About ME221

Me221, Green Design Strategies and Metrics, is a graduate/undergraduate class that will give students a foundation in sustainable product design principles, reinforced by conceptual design projects. Students will learn what aspects of sustainability matter most for different products, and will practice the use of dozens of strategies to improve the sustainability of products. They will become familiar with frameworks, measurements, and decision-making tools to help them navigate the complexities of designing greener products. Topics covered will include life-cycle analysis, materials, energy use, biomimicry, product-service systems, persuasive design, design for end-of-life, and systems thinking.

  About the Instructors

Instructor Jeremy Faludi (LEED AP) is a sustainable design strategist and analyst, and is one of the many authors of Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century. He is currently a green building designer and researcher at Project FROG, and writes for Worldchanging.com. He has worked for Rocky Mountain Institute, The Biomimicry Institute, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, among others. A bicycle he helped design has appeared in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and he was a juror for Dell's ReGeneration green computing competition. He has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, BoingBoing, Treehugger, C|Net, Sustainable Industries Journal, Package Design Magazine, and GreenBiz, among others. He has spoken on green design and biomimicry at conferences, schools, and businesses around the world, including Mattel, Arup, Doors of Perception in Delhi, the Better World Business Forum in Paris, ArquinFAD in Barcelona, the National Library of Medicine, and Foo Camp.

TA Marianne Balfe began her Ecological Design studies in 1996 at Prescott College. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies, Marianne spent 5-1/2 years in the green building and solar industries before completing an MBA. She is the founder of Ecommitment, a sustainability strategy consulting practice based in Berkeley, and is a sustainability advisor for the Clean Tech Open Competition. Marianne has studied Sustainability Metrics and Green Chemistry through UC Berkeley's Sustainable Products and Solutions Program. On a local note, her environmental career began in Cupertino at Homestead High School and she played violin in the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra for 8 years as a youth.

TA Adele Peters holds an M.Sc. in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden, and a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Iowa. She is currently developing a collaborative sustainable design website, as well as consulting for a sustainable online retailer. She is also working with the product design firm Mike and Maaike to develop more sustainable products. She is a contributor for Worldchanging.com. In the past, she helped create the Sustainable Edition line for American Apparel, and has also done research in sustainability for Google Zurich.