Product Development of Electronic Devices for Improved Environmental Performance : Finding improvement opportunities using ecodesign tools and success factors

Sammanfattning

The energy consumption of the use phase of buildings accounts for almost 30 per-cent of the global energy consumption and is expected to increase in the coming years (Santamouris and Vasilakopoulou, 2021). Furthermore, increasing demand for energy-efficient buildings can be expected due to the introduction of legislative frameworks, such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive (European Commission, 2022b). With the use of building management systems, the energy use of a building can be monitored and optimized (Joseph, 2018). However, it is important not to shift the saved energy use of the building onto the large number of electronic devices needed in the systems. This can be prevented by using ecodesign, which refers to the integration of environmental aspects into the product development process (ISO, 2002). This thesis aims to find solutions for reducing the environmental impact of electronic products in building management systems, both by finding redesign improvement options and improvement areas within the product development processes of the products. This involved a case study, conducted together with the R&D department at a multi-national company within the electrical equipment industry. Improvement options for four products within the building management system category were generated by using Quality Function Deployment for Environment, where normalized results from life cycle assessments of each product were used for environmental inputs. A total of six improvement options were developed, and the reduction in environmental impact that these would imply was quantified using life cycle assessments. For Product A, the prioritized option was to extend the lifetime of the product from 10 to 15 years. For Product B, changing the production country from Romania to Sweden would reduce the impacts the most. For Product C and Product D, introducing a power-saving mode was the most preferable option. Furthermore, improvement suggestions for environmental sustainability in the product development process at the company were developed by using a four-step method inspired by Charter and Tischner (2001), and ecodesign success factors identified by Johansson (2002). This resulted in nine improvement suggestions within the areas of management, customer relationships, development processes, and competence. Two aspects were considered to be of higher importance; 1. to specify the value and benefits of implementing ecodesign together with relevant stakeholders, and to identify activities and resources needed to achieve that; 2. to consider environmental aspects already at the first step of the product development process. It was also shown that it is of importance to create ecodesign implementation strategies and tools that are customized to the specific company considered for successful integration of environmental aspects in the product development process.