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Green Design and Technology
Description:
This course will examine the impact of human activities on sustainability while exploring
the basic principles and technologies that support sustainable design. Learn about the
potential for emerging energy technologies like water, wind, and solar power. Find out
how today’s businesses are adapting to the increased demand for sustainable products
and services. By the end of this course, you will have a comprehensive understanding of
this fast-growing field.
Prerequisites:
None
Estimated Completion Time:
90 hours/18-20 weeks
Major Topics and Concepts:
Section 1: Exploring Systems
 Define environment and natural environment.
 Identify parts of the natural environment, including air, water, soil, flora,
and fauna.
 Define ecology, organism, and ecologist.
 Define ecological design and product.
 Define resource, natural resource, and renewable resource.
 Identify things that ecological designers consider when designing a
product.
 Define green design and green product.
 Define sustainability and sustainable design.
 Define system, process, input, and output.
 Define boundaries of a system.
 Describe how systems thinking works.
 Define holistic.
 Define model and describe how scientists use models of systems.
 Define systems dynamics and the parts of a system, including stocks,
flows, and feedback loops.
 Define ecosystem.
 Define built environment and resource depletion.
 Describe the impact of the increase in human population.
 Describe the impact of resource depletion on the natural environment,
including deforestation, habitat loss, species extinction, erosion, and
aquifer depletion.
 Identify common types of pollution caused by built environments,
including air, water, soil, and other types of pollution, such as radiation,
noise, light, and thermal pollution.
 Define acid rain, fossil fuels, decomposition, wastewater, fertilizer,
pesticide, leachate, and radioactive material.
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Describe the way the ozone layer protects the Earth against ultraviolet
light and the causes and effect of ozone depletion.
Define climate and humidity.
Identify static and dynamic factors that affect the climate.
Define altitude, urban heat island effect, cloud cover, axis, Northern
Hemisphere, and Southern Hemisphere.
Identify natural causes of global climate change, including solar output,
continental drift, orbital changes, and volcanic eruptions.
Identify evidence of global climate change, including temperature, melting
glaciers, rising sea level, and other evidence.
Describe the greenhouse effect and identify ways in which humans add to
the greenhouse effect.
Identify the stages in the water cycle.
Describe the impact humans have on the water cycle, and identify ways
to measure water footprint.
Identify the stages in the carbon cycle.
Describe the impact humans have on the carbon cycle, and identify ways
to measure carbon footprint.
Define and calculate an ecological footprint.
Section 2: Waste Management
 Define waste and describe what happens to waste.
 Identify stages in the waste management process.
 Define reduce, reuse, and recycle.
 Define rejecting and pay-as-you-throw.
 Define recyclable materials, raw materials, pre-consumer waste,
consumer, and post-consumer waste.
 Identify stages in the recycling process.
 Define downcycling.
 Describe benefits of recycling.
 Identify the waste hierarchy.
 Define monofill.
 Define biodegradable materials and describe how they release methane.
 Define compost, soil conditioner, and composting.
 Identify benefits of composting and identify materials that can be
composted.
 Define yard waste.
 Define electronic waste and heavy metals.
 Define take-back program and take-back legislation.
 Identify types of waste that should be handled in special ways, such as
batteries and compact fluorescent lights.
Section 3: Green Energy
 Define energy and sustainable energy.
 Describe how solar energy works, how it is used, and its environmental
impact.
 Describe how wind energy works, how it is used, and its environmental
impact.
 Describe how hydro energy works, how it is used, and its environmental
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impact.
Describe how geothermal energy works, how it is used, and its
environmental impact.
Describe how nuclear energy works, how it is used, and its environmental
impact.
Describe how biomass works as a source of energy, how it is used, and
its environmental impact.
Describe how biofuel works as a source of energy, and define bioethanol
and biodiesel.
Describe the process of changing a society's energy sources.
Define clean fossil fuel energy, clean coal technology, and carbon capture
and storage.
Describe why clean coal technology is a temporary solution.
Define energy conservation and identify ways to conserve energy,
including energy efficiency and energy reduction.
Identify ways to create energy efficient products and systems.
Define electrical grid and smart grid.
Identify features of smart grids.
Section 4: Green Transportation
 Define green vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles, and low-emission
vehicles.
 Identify alternative fuels and energy sources for vehicles, including
ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, natural gas, propane, and electricity.
 Define hybrid vehicle, hybrid-electric vehicle, and regenerative braking.
 Identify ways to conserve fuel.
 Define transportation planning.
 Identify ways in which people are designing transportation systems that
are better for the environment.
 Define public transportation and identify common types of public
transportation, including buses, trains, ferries, airplanes, and the types of
fuel those forms of transportation commonly use.
 Describe considerations in planning public transportation, including
population density.
Section 5: Green Agriculture
 Define agriculture, crops, and livestock.
 Identify parts of the agricultural process.
 Identify common ways to produce crops, including annual cultivation,
multiple cropping, and shifting cultivation.
 Define cultivation, crop rotation, intercropping, fallow, and slash and burn.
 Identify uses for livestock.
 Describe the process of livestock production and care.
 Define animal feeding operation, feed, and antibiotic.
 Define feedlot and concentrated animal feeding operation.
 Define growth hormones and identify concerns some people have about
using growth hormones in livestock.
 Describe the role of the USDA and FDA.
 Define aquaculture and aquafarming.
