Exploring sustainability metrics for redesigned consumer products
Autor: | Synnøve Rubach, Inger Johanne Brodal Hansen, Cecilia Askham, Irmelin Gram-Hanssen, John Baxter |
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Rok vydání: | 2018 |
Předmět: |
Renewable Energy
Sustainability and the Environment business.industry Computer science 020209 energy Strategy and Management 02 engineering and technology 010501 environmental sciences Clothing 01 natural sciences Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Resource (project management) Work (electrical) Risk analysis (engineering) Sustainability 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Key (cryptography) Production (economics) Sensitivity (control systems) Product (category theory) business 0105 earth and related environmental sciences General Environmental Science |
Zdroj: | Journal of Cleaner Production. 190:128-136 |
ISSN: | 0959-6526 |
Popis: | The evaluation of activities driving sustainability in the consumer product sphere, such as material recycling and product re-use, often appears to be over-optimistic. Replacement of primary resource production with secondary production, which is the source of most environmental improvements, is rarely evaluated rigorously and is often overstated. Significant progress on measuring replacement has been made in the clothing and related sectors. This study investigates the issue of whether further improvements are possible by introducing factors typically absent, such as the level of environmental burden associated with consumer purchases, and the consumer demand. Via consumer survey and consequent numerical analysis, the work establishes viable metrics to supplement those currently used for replacement. In particular, it is shown that it is not sufficient to simply examine how metrics are constructed; it is also essential to test metrics’ response and sensitivity to input data, from survey and numerical analysis. The metrics developed are shown to be robust and appropriately responsive to changes in key parameters. Operations and decision-making in the sector may be significantly improved by this line of analysis. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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