When the Makersite tool for Autodesk® Fusion 360™ calculates environmental impact, it runs the materials & masses of the 3D components through the Makersite platform. Makersite utilises a number of materials & Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) databases to form a detailed picture of the imported product.

For more information on the background to Makersite's calculations, please see the Sustainability Overview & Costing Overview articles.

Environmental impact of materials & products is a highly complex system that needs to encompass a vast range of processes & energies throughout the entire process of manufacturing a product, from raw material extraction all the way through to the use phase, & finally how the product is handled at end of life.

The common measure for this is the kgCO2 eq unit (Kilograms per Carbon Dioxide Equivalent), in simple terms, this unit rationalises all of the processes involved in production into a single, easily comparable, universal figure. This is the unit the Makersite tool for Autodesk® Fusion 360™ displays.

On the left of the response page are three cards, showing a top level breakdown of the results.

Makersite provides alternative material recommendations, these are suggestions that have the potential to reduce the environmental impact of the component based on material selection. The dropdown menu shows a list of alternatives that can be selected. Selecting an alternative from the list will update the CO2 Savings % figure to reflect the change. The total kgCO2 eq figure shown to the left of the List View will also be updated in line with any alternative material selections.