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Describe the process of aquacultural production.
Define integrated multi-trophic aquaculture.
Define property and property rights.
Describe how government laws that support environmental sustainability
can affect property rights.
Describe water use laws and publicly owned rivers and lakes.
Describe laws and regulations that limit uses of groundwater.
Define irrigation and identify common types of irrigation, including
sprinklers, center pivot irrigation systems, localized irrigation, drip
irrigation, surface irrigation, and terraced fields.
Identify ways to measure water use, such as water meters, flow meters,
and open channel meters.
Define wastewater, graywater, and blackwater.
Describe the process of wastewater management.
Define fertilizer, pesticide, insecticide, herbicide, and describe how they
are regulated.
Define genetically modified organisms and identify their benefits and
disadvantages.
Describe the intellectual property rights of the creator of a GMO.
Define pollinate and cross-pollination.
Define organic, synthetic, and food additive.
Describe how organic products are produced and how they impact the
natural environment.
Describe common organic certifications used in the U.S.
Define small farm and identify the benefits and of small farms.
Describe the small farm economy and compare it with the large farm
economy.
Identify ways to support small farms.
Identify common alternatives to regular home gardens.
Define industry, agricultural industry, and industrialization.
Define large farm and identify the agricultural impact of large farms on the
environment.
Identify common ways in which agriculture is being made more
sustainable.
Define integrated biological systems.
Section 6: Green Manufacturing and Construction
 Define manufacture and production.
 Identify differences between goods and services.
 Define consumption and identify differences between producers and
consumers.
 Describe the distribution process and define distribution channel.
 Identify the four main types of economic systems, including market,
planned, mixed, and traditional economies.
 Describe how supply and demand affect prices in a free market economy.
 Define private and public.
 Define monopoly.
 Define capitalism.
 Describe how economic changes have affected the natural environment.
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Define capital and labor and describe how they are treated in most
economic systems.
Describe how natural resources and labor aren't considered capital in
most economic systems, and identify how this affects sustainability.
Define natural capital and human capital.
Define natural capitalism.
Define product life cycle.
Define cradle to cradle design, regenerative design, and cradle to grave
design.
Define life cycle analysis and byproduct.
Define embodied energy.
Define industrial revolution, mass production, and assembly line.
Describe the impact of the industrial revolution.
Define assembly line efficiency and production energy efficiency.
Identify ways to increase production energy efficiency.
Identify ways to choose materials for green products.
Define rapidly renewable resource.
Identify common sustainable forest management certifications.
Identify ways to package a product sustainably.
Identify ways to label a product sustainably.
Describe the process of working around harmful substances and using
material safety data sheets.
Identify ways to make industrial waste management more sustainable.
Define toxic waste, remediation, toxic air pollution, toxic emissions,
scrubber, and electrostatic precipitator.
Define carbon offset and describe the advantages and disadvantages of
using carbon offsets.
Define bioremediation, phytoremediation, and mycoremediation.
Identify characteristics of a cradle to cradle building.
Identify stages in the life cycle of a building.
Define rehabilitation, disposal, demolition, excavator, and deconstruction.
Define environmental impact statement and describe how they are used.
Define green building rating system and identify common green building
rating systems.
Identify ways to use green materials and manage materials more
sustainably.
Identify ways to protect the environment through the design of a building.
Identify ways to collect and manage water in the building design process.
Identify ways to landscape environmentally.
Identify ways to use green energy and to conserve energy.
Identify ways to create a safe and comfortable indoor environment with
good indoor air quality.
Identify ways to maintain the environment and conserve energy during
construction.
Define innovation.
Course Objectives
 Green design and sustainability.
 Cradle to cradle design.
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Systems thinking and predicting results using systems.
Global climate change and the causes of global climate change.
How to calculate a carbon footprint, water footprint, and ecological
footprint.
Sustainable energy alternatives such as solar, wind, hydro, and
geothermal energy.
Reducing, reusing, recycling, and rejecting.
Hybrid vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles.
Organic and locally grown food.
Life-cycle analysis and cradle-to-cradle design.
Green rooftops, community gardens, and small farm agriculture.
Biodegradable material and composting.
Greenhouse gases and ozone depletion.
Natural resources and resource depletion.
Alternative energy resources such as nuclear power and biofuel.
Ecosystems and renewable resources.
Deforestation, habitat loss, and species extinction.
Landfills and waste management.
Mass transportation planning for the environment.
Erosion, aquifer depletion, and overgrazing.
Pollution of air, water, and soil.
Noise and light pollution, and pollution from radioactive material.
Sustainable agriculture.
Fertilizer, pesticides, and genetically-modified organisms.
LEED and other green building rating systems.
The carbon cycle and water cycle.
Steps in the process of crop production.
Manufacturing, goods, services, and distribution.
Sustainable manufacturing materials and processes.
Planned economies, market economies, and natural capitalism.
The economy of the agricultural industry.
Environmental recovery methods like phytoremediation and
mycoremediation.
Course Assessment and Participation Requirements:
Besides engaging students in challenging curriculum, FLVS guides students to reflect on
their learning and to evaluate their progress through a variety of assessments.
Assessments in this course are in the form of multiple-choice questions, study questions,
and assignments that are assessed with individualized rubrics. Instructors evaluate
progress and provide interventions through the variety of assessments built into a
course, as well as through contact with the student in other venues.