Urban design is compelling to me even I’m not a designer. While searching for sustainable urban design, I saw a picture of a large tube sitting next to a bus and passengers coming out from a big end of the tube. It’s quite interesting. To dig down more in detail, it’s a bus system in Curitiba, Brazil, which has many forward-thinking people in city planning area. The concept of the ‘tube’ or the bus station is passengers pay their fares first and then go into the station. They wait for buses on the platform which is leveled at the same height of bus doors. So, people can get into and out of the bus easily without stepping. It’s quick and simple.
Personally, I’m interested in the future of plastics since it’s bad for our environment but we’re still using it. New alternative for plastics becomes PLA (Polylactic Acid) which is a derivative from fermented plant starch. It is a biodegradable product and lots of area over the world use it more and more to replace traditional plastics. Another upside of PLA is it does not have toxic fumes when incinerated. The use of PLA is still controversial. For example, as we heard in class, it takes three months to degrade in very specific condition. If it’s not reached, PLA bottles would take 100 to 1000 years to decompose. Sorting trash is a big problem for recycling process, including PLA. It should go to compostable bins when recycled but a lot of people do not care that much or does not know that it is not an ordinary plastic. So, it easily contaminates other recycling materials and we cannot make use of them. In terms of producer, NatureWorks is the biggest PLA company in the world and they have to rapidly increase their product because of high demand. This leads to a thought about genetic modification to produce high production rates. The effect of this idea is still unclear.
A better way to reduce effects from plastics is to reuse. In grocery stores, there are a lot of plastic bags and, if customers bring their own cloth bags, it will save a lot of money and resources from manufacturing to recycling process.
It is about one year that this concept car was unveiled. It interested me very much. GINA is the name of this sustainable car. How sustainable? It has a textile fabric (polyurethane-coated Lycra) covering metal frames and carbon fiber wires. This makes the car consume less fuel by reducing weight. Chris Bangle, who was BMW Director of Design, had influenced in a lot of new BMWs including GINA. His design philosophy for GINA was minimalist aspect applying from material used to manufacturing process. Blending BMW spirit with sustainability makes GINA is one of the most attractive cars in the future.
I found this cool 1 minute video that discusses howinsects eliminate waste.
Insects eliminate waste by passing food and water through malpighian tubules that convert the waste into uric acid, which is then excreted from the insect’s body.
It’s funny to me that MPGs in the mid twenties these days are celebrated. Especially in the current economic climate, the lack of adoption of diesel in the US is a bit of a quandary. Diesel engines are, in principal, more efficient than gasoline engines but they seem to have gained the reputation of being loud, slow, smog belchers.
Modern diesel engines are actually quite the opposite. I would imagine most people now could barely distinguish a diesel from a gasoline engine from sound alone. Also, with the addition of turbochargers, they’re quick and powerful. Still, there are only a handful of diesel options available for sale in the US. This, of course, presents the chicken and egg problem with fuel availability and such. Anyways, just something to think about.
It could be interesting to watch how Tesla begins to affect other big players in the automotive world. Tesla’s success has proven that all-electric don’t have to be boring, slow, and unnatractive (read Honda Insight). Although this increased desirability comes with a steep price tag and a questionably sustainable 1000-pound lithium-ion battery, it seems to be a step in the right direction.
I came across an article written by Diego Rodriguez, a leader at IDEO and teacher here at Stanford, for a German magazine called NZZ Folio about “turning green into red.”
Often times sustainability is associated with sacrifice and compromise (as evident in the title of our DP2, “Desire and Sacrifice”). Diego talks about how while green products are “undoubtedly morally and ethically rewarding to own, they lack a certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to providing the kind of visceral delights which bring pleasure to our monkey brains. Something red, on the other hand, feels more like a Ferrari, overflowing with wonderful sounds, scents and physical sensations which forge the kind of emotional connections that keep you coming back for more.”
I think Diego makes a really good point that relates closely to what the guys from Method talked about in class. Products should be exciting, appealing, even sexy, while also being green. Part of my personal dilemma with a lot of the aspects of becoming more ecologically friendly is that I don’t want to give up the excitement and connection associated my objects and habits that are inevitably bad for the environment.
I believe the reason so few products exist that cover both the green and the red is that it poses a difficult design constraint. One of the biggest challenges new designers will confront will be figuring out how to make products appeal not just because they are green, but also because they are red.
Today’s field trip to the SF recycling center was an eye-opening glimpse into the sheer quantity of stuff just one city can consume and throw away. It’s one thing to hear statistics, but another to feel the enormous scale: to be surrounded by tons and tons of waste, and wonder what they’ll do with it all. Two things really struck me during the tour: 1) It had never occurred to me that the SF recycling center actually sells its output, and that recycling can be a profitable business—not just a do-gooder activity for the environment. The tour guide mentioned that flimsy plastic coffee lids are terrible not simply because they’re difficult to mechanically separate from similarly weighted paper, but because no one wants to buy that type of cheap recycled plastic. It ends up sitting in the landfill with all of the other unrecyclable materials. There’s a clear incentive for the company to properly separate and distribute recyclable materials. The SF recycling center also sells compost to local wineries. 2) It was also amazing to see how much manual labor is necessary for recycling. Whereas it takes only a second for the individual consumer to choose the blue bin over the black bin, workers at the SF recycling center must spend countless hours fishing out what doesn’t belong. After seeing a man forced to pull a plastic net out of a pile of moist, rotting food scraps, I’ll think twice before disposing of my household waste.
I just happened upon an interesting article in the New York Times about some interesting evolutionary reasons as to why we buy things. To summarize, it talks about the fact that we buy things because of the messages we believe that they send strangers. At the same time, it turns out that a most of the time, strangers couldn’t care less. The big “consumerist delusion” is that we all think that what we buy affects how we are treated. Check out the full article (it’s not that long): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/science/19tier.html?_r=1
In any case Because one of the primary reasons we are so rife with environmental problems is that we buy and consume stupid things we don’t need. I’m interested in how this can apply towards more sustainable consumption habits. What constitutes a valid reason for buying something? Do people buy sustainable products merely because of the message they send? Can we get people to actually care about what they buy and use for reasons beyond just image?
They created a music video, “Here it Goes Again”, using only 6 treadmills. It is one of the most viewed videos on Youtube and the band performed live at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.
During the first day of class, we made shoes out of recycled items and were encouraged to use a small amount of materials. Minimalist product design is a key concept, which leads to developing a sustainable product.
This video is sustainable because it does not have:
hott women dancing around in skimpy clothing – they saved FUEL used in the airplanes that would fly them from various parts of the country for interviews. They also saved WATER that these same women would use in their hotels to take showers.
cool editing/special effects – they saved ELECTRICITY that would be wasted on covering up all of their bad dance moves and lip-syncing that was not in sync. “Here it Goes Again” was shot in a single continuous take!
Posted by zhouw 
Posted by zhouw 
Posted by zhouw 
