Circular Economy Practices in the HVAC Industry Challenges and Opportunities
| dc.contributor.author | Kullner, Oskar | |
| dc.contributor.author | Somoshi, Saurabh | |
| dc.contributor.department | Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för teknikens ekonomi och organisation | sv |
| dc.contributor.department | Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Technology Management and Economics | en |
| dc.contributor.examiner | Landström, Catharina | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Surber, Nicholas | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-26T09:47:19Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-26T09:47:19Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.date.submitted | ||
| dc.description.abstract | The demand for improved heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems continues to increase with the population expanding. However, increased usage of HVAC systems entails more energy consumption, and higher amounts of waste in terms of used materials. The aim of this thesis is therefore to explore and assess the opportunities, drivers, and barriers present in the HVAC industry in terms of implementing Circular Economy (CE) practices with the goal of reducing waste and improving sustainability while also positively impacting financial goals. To begin, information related to both CE and HVAC such as scientific articles, online sources, and government publications was collected. This theoretical knowledge helped to construct the framework of questions for the semi-structured interviews. Responses then served the purpose of the empirical data an analyzed together with theoretical content to formulate a case study. The results of this thesis report underlines the opportunities for implementing CE practices including circular business models and reverse supply chains. Some circular approaches were found viable to implement in the HVAC industry. The adoption of Product-as-a-Service models would incentivise product life extension and increasing revenues although requiring substantial changes related to the value chain. Reacquiring products to refurbish and resell them would increase revenue per unit at the cost of additional reverse supply chain costs and undetermined willingness to pay. Reacquiring products in order to disassemble them and return components to stock where they can be incorporated into new units and sold as new could drastically reduce material costs and increase profitability as long as incurred additional costs are lower than savings made in reduced material costs. The study also identifies a number of barriers and drivers considering the reacquisition and refurbishment of the HVAC products. Drivers such as organizational drivers, competitive advantage, product and process development drivers. On the other hand, barriers are subject to raw material selection, lack of resources, cultural barriers, consumers & customer acceptance. The conclusion of the study helps the case company to consider the opportunities, drivers and barriers as mentioned in this report to form the initial foundation towards the step of transitioning to CE. | |
| dc.identifier.coursecode | TEKX08 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12380/308470 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.setspec.uppsok | Technology | |
| dc.subject | Circular Economy | |
| dc.subject | HVAC Industry | |
| dc.subject | Sustainability | |
| dc.subject | Circular Business Models | |
| dc.subject | Case Study | |
| dc.title | Circular Economy Practices in the HVAC Industry Challenges and Opportunities | |
| dc.type.degree | Examensarbete för masterexamen | sv |
| dc.type.degree | Master's Thesis | en |
| dc.type.uppsok | H | |
| local.programme | Quality and operations management (MPQOM), MSc |