A case study on quantitative evaluation of resource efficiency

Abstract

This study focuses on quantitative evaluation of resource efficiency of products and proposes a concrete index. In this paper, the value was evaluated by the original value plus reusability and recyclability of the product. Environmental aspect of the product is quantified by TMR (total material requirement). As a case study, the paper takes mobile phones. The paper carries out conjoint analysis to know relative importance of functions of mobile phones. Because, the authors' research question to consider resource efficiency is whether critical resources are effectively used in enhancing product functions required from users. The result showed that a certain function is relatively more important and should be focused on to enhance the total value of the product. Then, values of resource efficiency were evaluated in the practical examples through measurement of material compositions. The study concluded that the proposed index is effective in estimating the resource efficiency of electronic products.