Sustainability evaluation of European household services

In this article we evaluate over 200 European household services in seven service areas related to household consumption. Services were chosen that contribute to at least two of the three dimensions of sustainable development: environment, social aspects, and economy. The analysed services are called sustainable home services indicating that they are provided to the customers directly at home or on the premises, and that they enhance sustainable development. It appears that the social effects of the assessed services are larger than their environmental and economic benefits. This is presumably at least partly due to the fact that in order to survive in the market, household services must first and foremost be socially beneficial to the users, in other words, improve the quality of life of consumers. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.