There's now growing interest in a somewhat different type of product-service-system: rather than consumers renting services from businesses, several websites are facilitating rentals (or free loans) of products between individuals.
A big part of global sustainable design is a reduction in the total amount of stuff that's floating around — especially stuff that people own, use once, and then bury in their garage or closet.
This WorldChanging article touches on fractional ownership programs like http://www.clubsportiva.com/ (exotic cars), but this new breed of peer-to-peer product rental or sharing systems is interesting to me. Sites like Frenting and Neighborgoods allow for direct rental — or sharing — of the kind of expensive equipment and other stuff that's usually purchased with one specific job in mind, and, once it's used, gathers dust. We've all got some of those. And we've all regretted having to buy it because we know we're ahrdly ever going to use it again.
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