Lauren Lamonica

If you had to describe Trader Joe’s as a person, what would they be like?

1. surfer, progressive, liberal, honest, clean
2. nautical themed hipster, original, green but shops at gap and walmart
3. person in Berkeley, pot smoker
4. Carrot top before the roids. Scattered, eager to impress.
5. married to work, average american guy, likes to try ethnic food, traveled, likes to eat
6. hawaiian guy, a very relaxed person
7. Fun Loving, Fair, conscientious
8. Average American guy

What would this person do for a living? For fun?

1. Lfeguard for a living
2. Graphic designer or activist
3. Works at non-profit
4. B-list celeb, not funny
5. Married to work
6. Some mainstream blue collar job
7. Soccer mom

If Trader Joe’s was a car, what kind of car would it be and why?

1. VW bus, no options
2. 1971 El Camino art car at burning man
3. Toyota minican, reliable and affordable
4. Prius or no car
5. Pontiac Fiero, T-tops with tiki lady
6. Kia or Hundai, low cost with standard features
7. honda civic, with sunroof, cloth seat and a high fuel effiency engine
8. VW Beetle; a vase for flowers old school convertible: Triumph Spitfire.
9. Low rent american car, Ford focus, Chevy Cavalier etc. Standard option no add-on

If Trader Joe’s was a place, where would it be and why?

1. Hawaii
2. A funky restaurant in Boont
3. Somewhere in Maine, home of fish stick
4. Berkeley
5. Columbus, OH
6. carnival or funfare
7. hawaii, because of the shirt they wear
8. Hawaii or Florida because of the shirt they wear, tropical places
9. coastal Californian cities, near beach
10. Mid-west of America

After years of study, I finally finished my MBA in May 2010. Each SF State MBA candidate is required to take the class called “Culminating Experience,” which is a series of case studies, discussion, and group projects. The class was upbeat and interesting, taught by Professor Sanjay Jain. Because San Francisco State University College of Business is very focused on sustainable energy, all group projects involved clean tech in some way. My group was responsible for analyzing wind turbine producer, Vestas, and for making recommendations.

One recommendation our group made for Vestas was this online household SCADA tool, which I mocked up. (SCADA stands for “supervisory control and data acquisition”.) The online tool is designed to provide a window into your household wind usage, through your energy provider’s extranet, which you might use for paying bills.

A few of the problems this tool aims to fix are as follows:

Problem #1 - because alternative energy sources like wind energy are managed and sourced by larger energy providers like Pacific Gas & Electric, there is often no end-user (in this case, household) connection to the alternative energy source. This does the opposite of empowering the user to make smart energy consumption choices.

Solution #1 - by providing a portal into household wind energy usage, beyond overall household energy usage, we are giving the end-user of energy transparency and control over their wind usage, and providing them with real cost savings.

Problem #2 - it’s not always windy when we need wind power, and it’s often windy when we don’t. AND, wind is difficult and expensive to store. So, off-peak wind usage is key to the success of wind power.

Solution #2 - this online tool uses your phone and the web to monitor and communicate about your energy usage, and alert you (the end-user; the household) when you’re using too much or too little energy. I threw in images of automated household appliances, like the prototypes shown at CES 2010 by Touch Revolution, to illustrate how we can automate household appliances, running a load of laundry or defrosting dinner during off-peak hours from the web or our phone.