Environmental performance of alternative end-of-life scenarios for electrical and electronic equipment: A case study for vacuum cleaners

摘要

Extending the product life span of electrical and electronic equipment is considered an optimal strategy for resource conservation as consuming new resources to produce new appliances is avoided, and the amount of generated waste is reduced. However with energy-using products, the energy efficiency of equipment and other user-related behaviour variables play a key role when determining the best end-of-life scenario from an environmental viewpoint. This research aimed to identify the optimal replacement time by considering two main situations from an environmental perspective. In Situation 1 (equipment does not need repairing during its life span), two scenarios are compared: using equipment until the end of its life span versus replacing it with more energy-efficient equipment. In Situation 2 (equipment breaks and needs repairing during its life span), two scenarios are compared: repairing equipment and using it until the end of its life span versus not repairing and replacing it with more energy-efficient equipment.