2007 "green vs. grey: energy performances of two olympic speed skating ovals", elliott and brown, journal of architecture and planning research, vol.1, no.1, locke science publishing co., inc., chicago, illinois.

in 1996, the international olympic committee (ioc) adopted “environmental concern” as its third pillar of olympism in order to reduce the negative impacts associated with olympic development. this study examines how this change in policy has affected the energy performance of its facilities by comparing the 1988 calgary olympic speed skating oval, with the 2002 salt lake city olympic speed skating oval. the study’s hypothesis is that the “green” post-environmental policy facility should significantly outperform the “grey” pre-environmental policy building. the findings indicate that the slight improvement in the energy performance of the post-policy facility was more likely due to location than design. recommendations are given as to how the facilities could have been designed differently to improve their energy performance. these include the utilization of passive and active geothermal effects, the exploitation of renewable forms of energy, use of free cooling, and the reduction of exposed building surface area. more importantly, suggestions are made for how the ioc can improve the effectiveness of its environmental policy regarding future olympic development.

2006 "green building in the russian context: an investigation into the establishment of a leed®-based green building rating system in the russian federation", kosheleva and elliott, journal of green building, vol.1, no.3, college publishing, kimball, michigan.

Given the tremendous impact of buildings on the ecosystem, the Russian Federation is under pressure to become more ecologically sound in its building construction and operation practices. Under the same pressure, several other countries that have been less explicit about their environmental commitment than the RF have established green building rating systems (GBRSs) like LEED® of the US Green Building Council. This diagnostic pilot study investigated why there is no such system in the RF, expecting that there are potent contextual impediments to it. The study was designed as a fluid interaction between archival ethnographic research and in-depth qualitative interviews. Its preliminary phase assessed the introduction and adaptation of LEED® in five non-US contexts. The primary investigation involved in-depth interviewing of representatives of five major stakeholder sectors in three bioregionally, socio-politically and economically different Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk.

2004 "considering the natural: reconciling eco-ethics and aesthetics in the practice of design", elliott, design philosophy papers, no.2, http://www.desphilosophy.com/dpp/dpp_index.html.

"environmental knowledge" developed over the last few decades has done little to change contemporary design practice, let alone reverse environmental degradation. it is this paper's position that this is not only paradoxical; it is negligent. This paper looks at this paradox of informed negligence as it pertains to ecological ethics and focuses on the role of rationality in this human/nature disconnect. it considers the possible role of aesthetics in resolving this ethical dilemma, examining the aesthetics/ethics relationship from the vantages of both the object and the subject. the paper argues for an invigorated pursuit of empathic knowledge to expand the orbit of ethical considerations in design.

2001 "stumbling and mumbling: paradoxes of green design practice", elliott, from the 49th annual proceedings of the association of collegiate schools of architecture, baltimore, maryland.

this paper examines the paradox that despite the wide range of "environmental knowledge" developed over the last few decades, this knowledge has done little to change our daily lives, let alone reverse environmental degradation. this paradox is evident in the design community as well, whose lack of effective action in the face of such great environmental imperatives is startling. we are not changing the way we practice in order to lessen the harmful effects on the environment, let alone make things better. most of us are stumbling along in the same direction that contribute to many of the environmental problems we now face. even more paradoxically, those of us who have decided to take up the environmental cause are often ineffective at expressing our "greenness" through our interventions. our work mumbles, barely speaking of its underlying environmental agenda. this paper examines these paradoxes of "stumbling and mumbling" as they are manifested in works of design and how these paradoxes are symptomatic of some larger, more serious problems faced by humankind on this planet.

2001 "adirondack rustic furniture industry: surveys and prospects", elliott, adirondack journal of environmental studies, vol.6, no.1, paul smiths college, new york.

the adirondack region has long been known for its rustic furniture. today, it still serves as home to most of the rustic furniture manufacturers in the state of new york. the last few years have witnessed a significant increase in market demand for "rustic design" in north america, particularly in the area of furniture . this revival of interest in rustic furniture has the potential to be good for the economic development of the predominantly rural adirondack region, where underemployment is a persistent problem. the adirondack economy is closely linked to its natural resource base, especially forestry. however, this sector of the economy has been slowly declining, both in the primary and secondary wood product industries. there is a need to create greater value from wood resources, thereby improving employment prospects without compromising the ecologies of the region. this paper represents the results of a survey investigating rustic furniture industries in the adirondack region to assess their production technologies and their ecological and economic impacts. although these results are derived from a craft-based industry, the findings suggest how commercially scaled industrial eco-enterprises could enhance the viability and competitiveness of a furniture industry in the state.

2000 "out through the in(doors): new approaches to green interior design education", elliott, in.form: journal of interior design, vol.1, no.1, university of nebraska press, lincoln, nebraska.

this paper documents the experiences of offering a new senior interior design studio incorporating ecological issues in design. one of the greatest pedagogical challenges is to get students to "think out of the box". this can be understood in two ways, which are both expressed in the title of this paper. the first interpretation has to do with creative problem-solving; going out through the "in" door. the second understanding has to do with thinking about issues literally outside enclosed space. all design interventions inside a space have impacts outside the space but interior designers rarely think about these consequences. through a series of five design exercises, the students were required to re-evaluates their position about things outdoors as they concern themselves with things indoors. ironically, the exercise which had the greatest impact in this regard investigated the device which separates and defines the indoors from the outdoors: the door itself. the purpose of this project was to apply a personal design theory with a more eco-sensitive worldview to design and construct a cabinet door for a personal collection. the door had to reflect the nature of its collection as well as that of the collector.

1998 "designing for technological obsolescence and discontinuous change: an evaluation of three successional electronic products", pope, elliott, and turbini, proceedings of the 10th annual conference on ieee's "electronics and the environment", chicago, illinois.

product displacement has been occurring for many years and will continue to challenge the market as technological advances result in product obsolescence. while opportunities do exist to incorporate environmentally conscious engineering and design criteria into the product development process, much of the ultimate environmental success is dependent upon closing the product life cycle, through reuse (upgrade and/or repair), re-manufacture and recycling. this paper reports on the analysis and evaluation of three successional home electronic audio/video products: the vhs video cassette recorder (vcr), the laser disc player (ld) and the digital video/versatile disc player (dvd). the newly released dvd player has rendered the ld player obsolete and will soon render the vcr obsolete as well. this paper investigates potential environmental improvements to the dvd player through design strategies for upgrading a successional product and for reducing its end-of-life impact.

1997 "the blur: a catalyst for conceptualization", elliott, , blurring boundaries, proceedings of 1997 industrial design society of america education conference, washington d.c., best paper.

the theme for this conference, "blurring the boundaries" suggests a number of directions for inquiry. the most obvious of these has to do with professional domains or interdisciplinary collaboration. however, reflection on the act of "blurring the boundaries" sheds light on the design activity itself. visual artful design is based on perceived visual phenomena and mimetic activities. however, this activity is also based on experience and memory. this places "design" within both the perceptual realm and the conceptual realm. interestingly, the act of blurring is another activity which can be examined both perceptually and conceptually.

normally, an act of blurring, whether perceptual or conceptual, is usually considered undesirable. this is especially true with regards to the act of designing; of creating order. however, the heuristic nature of the design activity makes a clear statement of opportunity difficult, if not undesirable. investigations into creative theory suggest it is precisely this ambiguity which must be navigated in order to create. this paper argues that the development of familiarity with blurred domains may be one of the more significant contributors to design innovation.