Over the last decade, the circular economy has gained traction as a concept to transform the society and economy into more sustainable systems. In this context, research into circular business models arose to implement circular economy strategies at the company level. In this thesis, a consumer perspective on circular business models is taken. The research explored how business models can help achieve a circular economy and lead to sustainable consumption.

This thesis explores how Internet of Things (IoT) can support Circular Economy in its goal of decoupling economic development from finite resources consumption. This is made specifically in the context of products as services, using as the case of study the Pay-per-Use washing-machine service by startup company HOMIE. The machine is connected to HOMIE’s database through a tracker that sends the data of users’ consumption so that they are charged accordingly.

However, product-as-services rely on the service provider as the main actor for product circulation. The product use per use, as an intensive resource consumption part of the lifecycle, and its relationship with users’ decisions is not therein contemplated. So, for this project, design strategies for sustainable behavior are included in the development of this product service system (PSS) as a complementary concept to Circular Economy.

This study found out that smart products have a special relation with sustainable behavior strategies, since connectivity enables in great extent the design of eco-interactions, which can be used to reduce the environmental impact during the use phase. Additionally, IoT is considered itself a source of value creation, which can be used in development of service features that, by means of connectivity, solve issues that were not tackled before. Thus, more attractive value propositions can be created.

The findings mentioned above were translated in a design for the case of study. For it, a human-centered and iterative approach was central for the problem finding and concept development. The former included user research with both quantitative and qualitative data analysis while the latter was divided in two stages: Idea generation and concept selection, and concept development. Concerning the concept development , the selected direction was detailed, prototyped and tested with multiple users that matched the desired customer profile. The insights obtained from the user testing led to a final design iteration.

The final improved design is a Smart PSSs eco-system integrated by 3 devices: the webpage, the washing machine interface and an app. All together aim to improve the experience of use of HOMIE’s Pay-per-Use service while fostering more sustainable practices and motivating adoption. Therefore, they are built with a strong sustainable behavior design rationale. The outcome of this thesis shows a clear example of how connectivity can be used to improve a circular business model, and therefore to reduce the environmental impact of products.

The graduation project, which is recorded in this report, was initiated to explore the possibilities for BeSafe, a long-time manufacturer of child safety seats for (automotive) transport, to become sustainable. As the knowledge regarding the subject within the company was of insufficient, Delft University of Technology was contacted to extend the knowledge, and lay the foundation of a future sustainability strategy for the company. The outcome of this project is a sustainability strategy (BeSafe & Sustainable) and a sample case demonstrating how this strategy could be implanted. The project has three main phases; During the analysis phase, insights are gathered to uncover possibilities to add value to the company through sustainability. The analysis covers the context of company, its products and their footprint, and the market the company is operating in. Different stakeholders that influence, are affected by, or are influenced by any way the company is operating are then investigated. Apart from the customer, which has a major influence on the demand and used of the product, the environment and society are two important stakeholders. To finalise this phase, the sustainability strategies of multiple companies were analysed to see how other they strategise their efforts to be sustainable. In the synthesis phase, the insights gathered during the analysis are combined, with input from the New Product Development of BeSafe, using the value mapping tool by Bocken et al. (2013). The value map helps to gives an overview of the values captured, and helps to generated value opportunities based on missed, destroyed and wasted values. Based on the analysis and the value map, a sustainability strategy for BeSafe is developed. ‘BeSafe & Sustainable’ covers; safety provided by products; the use of materials and energy; the ability of employees to deploy change within the company; how design could help to BeSafe become more sustainable; the involvement of partner; adaption of the business model; and transparency about sustainability efforts. In the sustainability roadmap, an overview is given of possible goals and actions that the company should pursue to follow the set strategy. To illustrate how the implementation of the sustainability strategy could be done, a sample case was performed. The case shows how an existing lease service could be adjusted to fit the new strategy. Analysis of the existing lease model uncovered that the logistics and refurbishment of seats could be optimised. Therefor recommendations are given to update the design of a baby seat to better fit the refurbishment process and allow for extended product lifetime and better recycling of materials. The sample case is closed off with a product packaging redesign. In the present system, products are retrieved using a plastic bag. Due to this form of packing, the products get damaged during transport, thereby reducing the ability to refurbish the product. To reduce the impact of transportation on the product, the packaging of the toddler seat, which is send to the customer to replace a used baby seat, is adjusted in such a way it can be used to retrieve the baby seat, increasing the possibility of the seat to be used again refurbishment.

