Step-by-step guide: making a scenario for a red paving block

This guide shows how to make a scenario to compare an ecodesigned paving block to its original version

In the previous guide Step-by-step: Creating an LCA for a paving block with white cement and pigments (FEBE) we covered the necessary steps to create a red paving block in Pilario and get its environmental impact. Here, we will show how we can make ecodesign changes in our product and see the impact on the results.

Making a test scenario

One of the most powerful features of Pilario is the ability to create scenarios from an existing product, this allows you to perform changes in the product and see the impact it will have against the original product.

Let's continue with the red paving block example. In this scenario, we would want to evaluate what would be the impact of changing our cement provider to a factory located closer to our manufacturing factory.

Let's see the steps needed to create a scenario and see the results:

1. In the upper right corner, go to the Actions button and select Create scenario 
   
   Notice how we have changed from the Product page to the Scenarios in the left menu
   
2. By doing this a new scenario based on our original product is created, this means duplicating our original product and all its attributes but keeping a reference to it. Ideally, we would change the name and description to identify more easily our scenario later
   1. In the name, change Red paving block to Red paving block with provider XXXY.
   2. In the description, include something that can help you identify it later.
   3. Notice how the original product is referenced in the Product attribute and we could directly access it by clicking the button there.
      
3. Perform now the desired changes. In a real life scenario, this might involve many changes, but in this case, we will just go to the Ingredients (A1-A2) section, locate the Cement - CEM I ingredient, and change the transportation from Boat distance (A2) - 400 km to Train distance (A2) - 250 km.
   
4. Expand the results tab (via the arrow in the upper right corner)
5. Navigate through the results and compare the fictional product and the original one. We can see how by reducing the distance and the type of transportation of the cement, our Ingredients (A1-A2) phase has a lower Global Warming Potential - Total impact.
   

That's it! We have seen how we can quickly make changes in an existing product (without modifying the original one) and see the impact it would have. From here you could go further an explore these changes on other products, and by tweaking many parameters in the ingredients, packaging, etc and make your products more sustainable!