Ecovalue
It has been quite a struggle to develop the Ecovalue concept. It originated out of a sense of unease with the traditional EcoDesign concept. This is due to the so called rebound effect which can be explained as follows: EcoDesign actions aim at lowering the environmental load but may result in lower cost as well. This means that successful Ecodesign implies a substantial rebound effect. If EcoDesign products get cheaper, a consumer can buy more goods so that the environmental gain for one product is offset by more consumption. One-sided supply side (EcoDesign in industry) thinking has therefore less environmental effect than anticipated at first sight. So far little attention has been paid to the demand side (how do consumers spend their money). An useful approach is to stimulate consumers to spend their money on goods and services where the ratio between price and environmental load over the life cycle is high. Generally speaking this ratio (the EcoValue) is higher when the added value of the product is higher. High labor content scores best, followed by high tech content; material intensity ranks third whereas energy intensity products have the lowest EcoValue. Consumption of products and services with higher EcoValue have a benign effect simply because consumers can spend their money only once. If more money is being spent on products with high EcoValue, less money is left to buy more goods and through this mechanism a reverse rebound effect is achieved. People are prepared to pay higher prices if the goods on offer are more attractive, this is not just from a physical functionality point of view but particularly from an immaterial or emotional value point of view (see also chapter 2.3) Shifts to consumption of goods with higher Ecovalue can be stimulated through external means as well. For instance by a tax system which taxes consumption instead of income; or differentiated taxes on consumption according to environmental load (see chapter 9.3). Whatever happens, more efforts to design products with high EcoValue seem to be needed. It has been analyzed in chapter 2.3 that, under appropriate conditions, there can even be products with an environmental load which is higher that the one of a standard product.
国际会议
The 4th International Conference on Waste Management and Technology(第四届固体废物管理与技术国际会议)
北京
英文
509
2009-11-28（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）