Topics:ResearchPersonasScenarios

RESEARCH RESEARCHMETHODS

RESEARCHOBJECTIVES

• In-home interviews

• Behavioral observations

• Written and photographic documentation

• What we saw

• What we learned

• What it means

• What we can do

PERSONAS

Sue

John

Jessica

Cody

Jake

Amy

Boomers Gen-Xers Gen-Yers

Energy Attentive

Energy Passive

PERSONAS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

JOHN: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

“I try my best to be efficient with energy,

but there’s often a battle between saving

and keeping Sue comfortable.”

SUE: ENERGY PASSIVE

“Now that I’m home more, I usually just set

the thermostat to what I need in order to

stay comfortable.”

PERSONAS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

JOHN: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

• John pays the bills

• Average payment plan

• Hang dries laundry to save

• Maintains HVAC air filter

• Fireplace user in winter

• Wants long term results

PERSONAS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

SUE: ENERGY PASSIVE

• Doesn’t pay attention to the bills or cost of energy

• Often leaves lights on

• Sets thermostat for comfort; feels she deserves it at her age

• Thinks CFL’s look strange and are too expensive

PERSONAS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE “We’re not planning on relocating,

so it’s worth it to invest in our home.”

• Empty nesters; spends weekends at lake

• Well insulated house with newer windows

• Have landscaping lights on a timer

• Thermostat:72 in summer and 68 in winter

• Used gov’t rebates for Energy Star appliances

PERSONAS

GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY

JESSICA: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

“I can hear our on-demand hot water

heater click on. It reminds me that we have

some control over our efficiency practices.”

CODY: ENERGY PASSIVE

“Jessica gives me a hard time about the

utility bills. I’m working on it, but our

technology is pretty important to us. We

don’t do well with turning off or unpluging

desktop computers.”

PERSONAS

GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY

JESSICA: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

• Attempts to teach their son, Ben, by constantly reinforcing

household rules to turn things off when finished

• Pays close attention to the utility bills

• Often attributes increases to the cost to actual cost of delivery,

rather than their usage

PERSONAS

GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY

CODY: ENERGY PASSIVE

• Active and likes to spend time outdoors

• Usually the one to take their dog for walks

• Tries to shut down lights and fans but sometimes forgets

• Doesn’t pay much attention to the thermostat — wants comfort

PERSONAS

GEN-X: AMY&JAKE “We schedule our thermostat to be most comfortable

between 5-9pm, the rest of the time it is about efficiency.”

• Have a 3 year old son; 1 dog

• Live in a 3 bed/2 bath suburban home

• Florescent bulbs everywhere

• Keep a big basket of blankets in the living room in the winter.

• Back door has a draft, they roll a towel up in front of back door

to keep the heat inside.

• They adjust thermostat for dog in summer • They adjust thermostat for dog in summer

PERSONAS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

“Those boys will only recycle if I basically

do it for them and make it easy to drop

things in. I swear they wouldn’t even get the

bills paid if I wasn’t here.”

JAKE: ENERGY PASSIVE

“I really want to save energy, benefit the

environment, and my bank account, but

sometimes it just doesn’t fit my schedule.”

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

“Those boys will only recycle if I basically

do it for them and make it easy to drop

things in. I swear they wouldn’t even get the

bills paid if I wasn’t here.”

JAKE: ENERGY PASSIVE

PERSONAS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

• Responsible for keeping track of all bills

• Collects money from all the roommates

• She sets up and empties recycling containers for the home

• Pays the most attention to the electricity used in their home

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

AMY: ENERGY ATTENTIVE

• Responsible for keeping track of all bills

• Collects money from all the roommates

• She sets up and empties recycling containers for the home

• Pays the most attention to the electricity used in their home

PERSONAS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

JAKE: ENERGY PASSIVE

• TV and gaming systems always on

• Keeps an old small refrigerator in his bedroom for sodas/beer

• Habitually opens window in his room when the heat is on

• His room seems to be warmer than the rest of the house

PERSONAS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE “It’s difficult to control the electricity usage

when roommates are always leaving things on.”

• Lights often left on unintentionally

• Either A/C or heat is always on

• Multiple gaming systems stacked up by the television

• Not everyone understands how to use prorammable thermostat

• Live close to campus and frequently have guests coming and going

• Cost of utilities and all household bills are split 3 ways

SCENARIOS

Sue

John

Jessica

Cody

Jake

Amy

Boomers Gen-Xers Gen-Yers

Energy Attentive

Energy Passive

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

After having their Smart Meter and new

thermostat installed, John and Sue find

out they could be saving money by

programming their thermostat and paying

closer attention to their energy usage.

However, they are out of town a lot and

don't have much time to worry about

their thermostat.

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

John turns on the thermostat

for the first time and goes

through the set-up wizard,

and alert settings (including

the monthly bill limit).

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

John turns on the thermostat

for the first time and goes

through the set-up wizard,

and alert settings (including

the monthly bill limit).

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

After he's finished entering

the settings, John starts the

programming feature.

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

He finds out that he can

create specific settings for

home, away, and vacation

modes.

Sue is especially excited

about the vacation mode,

because every time they go

out of town, John sets the

thermostat for extreme

temperatures and she can't

keep her plants alive.

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

A week later, John notices

the status bar on the home

screen is yellow.

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

He presses a button on the

status bar and a pop-up

shows that his current

usage pattern will cause him

to exceed his monthly bill

limit; the pop-up says that he

can get back on track by

turning the therm down 2

degrees, with a button to

press to approve therm

change.

TIP!

Get back on track

by turning the

thermostat down

2 degrees.�

SCENARIOS

BOOMERS: JOHN&SUE

He presses OK, and the

status bar goes back to

green.

SCENARIOS

GEN-X: JESSICA&CODY

Jessica and Cody schedule their

thermostat to be most comfortable

between 5-9pm, the rest of the time

it is about efficiency.

Their programmable thermostat helps

Keep the temperature ranges constant and

prevents them from forgetting to adjust

when needed.

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

Jake and Amy are college students living in

an old drafty house.

Amy comes home from her evening

waitressing job, sits down at the kitchen

table and counts her tips. After she

discovers that she barely has enough

money to buy groceries for herself for the

week, she tries to take her mind off of

things by opening the mail.

”The electric bill is $149! What are those

boys doing in this house? What can I do?"

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

She goes to the thermostat

and sees the status bar is

red.

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

She then presses the

Charts/Graphs icon to look

for clues about what is

causing the bill to be high.

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

She sees the week

comparison and notices

energy use is much higher

than last week.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

She rolls over to the year

comparison and sees

energy use is also much

higher than last year;

she realizes she had energy

conscious roommates last

year and attributes this to the

higher bill.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

Then she goes to the

program mode and sees the

weekday mode has been

turned off and only weekend

is on, when the thermostat is

set much more comfortably

for lots of company.

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

She immediately turns

weekday mode back on.

SCENARIOS

GEN-Y: AMY&JAKE

When she finishes,

the home screen shows

a yellow status bar.