Sustainable development: the meaning of the term and conceptual ambitions in the context of design innovation of household electrical appliances

It can be seen that Bosch Home Appliances mainly focuses on: first, the energy consumption problem in the whole product life cycle, saving energy, reducing carbon footprint, achieving carbon neutrality; second, continuously researching and developing and innovating technology, improving product functionality and durability through intelligent and efficient technology; third, forming a sustainable development model, systematizing sustainable development from three dimensions: earth-human- prosperity.

It can be seen that Haier Home Appliances mainly contributes to sustainable design in: first, using various energy-saving technologies and materials in product design, providing diversified modes and programs to meet different users' needs and expectations; second, focusing on product scrap and recycling solutions, efficiently improving product recycling dismantling work, significantly improving product recycling effect; third, innovating technology with the support of intelligent interconnection technology, thus reducing energy consumption, material consumption and labor cost.

Fig. 3. Siemens iQ700 dishwasher (Siemens service, user manuals, spare parts, 2023)

It can be seen that Samsung Electronics mainly emphasizes in sustainable design of home appliances: first, using eco-friendly home appliance packaging materials, paying attention to the use and upgrade of ancillary products other than home appliances; second, using environmental materials, controlling the selection of materials at the source of production, enhancing product life span, and giving value to products after repair; third, developing a closed-loop circular product development model, following the development concept of circular economy.

Consumer demand: considering the impact of home appliance products on users' needs, preferences, experiences and satisfaction, starting from human- oriented, realizing humanization and socialization of products; meeting users' diversified needs, respecting differentiated needs of different groups and cultures, providing reasonable and efficient solutions; enhancing users' emotional connection with products, increasing users' use pleasure and loyalty, enhancing products' aesthetic value; improving users' well-being and quality of life by providing comfort, convenience, safety, health and functionality, enhancing users' comfort, satisfaction and trust.

Advanced technology: by using advanced information technology and data analysis technology to evaluate and optimize the energy performance and operation cost of home appliance products; using intelligent and efficient technology to improve product functionality and durability to achieve higher efficiency, reduce resource consumption and environmental impact; at the same time, advanced technology can also monitor and manage energy consumption through intelligent control systems, sensors and automation technology to achieve accurate energy management and energy saving control.

Energy efficiency: it is the research focus in sustainable design of home appliances at present stage, and also a direct and effective way to control green development. Sustainable design of home appliances should consider the impact of products on natural resources and ecosystems, realize product circular utilization and low-carbon emission from source to end point, including energy consumption, energy efficiency improvement, carbon footprint reduction and so on. At the same time, it needs to pay attention to: selecting recyclable or degradable materials, reducing material usage and waste; optimizing product structure and function, reducing energy consumption and pollution emission in manufacturing process; using energy-saving mode, intelligent control and other technologies to improve product use efficiency and energy saving.

Recycling: in the design process, considering material selection and combination to facilitate dismantling and recycling treatment of home appliances; using detachable modular design to facilitate users to disassemble and clean products, improve product durability and maintainability; establishing a sound home appliance recycling system, providing recycling scrap solutions and services, encouraging users to participate in circular economy, promoting product recycling, reuse or regeneration, and dealing with product waste and hazardous substances, to reduce negative impact on environment.

Management mode: considering that home appliance products are affected by social, cultural and market changes, it is necessary to innovate product service mode and business mode, provide more value and convenience to users, promote social sustainable development; use circular economy concept, realize product remanufacturing, reuse, recycling, reduce waste generation, extend resource use; use systematic design method, analyze product life cycle and influencing factors, optimize product structure and function, realize product scaling and standardization; provide sharing, leasing and other services, meet users' diversified needs, reduce users' purchase cost, improve product use efficiency; create value and opportunities for users and society, provide innovative solutions, improve efficiency and productivity, and support social and economic development.

Generally speaking, the semantics of sustainable home appliance design lies in meeting user consumption needs while reducing resource consumption, improving energy efficiency, promoting circular economy and adopting sustainable management mode. These aspects help to promote the development of home appliance industry towards a more sustainable direction, contributing to environmental protection and sustainable development. However, there are still challenges in this process.

Consumer perception and choice: Consumers are the ultimate users and evaluators of sustainable design of home appliances, and consumer perception and choice have a decisive impact on the success or failure of sustainable design. However, at present, many consumers do not have enough understanding of the concept and significance of sustainable design, nor do they have enough environmental awareness and sense of responsibility. They tend to choose products with low price, multiple functions and good brand, while ignoring the impact of products on environment and society. Therefore, in order to make consumers aware of the importance and value of sustainable design and choose sustainable design products, it is necessary to carry out publicity and education through various channels and ways, improve consumers' environmental awareness and sense of responsibility, and guide consumers to form green consumption habits and preferences.

Balance between sustainability and other design elements: Sustainable design is a design concept and strategy, but not the only design goal. While carrying out sustainable design of home appliances, we should also consider other design elements such as product function, quality, aesthetics, etc., to meet users' needs and expectations. However, there are often conflicts and contradictions between different design elements, such as improving product energy efficiency may reduce product performance, using environmental materials may increase product cost, using simple style may reduce product aesthetics, etc. Therefore, in sustainable design, we need to balance and compromise between different design goals, find the best balance point and combination way, achieve multi-objective optimization and coordinated development.

High cost of practice: Sustainable design is an innovative and forward-looking design that requires breakthroughs and explorations in technology, market, policy and other aspects. This means that in practice of sustainable design, more human, material and financial resources are needed, more risks and uncertainties are to be borne. For example, in terms of technology, we need to constantly develop and apply new technologies and processes to improve product energy efficiency, durability, dismantling, recycling, etc.; in terms of market, we need to constantly promote and publicize the concept and value of sustainable design, change users' consumption habits and ideas, improve users' awareness and acceptance of sustainable products; in terms of policy, we need corresponding laws and regulations and supervision mechanisms, to provide support and incentives for sustainable design.