I am currently looking for an internship, and would love to hear from you.

Thank you,

Guillaume

Since 2009, Dublin has seen overwhelming success with its bicycle sharing program. Dublinbikes , modeled after the Paris Bike Program, has had a high adoption rate as Dubliners are using the bikes much more than anyone had expected. The program has been so popular that this past November , the City Council voted to expand the program from the current 500 bikes to 5,000.

The brilliance of the system is found in its simplicity. When Dubliners need to get from one part of town to another, they can check out a bike from one of 40 bike centers around the city and deposit at another when they are done.

Dublin Bikes from Guillaume Driscoll on Vimeo.

The bicycles are free for the first half-hour. Afterwards, there is an escalating, hourly-based, tiered pricing structure. This encourages riders to keep their trips brief and allow more users the opportunity to utilize the biking system. The rider is also on the hook should anything happen to the bicycle while it is in their care. If the bike is not returned the credit card on record is charged.

Due to the monetary incentive, the program has had only several bikes damaged and very few stolen, unlike the Paris scheme, whose theft and vandalization rate threatened to end the program.

Riders can sign up for the service easily by registering online for a Longterm Hire card. However, if a rider is visiting the city for a short period of time (as this writer was) they can sign up for a 3-Day pass for €2 (~$3).

According to a local Transportation Department survey, 70% of the riders use the bikes for commuting purposes, while 30% use it for shopping or enjoyment. Of shoppers, almost half of riders made trips that they otherwise would not have, adding additional revenue to local business. This is also helped by another feature of the bike that allows riders to use a built-in onboard bike lock should riders want to make a stop during their ride.

Expanding the Program

Because of the extremely high popularity of the program, the city council voted last year to expand the program from 450 to 5,000 bicycles in the coming years. In addition to the number of bikes available, the program also hopes to increase the number of locations of bike stations where bikes can be picked up or dropped off. One issue some riders mentioned was that on occasions bike stations would fill up and riders would have to locate the next closes station on the kiosk. Increasing stations would alleviate this issue as well as open up it up to more riders.

There are even questions if the program’s effects can be felt nationally. Over the last two years the Ireland biking industry has seen a significant increase in bicycles sales, prompting many in the industry to wonder if there is a correlation, in addition to a faltering economy and skyrocketing gas prices.

City officials in the United States have also taken notice of the program’s popularity. In April, the city of Boston signed an agreement to start their own version called HUB that could be in place as early as this July. Other cities, like San Francisco, are eagerly searching for alternative transportation methods that are both healthy and sustainable, and will certainly be watching these programs closely.

Back in Dublin I hopped off my bike to catch my breath after peddling frantically through the morning rush hour. I was barely able to to keep up with the bike traffic. However, just two years into the program DublinBikes shows no sign of slowing down.

The EnergyBike Pack, still in the early prototyping stage, will attenpt to address this issue by utilizing bicycle power to bring energy into people’s homes. Initially, I approached the problem by looking for an abundant sustainable resource in targeted areas, and bicycles were consistently the most common shared resource.

The EnergyBike Pack will be a removable battery system that is easily attached to virtually every type of bicycle. While the bicyclist pedals, the batteries will be charged by an attached alternator connected to the rear wheel. Once home, the bicyclist will be able to detach the pack and bring it into the home to plug in a common electrical device such as lighting or an electric stove-top.

With rising purchasing power, they are a powerful force in the furniture consumption market. However, recognizing that they are not in permanent situations, they often resort to poorly made furniture with a short lifespan.These consumers know all to well that second hand markets such as Craigslist often provide no greater than a 50% return on quality second-hand furniture. Legendary addresses this problem through quality built furniture, design to be moved, re-used and refurbished for an infinite number of owners and a service model that makes take-back convenient and economically comparable to the alternatives in the market place.

The Vision

We want to reduce furniture waste by creating a solution that would allow for furniture to be used again and again. We realized, however, for this to happen, the furniture would have to be repaired, recycled or repurposed. This would be Legendary’s role.

Yet, for furniture to be designed in a way that would allow the furniture to be easily repaired there would have to be a set of strict design principals from Legendary that the industry would adopt. Having the option to sell back used furniture appeals to consumers.

To develop the initial business model and design principles, however, we would start by offering our own line of Legendary furniture along with the expectation that when customers wanted to change their furniture they could sell it back to Legendary.

Project Details

Date: Spring 2011

Class: Sustainability

Group Size: 5

Contributed to: Primary Research (Interviews), Graphics, Report Design, Writing, Concept Development, Ideation, Project Presentation

LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS OF A MICRO-BREW BEER

Looking at the entire life cycle of a six-pack of beer includes the agricultural process of growing the hops and barley, gathering sand to make glass bottles and forming steel bottle caps and eventually transporting cartons of six-packs in a refrigerated vehicle, potentially across the country, to a grocery store where it will be stored for a number of weeks in large refrigerators to eventually be picked up by a consumer who likely drove several miles and will return to their home to once again store the bottles in their personal refrigerator. This is all in addition to the water, electricity and gas usage during the actual brewing process.

Using the Sustainable Minds’ tool to conduct a Life Cycle Analysis of brewing beer proved challenging since this tool focuses primarily on manufacturing and not food products. However, as the ingredients for brewing are unlikely to be negotiated by an individual brewer, using industry standard data was an acceptable alternative. As the intent of this study was to focus primarily on the impact of local vs. national brewing and the consumption methods of beer, we did not include the construction of the brew house, nor the installation or maintenance of the brewing equipment

Read the Full Report:

Project Details

Date: Spring 2011

Class: Sustainability

Group Size: 4

Contributed to: Secondary Research, Analysis, Graphics, Writing

Video will be uploaded soon, please visit back shortly.

Project Details

Date: Spring 2011

Class: Business Models and Stakeholders

Group Size: 6

Contributed to: Secondary Research, Primary Research, Analysis, Writing, Concept Development, Ideation, Presentation Delivery

View the presentation slides:

Project Details

Date: Spring 2011

Class: Market Insights

Group Size: 4

Contributed to: Secondary Research, Primary Research (Interviews), Graphics, Writing, Concept Development, Ideation, Presetation Delivery

At Children’s Hospital and Research Center of Oakland (CHRC) nurses’ stress levels are reaching a critical point. They face several stress points in their profession that can, and has, inhibited their ability to dutifully fulfill their job requirements. The first stress point is the emotional toll that is brought on by caring for sick children and their families. The second, is having the time constraint of a constant demand for attention from many different area, while only having a finite amount of time to attend to them. The time crunch felt by nurses can be overwhelming. Thirdly, nurses expressed a need for additional resources to fulfill their responsibilities. This stress manifests itself into harmful health effects, reduced care quality, and higher turnover.

This must be addressed. From the information I gained through research I have designed a short term solution to alleviate stress through peer support. CHRC should organize and support group meetings outside the purview of the hospital administration. These meetings should have the overall theme of community support but participants should also be allowed to choose their own approach. This would provide a safe environment for the nurses to express their feelings and receive emotional support from their peers.

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Date: Fall 2010

Class: Innovation Studio

Group Size: 1

Contributed to: Secondary Research, Primary Research, Analysis, Writing, Concept Development, Ideation

Date: Fall 2010

Class: Leadership by Design

Group Size: 1

Contributed to: Secondary Research, Primary Research, Analysis, Writing, Concept Development, Ideation

The winner posters were displayed in Piazza Cordusio e via Dante, in the heart of Milan during the city’s Design Week.

You can also view the below submission here.