Graduation in Circular Business Models for Home appliances

This graduation is a collaboration with HOMIE, a circular economy spinout from TU Delft. The world is littered with cheap, poorly made home appliances, as people typically buy low-quality appliances rather than opting for more energy-efficient, durable models because of their high purchasing costs. Also, people are currently not incentivised to make products last and use them in a sustainable way. By introducing a pay per use model, HOMIE (www.homiepayperuse.com) will allow all households to afford quality appliances, encouraging reuse and recycling, and driving sustainable consumption patterns, starting with washing machines. You will never have to invest in appliances again, just pay per use.

Assignment 1: Pay per use fridges, coffee makers and fryers…? Circular business models have the potential to drive long-product life, reuse, recycling and sustainable consumption. Pay per use washing machines have been rolled out in practice, but what if our whole home could be enabled by ‘pay per use’ business models to drive circularity and sustainable consumption? This assignment explores the potential of new business models, like pay per use, for various home appliances, such as coffee makers, fridges etc. How can ‘pay per use’ be designed to drive circularity and sustainable consumption? This assignment will develop an understanding of the environmental, customer and business impact and is most suitable for an SPD student.

Assignment 2: Real life experiments with circular business models HOMIE is collaborating with the GreenVillage, where new pay per use washing machines have been installed. Sustainable business experimentation, a low resource method to transform to a sustainable business, can help increase the understanding of the success and failure of user interventions and new business propositions. This assignment explores the impact of specific user interventions on people's behavior. Specifically, what type of (IoT supported) user interventions can stimulate sustainable usage of home appliances? In the graduation project, these interventions will be designed and tested in practice in the Green Village. The assignment will combine environmental with customer and business insight. This assignment is most suitable for an IPD or DfI student.

How to connect with us Both graduation students can start in Spring 2018 and will be part of the Circular Design Lab of IDE. If you are interested, please send an email to Prof. Ruth Mugge (TU Delft) and Colin Bom, CEO of HOMIE and a motivation for one of the assignments.

Contacts

Ruth Mugge - r.mugge@tudelft.nl - Professor at TU Delft, IDE Emilia Ingemarsdotter - E.K.Ingemarsdotter@tudelft.nl - PhD candidate TU Delft, IDE Colin Bom - colin.bom@homiegroup.com - CEO of HOMIE Nancy Bocken - n.m.p.bocken@tudelft.nl - Co-founder HOMIE, associate professor IDE