The environmental and economic consequences of product lifetime extension: Empirical analysis for automobile use

The present paper develops the product lifetime impact model to estimate the effects of both product lifetime shifts and related consumption pattern shifts on the environment and domestic economy. The empirical analysis, focused on car lifetime extension, reveals that the consumption shifts scenario, representing the case in which household consumption patterns shift from the waste-intensive car to waste extensive services due to a + 1.0 year car lifetime extension, contributed to a GDP growth that amounted to approximately + 2 billion yen, and consequently compensated for the economic loss from a decline in car production. The transition from the manufacturing products-intensive society to the service-intensive society caused by the + 1.0 year car average lifetime extension, led to a 200 thousand ton-decrease in the waste landfill including the car shredder residuals during the five years of the study period, 1990-1995.