Data and Developer Forum A Place to Discuss EPA Data and Developer Resources

The U.S. EPA launched this forum to open the lines of communication with students, researchers, and developers who need environmental data. It’s a companion to the Data Finder and supports the Apps for the Environment challenge. Recommend new sources of environmental data and suggest improvements to the site. We plan to update Data Finder, enhance the forum, link to other data finder sites across the federal government, and highlight useful resources for developers.  The forum is moderated by EPA and we will respond to posts as soon as possible.  Please tell others so they can benefit from it!

Take a look at all this green app activity! You might want to check out some of these hack-a-thons as a developer, subject matter expert, or interested party. Or take a look at the challenges that are happening now.

Three hack-a-thons will happen in the next couple of weeks:

Code for Livability: The Partnership for Sustainable Communities and The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are hosting a code-a-thon to bring together citizens, web developers, and agency staff to work on solutions that bring sustainability to the forefront of peoples’ everyday lives. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. January 22, 2012 in Washington, DC.

CleanWeb Hackathon NYC: A gathering to demonstrate the impact of applying information technology to resource constraints. The goal is to build apps and hacks exploiting new sustainable business models while leveraging the mobile and social web. January 21 and 22, 2012 in New York City.

London Green Hackathon: A weekend of hacking on climate change, sustainability, energy & carbon emissions. January 27 and 28, 2012 in London.

The World Bank’s Apps For Climate is a competition to discover extraordinary ways to use open data to address the challenges of climate change. Apps For Climate aims to bring together the best ideas from scientists, application developers, civil society organizations, and development practitioners to create innovative software apps using World Bank climate data. Applications must be received by March 16, 2012; winners will receive cash prizes and featured placement on the World Bank Open Data website. To qualify, apps must use at least one open dataset from the World Bank Data Catalog, but are strongly encouraged to incorporate open data from other sources. For more information, visit: www.worldbank.org/appsforclimate, or join in an information meeting on January 31st , also in Washington, DC.

Take a look at the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program Data, which was released recently. It includes publicly available and non-confidential data from the GHG Reporting Program for 2010. The files also contain information reported by suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial gases such as the six main greenhouse gases, industry sector, state, and quantity of emissions. Or you can look at the EPA GHG Data Publication Tool to see large greenhouse gas emitters on a map.

Don’t forget to use the 38 submissions to the Apps for the Environment Challenge. They’re made for you to use.

So check out all of these opportunities and tell the community if you know of other events!

Our objective for green apps is to foster the developer community to create more applications so people can make sound environmental decisions. To achieve that objective, we’re looking for ways to encourage the sustainable development and use of green apps and we’d like to hear your ideas for what makes sense. EPA started with our large-scale challenge, EPA’s Apps for the Environment, that provided recognition to developers and yielded 38 apps. To help us build on the success of that effort, we’re interested in your ideas about sustainable models that support developers so they can make green apps. We think it makes sense to partner with organizations that have expertise in supporting developers and promoting apps. So thanks for sharing your reactions to some of the ideas presented below as well as any other ideas you believe EPA should consider. 

In a recent conversation, Troy Abel, Associate Professor of Environmental Policy at Western Washington University (and advisor to Bob Sabie, who won Best Student App, Runner Up in the EPA Apps for the Environment Challenge with his app Environmental Justice Participatory Mapping) suggested a couple of ways to encourage and support developers to make green apps:

• Encourage existing EPA grant programs (e.g., Environmental Justice Grants Program or the People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability) to explore the role of applicants to consider the role of environmental apps.
• Explore whether large corporations or foundations would want to support an environmental app web site that would collect and promote green apps, and in doing so, encourage more developers to produce environmental apps.

EPA is considering some other ideas such as:

• EPA funding or co-funding a green apps partnerships similar to ChemicalRight2Know, a Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) collaborative forum that the Environmental Council of the States developed through a cooperative agreement with EPA.
• EPA could connect users and developers without formal partnerships. For example, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other parties could describe their requirements for environmental apps and post them online. The agency could encourage developers to create the apps. Then the NGOs or other parties could sponsor, fund, and host the apps. This effort could be performed in a public online space and several parties could create an app together.

Thanks for posting your reactions to these ideas and sharing ideas of your own.

EPA’s Apps for the Environment Forum recognized the great contributions of developers and other important groups in the green apps community. The five winning app teams were honored, we heard some inspirational talks, and we had a chance to connect with people from diverse backgrounds.

In June we challenged you to use EPA data to create the best Apps for the Environment, and today we are proud to announce the winners!

Thanks to your 100 ideas, 38 apps, more than 2000 votes, and your dedication to using information and technology to support our mission, our judges had a difficult time choosing the winners. Everyone who participated deserves recognition and thanks, and we encourage you to try out all of the entries on the challenge.gov site, and give them a shout out on Twitter using the #GreenApps hashtag.

Also, don’t forget that next week is the Environmental Protection Agency’s Apps for the Environment Forum, “Building Innovation Through Partnerships,” where we will recognize the winners of the competition, engage with developers and open data leaders, and look forward to the future.

The event will be held at the Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia (1101 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA, 22209) on Tuesday, November 8th.  The Forum will begin at 1:00 p.m. and end at 5:15 p.m., and include  exhibitor booths, special guests like U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, EPA CIO Malcolm Jackson, and of course the stars of the event: the amazing developers who submitted 38 mobile apps! If you can’t be there in person, be sure to see it live via Ustream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/usepa.

And now, the winners of the EPA Apps for the Environment challenge are:

Winner, Best Overall App

Light Bulb Finder

by Adam Borut and Andrea Nylund of Eco Hatchery

http://appsfortheenvironment.challenge.gov/submissions/4571-light-bulb-finder

Runner Up, Best Overall App

Hootroot

by Matthew Kling of Brighter Planet

http://hootroot.com/

http://appsfortheenvironment.challenge.gov/submissions/4618-hootroot

Winner, Best Student App

EarthFriend

by Will Fry and Ali Hasan of Fry Development Company and Differential Apps

http://appsfortheenvironment.challenge.gov/submissions/4180-earthfriend

Runner Up, Best Student App

Environmental Justice Participatory Mapping

By Robert Sabie, Jr., Western Washington University      http://appsfortheenvironment.challenge.gov/submissions/4611-environmental-justice-participatory-mapping

Popular Choice Award

CG Search

By Rajasekaran Bala of Cognizant Technology Solutions

http://appsfortheenvironment.challenge.gov/submissions/4620-cg-search

Again, congratulations to everyone who participated in the challenge and we look forward to partnering with you in the future!