Weststar Energy

Research, requirements & mental models

Research: Young Adults1. Real-time

expectations

2. Living more intense local lives

3. Radically transparent

4. Expecting cheap or free everything

5. Entertainment must be part of the deal

6. Worrying about the planet

7. Seeing luxuries as standard

8. Pro-business, anti-multinational

9. Regulate the heck out of media bias

10. Naturally Me but aspiring to We

Research: Young Adults Generation Y (25 and

under) has grown up watching their parents go off to work every day, 40 – 60 hours per week, with fierce loyalty only to be downsized, outsourced, or laid off in their 40′s and 50′s.

This reality has the 20-somethings with a different mindset from previous generations. We do not want to merely work our time away, but to live a life of significance and fulfillment. That means being and doing more

than just having.

 46.88% of Americans say they would need to make more than $200K a year to be happy

63.41% of Americans, assuming prices remained the same, would rather earn $50K in a world of $25K earners than earn $100K in a world of $200K earners

74.64% of Americans would rather get Fridays off vs. a 20% raise

Research: Teens

Research: Teen WebsitesEducational SitesAmerican Library Assoc.Big Chalk

Entertainment & AdviceTeenMag.comMTVTeenWireTechnoTeenTeenAdviceOnline

SeventeenSmart GirlTeen VoicesTeen RelationshipsGo Ask AliceThe Diary ProjectTeens OnlineReactTeenSpeak

DiscussionsMSN Teen ChatsTeenChatSpank!

Research:Teens Research study on adolescent attitudes

about energy consumption

http://piee.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/docs/behavior/becc/2007/posters/Lynes.pdf

Results from this study:

- Climate change on top of list of concerns but no clear link to electricity-use and conservation

- When prompted, main motivation for conservation is environmental

- Most believe renewables and conservation are the best ways to meet future electricity needs

- Believe more government action needed but little confidence in government

- Most feel individuals can make at least some meaningful difference

- Teens feel parents are doing a better job than they are with regards to conservation

- Over 1/3rd of teens who thought they could conserve more said they were not because of laziness

- Main action teens take: turning things off

- Most think environmentally-minded teens are just regular people (not nerds; not role models)

- Most think they can influence their friends and family to conserve

- Teens trust academia and ENGOs; distrust business and government

Teens In Action * 1. When You're Done Surfing

and IMing, Turn Your Computer Off. If you shut your machine off before bedtime, you'll save an average of $90 worth of electricity a year — tell your parents that, and ask for a raise in your allowance! If you must leave your computer on, tell it to go into "sleep" or "hibernate" mode, which saves power. Save even more juice by unplugging your computer (or flip the switch on a surge protector) to stop the "phantom load" problem.

* 4. Get Involved! Most schools have environment or Earth Day clubs, so give them a chance! It's a great way to meet nice people, and you can learn so much from your peers. Many clubs convince their schools to recycle, start a garden or hold an Earth Day fair.

* 5. Turn Off the Lights Behind You. Remember that riddle about the tree falling in the forest when no one is around? Well, why leave a light on when no one is around? It's just plain

waste. Your parents may even bug you about it because they have to pay the energy bills, and they know lighting accounts for an average of 11% of that total.

* 6. Join the “Virtual March.” Founded by eco-warrior Laurie David, Senator John McCain and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a Web-based effort to bring people together to take a stand against climate change. So far nearly 900,000 people have joined up to demand that our leaders begin reducing carbon dioxide emissions now.

* 12. Ask Potential Colleges About Their Eco-Practices and/or Check Out a "Green Collar Career." College can be the best time of your life, but you don't want to be dragged down by a school that doesn't get your green values. Fortunately, many colleges are leading the way with exciting recycling and reuse programs and even eco-friendly dorms!

Whether you seek higher ed or not, think about a career that makes a positive difference: not just park rangers, but also teachers, government workers, organizers and media.

* 14. Take Friends and/or Family to See The 11th Hour. Leonardo DiCaprio's recent doc is a heavy hitter, but it's also inspiring and gorgeous. It just may be the push to get your dad to start recycling his papers, or your friend to stop littering. And it's pretty entertaining.

* 17. Green Your Boyfriend or Girlfriend. Everyone knows that a significant other can influence our behavior in major ways. So way not encourage your honey to cut down on unnecessary trips, turn the water off while brushing his/her teeth and other common-sense tips? You'll grow closer together as you share in protecting the Earth.Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/6334#ixzz1bp3mCdmH

Quantify their usage

Involve friends

Get cyber

Involve learning institutions

Involve media

Teenagers in love

Research: Older Adults By the year 2030, about one out of every

five Americans, or 20% of our population, will be a senior citizen.

 IncomeBy the early 1990s, 93% of older people received Social Security retirement benefits, and 97% were covered by Medicare. Today, the percentage of seniors with incomes below the poverty line is about 10%.

 EducationBy 2030, 83% of seniors will have completed high school. The percentage with a bachelor’s degree or more will have increased to 24% from the current level of 15%.

Personal computers and the Internet are being used more and more by baby boomers as a source of information

Marital Status and Living ArrangementsMost elderly people in the United States under the age of 85 are married and living

with their spouse.

Many who live alone have families or friends nearby, and about three in five have lived in the same place for 10 years or more.

Life ExpectancyThe average life expectancy in the United States is currently highest for white women, followed by black women, white men, and black men. On average, women live longer than men, and whites live longer than blacks. Based on 1996 statistics, women who live until age 65 can, on average, expect to live to age 84. Those who live to age 85 can expect to live to age 92. The number of people living to 100 in the United States is difficult to estimate, but their numbers are certainly growing. For people born in 1899, the odds of living to 100 were 400 to 1. However, for people born in 1980, the odds improved substantially to 87 to 1.

Research: Older Adults The top five trends for boomer business in 2007 include:

Work & Management: Gail Sheehy warns that companies will need to shift their management models to retain their boomer employees, or risk a dangerous loss of institutional knowledge and sudden reduction in their work force. 

2.  Products & Services: “The impact of Baby Boomers on cultural trends, product/service innovation, and economic movements has been well documented for many years,” said French. “Based on Boomers’ desire to age gracefully, live a healthy life, and maintain quality of living, the notion of healthy aging is being transformed across many industries. 

3.  Beauty & Self Image: Myrna Blyth sees boomer women embracing their beauty as they age, rather than fighting it. 

4.  Political Power: Building on her observations regarding the impact of boomer women in politics, Carol Orsborn predicts the rise of boomers as a political constituency leading up to the presidential elections. 

.  Retirement: Sandra Timmermann predicts that, with longer lifespans and changing definitions of their circles of trust, boomers will revolutionize retirement. 

“Boomers may spend twenty, thirty or more years in retirement – however we define it – and it may turn out to be their longest lifestage,” said Timmermann.  “They will look for two types of advisors – a life coach to help them think through how they want to spend the rest of their lives and a financial coach who can help them figure out how much money they will need to last throughout their lives. 

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=lyZ41rgC07o