The aim of the course of sustainable development is for us designers to develop a set of skills and an approach towards sustainability. We should ask questions when dealing with projects – inquiring in what new and better ways this could have been done in order to reduce the impact it has on the planet. Make students aware of eco-design and give them a basic thinking on the interaction between their future careers and the different challenges of sustainable development.

Studying past processes and techniques with a keen eye. This would provide us with the errors and problems society is withstanding now and maybe the answers to their solutions. Studying cases of sustainability that people have developed around the world and the changes it has lead.

The Natconsumers project will help them to put their knowledge into practice. The Natconsumers project aims to create a framework for the implementation of efficient energy feedback programs in the domestic area based on natural language aiming to help stakeholders of the energy market and energy consumers in particular to engage with their energy consumption and reduce usage and bills. The students will have to propose different design solution of an Energy Meter; a solution to reduce domestic energy consumption.

The Natconsumers is a project aiming at raising consumer awareness on energy as a daily life concerns and provoking direct actions by making consumption visible and summarizing it into tailored tips for energy consumption.

The first step of the project is for us to fill a questionnaire poster – given to us during the course – with answers from a 1-hour appointment with a household of our choice (family, friends). We have to document their lifestyle, their activities, evaluate the context of their situation, the place they live in, how external influences affect them, if they take action to consume less energy etc. This will allow us to evaluate how all this affects their energy consumption and how to reduce it.

Christian Pérez Vega & Hittinger Anne-Catherine