How eco-design of products and services can embrace the use phase

The use phase is central to eco-design activities in all sectors. Various possibilities of eco-designing products are offered through usage consideration, matching different categories of products.

The in-use efficiency of high intensive energy-using products for instance is a deciding factor when eco-designing them. The European Commission recommends leading the global improvement of products' environmental footprint by reducing the impacts generated during use. Energy efficiency also contributes to optimising autonomy for transportation systems (automotive in particular), or mobile mechatronics products, and usually benefits to the user.

The use-phase integration is also critical to the planning of high maintenance operations and to the improvement of their environmental performance. For highly-technical products, from aircrafts to mundane products such as clothes, maintenance can be a major environmental burden. Even for relatively passive products but with a long she