left side of the page (Figure 1). Here, you can find all the life cycles you have created and create new ones.
2. Create a new life cycle: Create a new life cycle by clicking the green Create life cycle button in the top right corner of the page (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Accessing the life cycle overview page and creating a new life cycle in Mobius.
3. Complete the Create new life cycle pop up: Fill out the Create new life cycle pop up on your dashboard (Figure 2). Complete the following steps:
Name: Give your life cycle a name.
Attach a product (optional): Decide whether you want to attach your life cycle to a product you have already created (i.e., a product from your Product library). You can also do this later. If you attach the life cycle to a product at this phase, you can search for and select the specific product from the dropdown list.
Select a template: Choose the life cycle phases you want to include in your model. There are several templates to choose from.
Standard (Std) # phases: These templates simply include the structure for different phases you can include in your model.
2 phases: Production and use.
3 phases: Production, use, end-of-life
5 phases: Production, packaging, transport, use, end-of-life
7 phases: Raw materials, transport, production, packaging, distribution, use, end-of-life
EN15804 templates: There are several templates structured according to the EN15804 standard, helping you organize your product LCA in the right way. These also include variable amounts of phases.
After clicking ‘Create’ in the pop up, your screen will depict an LCA model structure. If you choose to attach a product to the life cycle, the production phase of your model will be complete.
Figure 2: Completing the Create new life cycle pop up in Mobius.
Pro tip - Reorganizing life cycle phases: If needed, you can reorganize the phases of your LCA model to better represent the chronological order of your product's life cycle. Do so in the Model view by selecting the ‘drag-and-drop’ selector in the middle of the life cycle name when all phases are collapsed (Figure 3). Simply drag and drop the phases to rearrange them as needed.
Figure 3: Reorganizing life cycle phases in Mobius.
4. Add (sub) items to life cycle phases: The next step to complete your LCA model is to add (sub) items to the life cycle phases. This process is very similar to adding items to your product. Click the life cycle phase you wish to add (sub) items to. Then select + Add sub item to phase (Figure 4). You can add new items (which will be added to your Object library) or you can reuse an existing (sub) item from your Product or Object library. Read more on reusing items.
Figure 4: Adding sub items to life cycles in Mobius.
How to add or remove life cycle phases?
Adding life cycle phases: You can easily add life cycle phases to your LCA model. Do so + Add phase at the bottom of the Life cycle inventory. Select the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the life cycle detail panel (Figure 6). Write a name and select a representative icon (optional) for your newly created phase.
Figure 6: Adding life cycle phases to your LCA model in Mobius.
Deleting life cycle phases: It is possible to remove life cycle phases from your model if you determine you no longer need them. Delete a life cycle phase by hovering over the phase you no longer want. Then click the waste bin logo beside the phase name (Figure 7).
Figure 7: Deleting a life cycle phase in Mobius.
How to create life cycle scenarios and comparisons?
Just like with products, you can also create scenarios and comparisons of different life cycles in Mobius to analyze their environmental impacts side by side. This feature allows you to make informed decisions about which life cycle strategies are the most sustainable. Read more about scenarios and comparisons.
How to download results and insights?
Once you've created and analyzed your life cycles, you can download the results and insights for further review. Mobius offers the option to download a 1-page PDF report with insights into the environmental impacts of your LCA models. Download the full set of results for all environmental impact categories by selecting 'Download results' from the green Tools dropdown (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Downloading life cycle results in Mobius.
Video tutorial
Watch Emma explain these concepts in our tutorial:
Next steps
Understanding how to create life cycles and add phases in Mobius is essential for accurately measuring the environmental impact of your products.
Ready to explore more features within Mobius? Check out our other help center articles for comprehensive guidance on maximizing your ecodesign potential.