Power of Design: Energy and Sustainability

Nathan Shedroff, chair of MBA Design Strategy at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, discusses the principles, frameworks, tools, and strategies for developers to create more sustainable offerings immediately. He is the author of “Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable.”

In this talk, Dean Geoffrey Chase of San Diego State University describes his efforts to integrate sustainability into college and university curricula. Dr. Chase helped found The Ponderosa Project at Northern Arizona University, in which faculty from many different disciplines included issues of sustainability in their courses. He offers case studies and practical suggestions for starting such an effort at UC Davis.

Tom Bowman, President of Bowman Design Group, is an expert in communication, focusing on ways to effect behavior change around issues of sustainability and climate change. Bowman Global Change has put together a team of scientists dealing with various aspects of climate change, to help develop a campaign around global sustainability; the endeavor hopes to raise $65 million over three years for this purpose. The goal is to involve 10-20 million people in 20 major U.S. cities in educational and engagement programs.

Author and activist Dan Imhoff discusses the global environmental impact of single-use plastic shopping bags. He offers solutions already instituted in other countries.

Peter Rumsey, founder and owner of Rumsey Engineers, is a global player in energy efficiency and an innovator in sustainable and resource efficient building design. Rumsey Engineers has designed many LEED-certified buildings that are vastly more efficient than the current standard. Rumsey discusses the principles and practices that his firm uses and discusses case studies showing the special features of some of his projects.

The first speaker in the Design Program's lecture series, "The Power of Design: Energy and Sustainability," is Ted Howes, who leads the design firm IDEO's efforts to integrate sustainability and business. In this talk, Howes describes IDEO's imaginative and groundbreaking strategies to promote energy efficiency in business and government. He emphasizes the behavioral aspects of promoting sustainable behavior and gives examples of the way the IDEO has worked with clients all over the world.