Design for Environment Lab
Sustainability and Design for Environment
ME415, ENVIR 415, and CEE 495
Winter Quarter 2011
Sustainability describes industrial development and supporting technologies that meet the needs of the present while sustaining the quality of the environment so that future generations may meet their own needs. Related engineering efforts that incorporate the consideration of sustainability into product and process design are called Design for Environment (DFE). DFE promotes pollution prevention, resource conservation, and extended product responsibility by including their consideration within concurrent engineering design. Trends within this emerging area of research and business practice include industrial environmental management standards, life cycle partnerships, product takeback, and environmental declarations (annual environmental reports, ecolabels/ product category rules, etc.). This course will use DFE to introduce students to the concepts and methodologies of sustainability, industrial ecology, pollution prevention, and Life Cycle Assessment within the context of system design and examines the practice of, opportunities for, and the role of the engineer in DFE.
Class meets Wednesdays 5:30-8:20 PM in MEB 238
Instructor: Associate Professor Joyce Smith Cooper (cooper@me.washington.edu); office hours Tuesdays 9:30-10:30, Wednesdays 4:30-5:30 PM, or by appointment in MEB 304 or MEB G20
Lecture and reading materials will be posted on the syllabus as the quarter progresses.
Assignments are to be posted in the class drop box by midnight on the due date. Late submissions will loose 0.1 points off the final grade for each late day, with the exception of the final report (no late final reports excepted).
Grading: team project (80%) and each student's summary of their contribution to the team project (20%)
For more information, contact Associate Professor Joyce Smith Cooper at cooperjs@u.washington.edu