TY - CONF A1 - Schischke, Karsten A1 - Rückschloss, Jana A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-C. A1 - Zöllinger, Jonathan A1 - Nissen, Nils F. A1 - Schneider-Ramelow, Martin T1 - The European Union’s Energy Label for Smartphones: Does it guide consumers to make environmentally sustainable choices? N2 - The European Commission adopted an EU Energy Label for smartphones and tablets in June 2023. For the first time, the EU Energy Label will depict, among energy efficiency, also a reparability score, battery endurance, battery lifetime, drop resistance and dust and water ingress protection. However, does the multitude of parameters bear the risk to confuse consumers instead of triggering environmentally sustainable purchase decisions? In a survey in Germany, consumers were asked to make a choice when the label does not clearly identify the environmentally better product. Instead, energy efficiency has to be valued against reparability, reliability against energy efficiency, and reparability against reliability. The sustainability lever of the different aspects is not the same, as e.g. lifetime extension has a much more positive environmental impact than energy efficiency in case of mobile devices. Therefore, the question remains, whether consumers intuitively make the right choice. Results of the survey indicate that consumers interpret the complex label in the desired manner and value those aspects higher, which indeed have a more positive effect on the environment. T2 - 13th International Conference on Consumer Electronics CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 03.09.2023 KW - Energy efficiency KW - EU Energy Labelling KW - Reparability KW - Reliability KW - ESPR PY - 2023 UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10375619 DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCE-Berlin58801.2023.10375619 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - IEEE AN - OPUS4-59318 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tochtrop, Christoph A1 - von Geibler, Justus A1 - Rückschloss, Jana A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar T1 - Product features: Upgraded Functionality or Sustainability Problem? An environmental assessment approach for additional product functions and its application in the case of fridge-freezers N2 - Next to primary functions, energy-related products have an increasing number of additional functions. This affects the overall environmental footprint, but the question is how? A number of European policy strategies, initiatives and measures, such as the Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan,the Ecodesign Directive and the EU Energy Labelling, aim to ensure that the environmental impact of the overall product is better determined, communicated and finally reduced. A core element of these efforts is the DIN EN 4555x series of standards. However, there is currently no comprehensive and systematic classification of the additional product functions or an approach to assess the associated positive and negative environmental impacts. Therefore, we present in this study an environmental assessment approach for additional product functions and illustrate its application in the case of fridge-freezers. A key element of the life-cycle-oriented methodology is an assessment matrix to categorize and evaluate the direct, indirect and systemic impacts of products’ functions. Based on semiquantitative assessments of experts, the matrix provides an indication of how the additional function affects the overall environmental product impact as well as specific product aspects such as durability or reparability. Based on the results experts can discuss and better understand how specific functions can influence various stages of the product life cycle and how intended systemic changes or rebound effects could occur. As part of the approach, a representative survey was conducted to analyze consumers’ knowledge and information needs. Based on the results, recommendations for purchasing decisions and the consumer information were developed. This paper presents the results from the assessment of the additional functions of fridge-freezers. T2 - EGG+ Electronics Goes Green 2024+ CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 18.06.2024 KW - Circular Economy KW - ESPR KW - Material efficiency KW - Ecodesign KW - Policy making KW - Standardization KW - Consumer PY - 2024 SN - 978-3-00-079329-5 DO - https://doi.org/10.23919/EGG62010.2024.10631252 SP - 87 EP - 97 AN - OPUS4-60400 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rückschloss, Jana A1 - Tochtrop, Christoph A1 - von Geibler, Justus A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar T1 - “Oh no, it’s broken!” – How product functionality limits lifespan N2 - Today a large variety of products with various features and designs are available for consumers. In addition to the main functions of a product, there are more and more additional functions, especially for electrical and electronic appliances. This means that looking for the right product may require extensive research by consumers and does not always lead to a sense of making an informed purchase decision. The wide variety of designs and functions can overwhelm consumers. This creates uncertainty and might lead to overrate products functionality and thus significantly shorten the service lifetime of appliances. Furthermore, the environmental impact of such functions is usually unclear, and can vary depending on the actual usage scenario. In this study, a survey was carried out in order to better understand consumers perceptions and experiences related to additional functions of products, with specific focus on domestic hobs, household refrigerating appliances and televisions. The results confirm the large number of additional functions and their overwhelming effect for consumers. Consumers purchase devices with more features than desired, or replaced them prematurely because an extra feature fails while the main function is still available. The findings of the study can be used to better inform consumers and support them to make environmentally sustainable purchasing decisions. T2 - 6th Product Lifetimes and the Environment Conference (PLATE2025) CY - Aalborg, Denmark DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Circular economy KW - Functionality KW - Durability KW - Purchase decision KW - Ecodesign PY - 2025 UR - https://journals.aau.dk/index.php/plate2025 SN - 97887-7642-060-4 DO - https://doi.org/10.54337/plate2025 SN - 2794-9540 SP - 666 EP - 674 AN - OPUS4-63823 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -