This past quarter, a new green product design class debuted at Stanford--ME221, "Green Design Strategies & Metrics." We had a fantastic group of students--eager, engaged, and sharp as tacks. Below is a sampling of the fun ideas they came up with for class.

The goals of the class were to get them to know the priorities of sustainability (so they can tell whether they're greenwashing or legit, tell whether they're wasting their time or really going after the big game), and then getting them acquainted with the most powerful strategies for green product design: energy-effectiveness, dematerialization, longevity and service-systems, green kaizen, laws and labels, good materials, biomimicry, systems thinking, persuasive design, even a dab of green business thinking. The students weren't just designers, either--lots of mechanical engineers, a few MBA's and a couple other miscellaneous majors rounded things out. Couldn't have asked for a better crew. Because of the large breadth, they did a slew of tiny projects--some hardcore analysis, but mostly conceptual design sketches. Here are examples of them, showing the great variety and depth of thinking that managed to happen in just a few days per project. (Click on an image to see a high-res version of it. Since the projects are about the ideas, not the aesthetics, the text is where most of the meat is.) Enjoy!

"Penguin Blinds" biomimetic green building product by Alex Kwan, Bryan Duggan, and Lesley Silverthorn    

"EcoInfo Label" eco-label by Kirstin Gail and Niko Reid    

Life-cycle analysis of a portable CD player by Devin Mooers and Annika Matta    

"Subway Energy Harnessing" eco-commute by Alex Kwan    

"The Shedding Building" biomimetic green building product by Amy Kwan, Jonathan Rylander, and Alison Skala    

"Reduce Your Impact" eco-label by Barrett Heyneman and Linus Park    

"ReThink" ephemeral computing by Joe Burg, Sam Ramirez, and Annika Matta    

Life-cycle analysis of a telephone by Jonathan Rylander, Jean Hsu, Terrence McArdle, and Nick Jachowski    

"The EnvI-Facts Label" eco-label by Amy Askin and Karl Gumerlock    

"Quiet Commute" eco-commute by Devin Mooers    

"Smart Consumption" eco-label by Edward Castano    

"Polar Bear Blanket" biomimetic green building product by Snetu Karania, Lindsey Sunden, and JJ Johnston    

"breathing windows" biomimetic green building product by Nick Jachowski, Kirstin Gail, and Niko Reid    

"Factor Ten Computer" ephemeral computing by John Joseph    

"Green Score" eco-label by Jean Hsu, Terrence McArdle, and Nick Jachowski    

"Electric Bike Ferries" eco-commute by Jean Hsu    

Life-cycle analysis of a food processor by Linus Park and Barrett Heyneman    

"Service Plan Computing" ephemeral computing by J.J. Johnston, Lindsey Sunden, and Amy Askin