This study has been carried out in co-operation with Philips Consumer Electronics in order to study the feasibility of new services which will reduce the environmental impact of its products. In this study the focus is on the possibilities of lifetime optimisation as a strategy for television-sets. It will be shown that a service can be developed which benefits both the environmental impact and has benefits for the consumer.

Nowadays about 40 to 50% of all television-sets are replaced while these sets are still functioning. The fact that television-sets are discarded before they actually breakdown, implies that they are not used in an Eco-efficient way. To increase the Eco-efficiency of television-sets, services to optimise of the initial lifetime can be an effective strategy.

However, expected future developments indicate that there are a couple of issues linked to introduce such services. Firstly, consumers will have reasons to prematurely replace their current set, to obtain new functionality (applications and features) and new technologies (flat panel displays, digital television). More over, the secondary use is expected to decrease due to the increasing demand for small bedroom-sets and because the total amount of sets, in one household, is increasing. Finally, next to postponing the disposal of the current television-set, life time optimisation has another environmental benefit: it delays the market shift towards more environmentally unfriendly features and technologies.

This paper describes strategies which include providing services which focus on the prevention of premature replacement of television-sets. The effectiveness of service depends on the behaviour of the consumer. Therefore different target segments have been distinguished. Three consumer segments can be found which show such a buying-, use-, and replacement behaviour that a life time optimisation service can be effective to reduce the environmental impact. These are: Home Aesthetics, Techno-connaisseurs and Enthusiastically Involved.

The analysis of the different target groups shows that the upgrading of both the functionality and the styling of a television-set is the best service to be provided to achieve postponed replacement. The need for an increased functionality is seen as the most important factor that determines the initial lifetime of the set. A styling upgrade is needed to communicate this increased functionality to the consumer.

These starting points are applied to a conceptual redesign of a television-set in order to investigate the feasibility. The functionality can be upgraded by replacing the small signal chassis by a new one with a higher functionality. Due to a high form of integration and miniaturisation, the power consumption and the impact of production of this small signal chassis are expected to be strongly reduced. This will result in an environmental impact of this small signal chassis that only makes up a small fraction of the total life cycle impact of the set. When the power supply of the television-set is build into the replaceable small signal chassis, an additional saving on the environmental impact is feasible. The replaceable styling front will make the set look more up to date.

From this study the following conclusions can be drawn. The concept for the new television-set has been designed in such a way that it is expected to lead to an increased lifetime. This way the total environmental impact can be reduced by some 20% compared to the current situation. The advantage for the consumer is that the postponed replacement is expected to reduce the total consumer costs by some 5.5%. The implication of this concept is, the introduction of a new activity providing the service of the selling upgrades. This activity may compensate for the expected reduced sales of new television-sets. This is due to the higher margins on upgrades. It is concluded as well that television concepts should be developed that are more suitable for upgrading than the existing types. This will increase the benefits for the environment and the consumer of the service approach. As the upgrading strategy can improve both the Eco-efficiency and provide additional consumer benefit in the form of reduced costs and increased functionality, the companies doing so will be perceived by the consumer as a leader in environmental care and as a manufacturer of top quality products.

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Last updated: 13 November, 2008