3 Helbling Sustainable Electronic Product Design

Radical visions for future Consumer Products: Initial Question. How might we design consumer products that people love, keep, repair, and pass on – while minimizing their environmental footprint? Background & Current Situation Consumer products such as coffee machines, kitchen appliances, or small household devices are often designed for short lifecycles. Driven by cost pressure and fast-changing trends, many of these products are built with limited durability, low repairability, and materials that are difficult to recycle. As a result, they are frequently discarded after a relatively short period of use, contributing significantly to waste and CO₂ emissions. At the same time, affordable and convenient products remain highly attractive to consumers. This creates a key challenge: how to reconcile sustainability, durability, and circularity with cost and user expectations.