MIE315S Design for Environment

Course Syllabus
Winter 2015

Background
The field of environmentalism has grown extensively since its entry into the mainstream with the
publication of books such as Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in the 1960s. Since that time the publics
desire to go green has driven companies to release new and revised versions of existing products and
services that appeal to the environmentally conscious consumer. Many of these changes have positive
environmental impacts; however other changes are purely cosmetic and have little or no positive
environmental impact, or worse they actually have negative environmental impacts.
Your job as engineers is to recognize the true positive changes from the green washing (a term for
building an illusion of false positive environmental impacts where there really are no net environmental
benefits). You are to fulfill your engineering obligation to advocate for the public welfare by using your
metaphorical engineering toolbox to:

Objectively and methodically analyze the environmental impacts of products and processes
Use design for environment guidelines to maximize the net positive environmental impacts in
the products and processes you design
Compare and contrast functional, economic, social and environmental impacts of products and
processes and make clear, credible recommendations.

Teaching Team
Course Instructors:
Murray Thomson, LCA Instructor
Office: MC335
thomson@mie.utoronto.ca
Office Hours: During tutorials (office or tutorial room)
Reason to Contact:
LCA lectures
Term test #1

Amy Bilton, DfE Instructor

Office: MC311
bilton@mie.utoronto.ca
Office Hours: During tutorials (tutorial room)
Reason to Contact:
DfE lectures
Term test #2
Course level questions
Petitions
Anything else not listed

Teaching Assistants:
Head TA
Saeid Salavati
salavati@mie.utoronto.ca
Reason to Contact:
Developing own project
Assignment to project group
Your project
Weekly meetings

General TAs
Behzad Fazel - bfazel@mie.utoronto.ca
Khaled Rais - krais@mie.utoronto.ca
Reza Rezaey - rrezaey@mie.utoronto.ca
Anton Sediako - sediakoa@mie.utoronto.ca
Fiona Tran ftran@mie.utoronto.ca
Reason to Contact:
Your project
Weekly meetings

Updated: 4 February 2015

Lectures
Lectures

Section 01

Tuesday (9:10-10:00) MC254

Thursday (9:10-10:00) MC254
Friday (9:10-10:00) MC254

Section 02

Monday (11:10-12:00) WB116

Wednesday (11:10-12:00) SF1105
Thursday (11:10-12:00) TZ6

Please attend the lecture section that has been assigned to you on your timetable. The equal division
between the two sections is important for us to manage the resource demands, particularly for the
projects.
Slides for all lectures but the guest lectures will be posted before the lecture in PDF. The expectation is
that you will either bring a hardcopy (preferably printed double sided with multiple slides per page) or
softcopy to lecture to take notes on.

Tutorials
Tutorials

Section 01

Thursday (2:10-3:00) BA1190

Section 02

Thursday (1:10-2:00) BA1190

Tutorial Description
T1: Attendance not required.
T2: You must attend this tutorial as it is the project kick off. We will be introducing the project and
your TAs as well as facilitating the remaining team formations.
T3: You must attend of this tutorial. The Engineering Communication Program and the Engineering
Libraries are hosting a Library Research Workshop. They will be going over effective strategies for
locating credible research sources. Dont dismiss this. An inability to find credible research sources is
the most common problem experienced by teams with their project. Utilize this resource to help you
complete your Preliminary Literature Review. You must attend this workshop or you will receive zero
on your Preliminary Literature Review. Online signup sheets for the session will be posted.
T4 & T6-T10: You do not have to attend your tutorial. Instead you and your team must meet with your
TA and report you progress. Your attendance and participation in this meeting is a graded component
of the course. The intention of this weekly meeting is to:

Report on your progress over the last week

Discuss any issues you are facing
Plan tasks for the coming week

The tutorial rooms are available for meeting with your TA or your TA may want to meet in their
office. Another option is the Undergraduate Design Studio (MB71).
T5: You must attend this tutorial. The Engineering Communication Program are hosting a workshop
where they will review effective writing techniques for team reports. Dont dismiss this. You must
attend this workshop during your designated section or your team will receive zero on your
Preliminary Consultants Report.
2

Updated: 4 February 2015

T11: You do not have to attend your tutorial and there is no TA meeting.
T12-T13: Some of the client presentation will be held during these tutorials. You only have to attend if
youre booked to present during the tutorial. Online signup sheets will be posted.

