1 INTRODUCTION Several instruments and standards have been introduced in the last decades to assess environ- mental management performance and efficiency of products and companies, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), eco-labels, environmental management systems (EMS) and environmental certificates and register (ISO 14001 and EMAS standards). Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has been working on a common framework for environ- mental, social and economic voluntary reports. It has published guidelines to promote compara- bility of sustainability reports and to support benchmarking (GRI, 2002, GRI, 2006). The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has also published a list of selected indicators, focusing on eco-efficiency (WBCSD, 2000). Existing standards are much more management-directed than environment-directed. The re- sult is that, although there is abundant literature on environmental performance, it is far from standardized and little of it is actually applied on day-to-day management (Melo, 2002). Many countries have regulations imposing environment-related information on specific cate- gories of products, such as energy consumption in appliances and vehicles. Technical notices will have more or less detailed data, but usually the label on the product only bears qualitative information. Typically, labels and technical notices provide little information on environmental effects caused by manufacture, use or disposal of the product. Most eco-labels do not provide quantitative environmental information at all – either the logo is there, or it is not – which makes it difficult to distinguish between two labelled products. More precise information about environmental effects related to a product can be obtained through LCA which is commonly used for product and process design and for eco-labeling. However, this method is very expensive because it is data-intensive and time-consuming, thus limiting its use; another limitation is that broader issues such as impact acceptability are not usually taken into account (Curran, 1996; Das, 2005). Application of the EcoBlock method to eco-design – electric hand dryers versus paper towels J. Joanaz de Melo, L. Macedo & A. Galvão New University of Lisbon, Caparica, Portugal ABSTRACT: The EcoBlock method is an environmental performance tool that allows the com- parison of products, projects or organizations. It is based on seven indicators: water extraction, resource extraction, land use, greenhouse gases (GHG), other air pollution, water pollution, and waste. A simplified life cycle analysis approach is adopted. The indicators may be aggregated into a single index, inspired in the Ecological Footprint concept. In this case study we compare the environmental performance of two hand-drying alternatives – paper towels or electric dry- ers. Both techniques present similar results. The pattern of use was found to be a variable of key importance in the comparison: lesser use of towels per drying would tip the balance in favour of the towels, more efficient dryers or lower impact energy sources would tip the balance in favour of the dryers. Electricity consumption proved to be the largest pressure generator in both alter- natives.