Dreamer, realist, critic

This Dreamer/Realist/Critic exercise is adapted from the book Cracking Creativity Links to an external site.. Work through the following steps considering your energy project and the problem it is trying to address.

1. First, play the dreamers. Imagine that you have a magic wand to grant you any wish you desire. What would you ask for to solve the energy problem your project is addressing? List at least 5 wishes, especially things that seem impossible. Try to make each wish more improbable than the last. An example problem might be: A university wants to reduce it's carbon footprint by switching to only renewable sources of energy. Sample wishes would be that energy was free; switching to renewables was instantaneous, etc... 
2. Select one of the wishes. For example, wishing that energy was free. 
3. Now play the realists. Do this by turning the wish into a practical idea. What are the main features of your wish? What features of the wish appeal to you? Extract a feature of the wish. For the example, a feature might be the cost of renewable energy.
4. Try to turn this feature into a practical idea. A practical idea might be: government rebates for renewable energy technology.
5. Now play the critics by poking holes in the idea you just came up with. For the example: subsidies for renewable energy will mean less funding for other programs.
6. Repeat until you have an idea that improves your project. Post to the discussion!