Marking
Term Test #1**
Term Test #2**
Project
Group & Project Selection
Preliminary Literature Review**
Preliminary Consultants Report*
Final Consultants Report*
Client Presentation*
Weekly Team Meetings**

20%
20%
60%
0%
5%
10%
30%
10%
5%

* Team grades with the potential of an individual reduction of grades if the team is deemed to have
unequal contributions.
** Individual grades.
Term Test #1

Section 01 & 02

12-Feb-2015 7:15 pm to 8:15 pm, GB304, HA403, HA410,

and SF2202.
Type A Closed book, non-programmable calculators allowed

Term Test #2

Section 01 & 02

02-Apr-2015 7:15 pm to 8:15 pm, EX100

Type A Closed book, non-programmable calculators allowed

Text
Required: Design for Environmental Sustainability by Vezzoli and Manzini, 2008
The book can be purchased at the bookstore or the full text is available for free in electronic format
through the U of T Library. It is located here: http://bit.ly/MIE315Textbook (note: If you are off
campus when you click this link you may need to log in using your UTorID)
Other Useful Books: In addition to the required text the following books are useful for the course. They
are on 24-hours reserve at the library:
Hendrickson, Chris T. Environmental life cycle assessment of goods and services: an inputoutput approach. (TS161 .E625 2006X)
Graedel, T. E. Streamlined life-cycle assessment. (TS170.5 .G73 1998X)
Graedel, T. E., and B. R. Allenby. Design for Environment. (TS171.4 .G72 1996X)
Shupe, Dean S. What Every Engineer Should Know About Economic Decision Analysis.
(TA177.4 .S5)
Dhillon, B.S. Life Cycle Costing. (TA177.7 .D3525 2010X)
Park & Jackson. Cost Engineering Analysis: A Guide to Economic Evaluation of Engineering
Projects. (TA177.4 .P37 1984)
Kleinfeld, Ira H. Engineering Economics Analysis for Evaluation of Alternatives. (TA177.4
.K593 1993)

Updated: 4 February 2015

Turnitin
Normally, students will be required to submit their course assignments to Turnitin.com for a review of
textual similarity and detection of possible plagiarism. In doing so, students will allow their
assignments to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database, where they
will be used solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University's use
of the Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site.

Updated: 4 February 2015

Tentative Course Schedule

Date

Lectures

Jan 05
to
Jan 09
Jan 12
to
Jan 16

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08

Introduction Thomson & Bilton

Introduction to DFE Thomson
Environmental Impacts 1 Thomson
Environmental Impacts 2 Thomson
Introduction to LCA Thomson
FOC Analysis Thomson
SLCA 1 Thomson
SLCA 2 Thomson
Life Cycle Inventory & Impact Analysis
Thomson
Life Cycle Interpretation Thomson
Life Cycle Inventory - EIO Thomson
Conventional LCA & EIO-LCA Thomson
Life Cycle Inventory - Custom Thomson
Term Test 1 Review Thomson
Creating an Effective Consulting Report
Tihanyi

Jan 19
to
Jan 23
Jan 26
to
Jan 30
Feb 02
to
Feb 06

Feb 09
to
Feb 13

09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Economic Analysis 1 Bilton

17

Cancelled

18

Economic Analysis 2 Bilton

Feb 16
to
Feb 20
Feb 23
to
Feb 27
Mar 02
to
Mar 06
Mar 09

Readings
Life Cycle Assessment

Tutorial

T1: None
T2: Project Kick
Off

Group & Project

Selection
16-Jan 11:59 pm

T3: Library
Workshop
T4: Weekly
Team Meeting

Preliminary Literature
Review
30-Jan 11:59 pm

T5: Team
Writing
Workshop
Term Test #1
Thurs 12-Feb 7:15 pm
T6: Weekly
Team Meeting

Reading Week

18
19
20
21
22
23
24

Assignments

Design for Environment Strategies to Minimize Environmental Impacts

Introduction to DfE Bilton
T7: Weekly
Societal Analysis Bilton
Team Meeting
Environmental Regulations Bilton
Life Cycle Design Bilton
DFES Ch 4
T8: Weekly
Minimizing Energy Consumption Bilton
DFES Ch 5
Team Meeting
Minimizing Material Consumption Bilton
DFES Ch 5
Low Impact Resources Energy Bilton
DFES Ch 6

Updated: 4 February 2015

Preliminary Consultants
Report
13-Feb 11:59 pm

Date
to
Mar 13

#
25

Lectures
Low Impact Resources Material Bilton

26

Communication 2 Tihanyi

Mar 16
to
Mar 20

27
28
29
30
31

Product Lifetime Optimization 1 Bilton

Product Lifetime Optimization 2 Bilton
Tower Renewal Project Stewart
Extending Lifespan of Materials Bilton
Facilitating Disassembly Bilton
Product Design & Env. Conscious Behavior
Shu
System Approach - Bilton
Term Test Review / Catch-up Bilton
Student Presentations
Student Presentations
Student Presentations
Student Presentations

Mar 23
to
Mar 27
Mar 30
to
Apr 03
Apr 06
to
Apr 10

32
33
34
35
36
37
38

Readings
DFES Ch 6

DFES Ch 7
DFES Ch 7
www.toronto.ca/tower_renewal/about.htm
DFES Ch 8
DFES Ch 9

DFES Ch 10

Updated: 4 February 2015

Tutorial
T9: Weekly
Team Meeting

Assignments
Final Consultants
Report First Version
13-Mar 11:59 pm

T10: Weekly
Team Meeting

T11: None

Final Consultants
Report - Revision
27-Mar 11:59 pm

T12: Student
Presentations

Term Test #2 Thurs

02-Apr 7:15 pm, EX
100

T13: Student
Presentations

Client Presentations
02-Apr to 10-Apr