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Dimensionality Reduction and Visualization of the Environmental Impacts of Domestic Appliances
Author(s) -
Gutiérrez Ester,
Lozano Sebastián,
AdensoDíaz Belarmino
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00291.x
Subject(s) - multidimensional scaling , principal component analysis , dimensionality reduction , computer science , benchmark (surveying) , multivariate statistics , life cycle assessment , dimension (graph theory) , industrial ecology , visualization , data mining , set (abstract data type) , curse of dimensionality , environmental data , machine learning , artificial intelligence , production (economics) , mathematics , sustainability , ecology , programming language , geodesy , biology , law , political science , pure mathematics , economics , macroeconomics , geography
Summary There is an increasing worldwide concern about the problem of dealing with the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), given the high volume of appliances that are disposed of every day. In this article, an environmental evaluation of WEEE is performed that combines life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and multivariate statistical techniques. Because LCA handles a large number of data in its different phases, when one is trying to uncover the structure of large multidimensional data sets, multivariate statistical techniques can provide useful information. In particular, principal‐component analysis and multidimensional scaling are two important dimension‐reducing tools that have been shown to be of help in understanding this type of complex multivariate data set. In this article, we use a variable selection method that reduces the number of categories for which the environmental impacts have to be computed; this step is especially useful when the number of impact categories or the number of products or processes to benchmark increases. We provide a detailed illustration showing how we have used the proposed approach to analyze and interpret the environmental impacts of different domestic appliances.