Abstract for:Extending environmental impact assessments of consumer products with System Dynamics

The environmental impact of a product depends on a variety of factors. In this paper, existing impact assessments are extended through the system dynamics methodology. A conceptual model was developed that contains several factors influencing on the use of washing machines and related CO2e-emissions. A stock and flow diagram allows for a streamlined environmental impact assessment of washing machines in households. The results show that both, wash frequency and the development of the energy consumption of washing machines over time are crucial factors for lowering future CO2e-emissions in the washing machines industry, whereas the sharing of washing machines did not show significant impact.