Products that go round: exploring product life extension through design

• Product lifespans of electric and electronic products are in decline.
• The paper uses LCA and dynamic modelling to calculate optimal lifespans.
• We conclude that for refrigerators and laptops, product life extension is needed.
• Designers need to know when to apply which product life extension strategy.
• The paper explores strategies such as longer product life and remanufacturing.

Product lifespans of electric and electronic products are in decline, with detrimental environmental consequences. This research maps the environmental impacts of refrigerators and laptops against their increasing energy efficiency over time, and finds that product life extension is the preferred strategy in both cases: refrigerators bought in 2011 should be used for 20 years instead of 14, and laptops for at least 7 years instead of 4. Designers however lack expertise to design for product life extension (through longer product life, refurbishment, remanufacturing) and product recycling. The paper explores a range of product life extension strategies and concludes that tailored approaches are needed. One of the main research challenges is to determine when to apply which product life extension strategy.