Is product durability better for environment and for economic efficiency? A comparative assessment applying LCA and LCC to two energy-intensive products

Autor: Fabio Iraldo, Camilla Facheris, Benedetta Nucci
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Cleaner Production. 140:1353-1364
ISSN: 0959-6526
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.017
Popis: The importance of product durability is becoming increasingly recognised, as Europe strives to move towards a circular economy, where products are designed and manufactured in a way that helps save resources and minimize waste. However, till now, no agreement has been reached on the potential benefits that increased durability of products may yield. Especially for energy using products, there is an increasing debate on whether greater environmental and cost benefits are achieved through extending the lifetime of the product, or rather by replacing it with a new, more energy efficient model. The aim of this work is thus to investigate if and in which conditions extended durability of energy-intensive products is desirable from an environmental and an economic perspective. In order to assess the environmental impact of increased durability of products, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) have been applied to perform a comparative analysis between a durable and a standard option for two different products: domestic refrigerator and freezer and domestic electric oven. Several sensitivity analyses have been performed on purchase price, cost of electricity, energy efficiency. According to the results of this study, if from an economic point of view for the user more durable products are practically always the preferred choice, this is not always the case from the environmental point of view. Only when the production and end of life stages have very high impacts compared to the use phase the more durable option is preferred from both an economic and an environmental point of view.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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