This thesis presents why a new user-centred design process for eco-design would be beneficial and demonstrates how this could be done. The research produces a methodology for collecting and measuring behaviour information and a framework for assessing its impact. It explores the role of and effective introduction of information in the design process and finally concludes with the proposed design approach for reducing the environmental impact of products during their use. Utilising a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, energy models, observational studies, laboratory design experiments, participation research, product prototyping and industrial consultation, a comprehensive picture of designing for energy-efficient user behaviour is formed. It illustrates how behaviour information can be recorded and quantified, assessing the division between a product's intrinsic, technology-based, energy efficiencies and those that are deemed user-related. Finally, in conclusion this information is then used in a new design approach which proposes a framework for the effective and time-efficient design of products, producing a prototype design which achieves an ongoing 43% energy saving in user related losses.

No description available.

Many professions occasionally involve the selection of an alternative from among many problem solutions which have impacts in multiple-interest areas; however, due to the very nature of his work, the practicing engineer, regardless of specialty, is unavoidably engaged in this selection process. The emergence of national concern for environmental and social consequences of technical enterprises, as reflected through legislative action, has accentuated the need for multicriteria design methodologies in some areas of engineering (i.e., automotive). Consequently, interest in the development of pragmatic and theoretically sound approaches to multi-impact design situations has been keen. Any approach to multicriteria design/decision problems involves two fundamental aspects: (1) generating information regarding the range of possible designs and their associated impacts; and (2) generating relative value information which is used to compare the relative imp-cats leading to the selection of a "preferred" or "best compromise" alternative. The methodology developed herein is the integration of a formal mathematical programming technique for generating the full range of feasible alternatives with a pragmatic and well-accepted group-interaction technique for extracting value information regarding alternatives. The integration results in an iterative group-interaction process which leads to successive reductions in the preferred range of alternatives until the most preferred alternative is identified. The methodology developed in this research represents an improvement over other methodologies reported in the literature in two areas: 1) The noninferior set is explicitly identified insuring selection of a group decision point which is noninferior, 2) a least squared error mathematical filtering technique is developed for smoothing relative value data obtained from the decision making body. In addition, a convergence proof is developed which not only indicates the theoretically sound and robust nature of the algorithm developed in this work but in addition provides a basis for an improved class of algorithms for solving classical nonlinear constrained problems. The technique was developed for and implemented in an interactive software package. The multiobjective decision problem is solved in a single encounter with a cooperative decision making group.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction (or LEED-NC) has become one of the most commonly used green building standards during the turn of the 21st century. While many champion LEED-NC, certain architects and academics believe that its low-environmental impact design approach toward green building isolates people from nature and thus cannot achieve sustainable development over the long-term. Pomona College’s green buildings, including its newest LEED Platinum certified Sontag and Pomona Residence Halls, exemplify this fact, as their designs fail to communicate their sustainable goals or inspire sustainable behavior. By examining the LEED-NC standards, the history of environmental conservation, Modern architecture, biophilia, and the Living Building Challenge, this thesis seeks to provide recommendations for how Pomona College can alter its existing green buildings as well as improve its green building policies for future projects so that its built environment better fosters positive human-nature interactions.

Durant le vol d'un aéronef, la collision avec un oiseau est un risque important que les autorités de certification imposent de prendre en compte. Dans le cas du choc sur pointe avant, la protection du fond pressurisé est assurée par un bouclier. La compréhension du comportement d'une telle structure sandwich sous impact est essentielle pour permettre l'amélioration des boucliers existants. Ces travaux ont pour buts de comprendre l'influence des différents paramètres de conception du bouclier sur son comportement et sur la protection de la cible, et de mettre en place une méthodologie pour réaliser une telle étude. Pour cela, un modèle éléments finis générique est créé pour être utilisé dans l'étude paramétrique. Une méthode de mesure de la déformée est proposée pour permettre la comparaison rapide d'un grand nombre de cas et la compréhension du comportement de chaque bouclier. Elle s'appuie sur la décomposition de la déformée en trois modes : Indentation, Flexion et Écrasement. Une étude de criblage est ensuite réalisée pour classer les paramètres de définition par ordre d'influence. L'étude paramétrique est réalisée sur les six paramètres les plus influents. Un plan d'expérience de type carré Latin est choisi et sept grandeurs différentes sont suivies. Le cadre des processus gaussiens est utilisé pour créer des modèles réduits, qui sont utilisés pour étudier l'évolution du comportement du bouclier sur l'ensemble du domaine à l'aide d'analyses de sensibilité. Les effets de chaque paramètre sont identifiés et expliqués. Enfin, une méthode pour l'utilisation de ces modèles réduits dans le cadre d'optimisations est proposée. / During an aircraft flight, the possible collision with a bird is a major threat, and the certification authorities require to take ît into account. In the case of a nose strike, the pressurized bulkhead is protected by a shield. Understanding the behaviour under impact of such a sandwich structure is essential. This work has two main goals: understanding the design parameters influence on the shield behaviour, and propose a methodology to conduct this study. Firstly, a generic finite element model is created to be used in a parametric study. A tool to measure the shield deformation is proposed to make it possible to easily compare the behaviour of different shields and to help understanding the behaviour of a shield. This tool is based on the projection ofthe shield deformation on a basis comprising three modes: Indentation, Bendîng and Crushing. A screening study is then conducted to rank the design parameters with respect to their influence. A parametric study is then conducted on the six first parameters. A Latin hyper-square is used for the design of experiment and seven different quantifies are studied. The Gaussian processes framework is used to create surrogates models. Global sensitivity analyses are then conducted to study the variation of the shield behaviour in the whole design space. The effects of each parameterare measured and explained. Finally, a method to minimize the shield mass, using the surrogate models to enforce minimal target protection criteria, is presented.