A growth in the Dutch food retail is observed. People eat and drink significantly more. 50% of all food is bought in supermarkets and every day over 4 million people in the Netherlands buy their groceries in the supermarket (Rabobank, 2016) (CBL, 2016). However, the current supermarket cannot exist in the future. In its current state, it faces three challenges that need to be addressed; their environmental footprint, the competitive threat of other food segments and the development of online food delivery. As a result of these challenges, the research question in this thesis is: How can a supermarket create value for the environment and still be commercially attractive in the future? As to provide an answer on this research question, the analysis is divided into three parts; the supermarket of 2017, the future of the supermarket, and the environmental impacts of the supermarket.

As a result of the analyses of the three parts, requirements are given for the conceptualisation phase which will be the starting point for the vision in the design brief.

The starting point for the supermarket of the future is the current supermarket in 2017. After, research on the future was conducted by identifying global trends, customer trends and retail trends that eventually provided insights for the future of the supermarket. The trends were found by a combination of future visions of experts, established with interviews, and company reports. As a result, five themes that have a major role in the future of the supermarket were established: personalisation, experience, convenience, transparency and platform.

Based on the book ‘De Verborgen Impact’ and LCA’s, the largest environmental impacts of the supermarket were found. The entire supply chain of the assortment and the physical store are evaluated according to the impacts: water use, land use, fossil energy, raw materials, chemical substances, greenhouse gases and waste. This wide range of impact delivers a complete overview of the environmental impacts. Eventually, the assortment had a significant higher impact than the physical store. The two highest impacts that are identified and that are within the circle of influence are: consumption of animal-based products and food waste. As a result of the environmental analysis, four sustainable strategy solutions are established in order to create a sustainable supermarket: minimal use of recourses, everything is circular economy, promote green products and a net-positive building.

By plotting the five future themes and the four sustainable strategy solutions against each, ideas where generated for the supermarket of the future. Based on the criteria found in the analysis, the Green Protein was chosen as most convenient concept. As a result, research was conducted on the motives and barriers of customers to eat more plant-based proteins instead of animal-based proteins. Since customers require an added benefit for themselves instead of only being good for the world, health and convenience is used as encouragement.

The final design of the Green Protein is part of a supermarket that is divided into types of nutrients; proteins, carbs and vegetables. The layout of the Green Protein is based on the IKEA layout in which the customer first walks through the inspiration part and ends in the assortment part. The goal of the inspiration part is to encourage the customer to eat plant-based proteins by communicating the benefits, such as convenience or health. The goal of the assortment part is offering protein product with emphasize on plant-based proteins (legumes, nuts and seeds, mushrooms and meat substitutes). In the end, sustainability is applied on different levels of the store: store level, presentation level, interaction level, product level and process level.

This thesis provides insight in the characteristics of photovoltaic business models and how they relate to policy instruments and design considerations. Business models illustrate the rationale of how organizations create, delivers and capture value. The business model approach and more specifically the business model canvas is a tool that is widely used by academics, entrepreneurs and consultants to map out how organizations work and how different characteristics such as value proposition and distribution channels relate to each other. By studying professional and academic literature on (downstream photovoltaic) business models, a set of six categories are selected. These categories vary from straight forward project providers where customers purchase a small photovoltaic installation to complex business models that include third party ownership and even aggregation of distributed electricity generators that are clustered as a virtual power plant. The research shows that the business model canvas approach is a valuable tool to assess and describe photovoltaic business models. This thesis unveils that major differences in business models are present between first-party and third-party ownership. The latter projects are often financed by banks, utilities or investment funds that maintain much higher standards in quality control, risk mitigation and are less comfortable with dealing with unstable policy environments. It also becomes clear that third party business models can only succeed in an environment with stable policies and proper access to financing. As feed-in-tariffs and long term power purchasing agreements are getting less common in mature market, another wave of business model shuffling can be expected in the solar industry. More uncertain revenue streams, curtailment and electricity market exposure will lead to new models with a different kind of investors. Although utility companies have not yet played a major role in the photovoltaic industry, they do have competitive advantages in the coming years as they have experience with energy trading.