An incredible 42 of these apps are powered by EPA data! (That’s in addition to nine EPA apps that use EPA data!) With green apps available for Apple, Android, Blackberry, and Windows platforms, it couldn’t be easier to find and download an app that meets your needs. Below we’ve listed a few of the highest-rated or most downloaded green apps that are powered by EPA data. For a full list of green apps, visit My Green Apps or download the green apps spreadsheet to get more details.

[Note to developers: here are some resources to help you make more and better green apps.

EPA Data Finder is a single site to find EPA’s data sources where you can download datasets or find data services.

EPA data on Data.gov provides government data and services in easily downloadable formats.

Developer Central offers resources, sample code and how-to guides for all levels of developers, from beginners to advanced coders.]

EPA SunWise UV Index

Everyone loves a nice, sunny day, but overexposure to the sun can lead to sunburn, skin cancer and cataracts if you aren’t careful about UV exposure. The UV Index provides a daily forecast of the expected intensity of UV radiation from the sun. Available for iOS, Android and Blackberry.

iTunes User Review:

“This is a useful app. I am a cyclist and hiker and am outside a lot, so a quick way to check the UV index is helpful. The app does what is says and is quick.” -Digital Oz

Light Bulb Finder

The Light Bulb Finder mobile app makes it easy to switch from incandescent to energy-efficient light bulbs. It empowers users to make informed decisions based on their lighting needs and the financial and environmental impact of their choices. Available for iOS and Android.

Google Play User Review:

“Excellent, simple to use and really environment friendly. Every smart(phone) user should have this app.” -Google User

My Place History

My Place History links public health information with personal environmental experience. Using geomedicine, this app allows you to achieve a greater understanding of how local environments affect health. Available for iOS.

iTunes User Review:

“This app gives a personal context to public data.”

State of the Air

The State of the Air app from the American Lung Association gives you the ability to see what your lungs are collecting anywhere in the United States. Available for iOS and Android.

Google Play User Review:

It’s definitely the best air quality alert app out there. It helps give me an idea of whether I should run outside or hit the gym.” -Google User

 
 
We’re proud that so many apps are powered by EPA data. Share your experience about any green apps in the comment section below.

The article goes on to say:

“Demographically [environmental app users] are more likely to be men, younger, and well-educated (about half are college graduates). They are also ethnically diverse, with Hispanic and African-American smartphone users about twice as likely as average to leverage most environmental apps.

According to GfK’s Green Gauge research, the most popular “green” apps are ones that help people find the closest public transportation and monitor home energy usage. But smartphone users also use apps for educational purposes, information on recycling, and calculating environmental footprints. Perhaps most actionable for marketers, however, are apps that provide information about the environmental impact of products – 9% of smartphone users have used these.  (To see a listing of current environmental apps as compiled by the EPA click here: http://www.epa.gov/mygreenapps).”

So check out the GfK article and visit My Green Apps to download an app so you can make a difference.

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On another note, here are two large-scale events that may be of interest to developers and community-minded people.

The International Space Apps Challenge is a technology development event during which citizens from around the world work together to solve challenges relevant to improving life on Earth and life in space. You can participate in over 75 cities around the world or at home on April 20-21, 2013. See the 50 challenges that you can help solve!

National Day of Civic Hacking is a national event that will take place June 1-2, 2013, in cities across the nation. The event will bring together citizens, software developers, and entrepreneurs from all over the nation to collaboratively create, build, and invent new solutions using publicly-released data, code and technology to solve challenges relevant to our neighborhoods, our cities, our states and our country. National Day of Civic Hacking will provide citizens an opportunity to do what is most quintessentially American: roll up our sleeves, get involved and work together to improve our society.

• Green Gamification: the apps, sites, and people that are going to save our planet: The article discusses the rise of green gamification, which is the use of games to make sustainability fun and rewarding. See some fun and innovative ways to be more sustainable.
• Waste-Saving Apps That Are Actually Useful: Here are descriptions of 10 apps to help you recycle, use efficient light bulbs, use less energy in your home, and more.

USGS Challenge: App-ly Yourself to Tackle Today’s Scientific Challenges

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is entering the final stretch for their challenge, “App-ly Yourself to Tackle Today’s Scientific Challenges” and the deadline is April 1. You can also check out the ongoing webinars about their datasets. Check out EPA’s Data Finder and Developer Central to use EPA data with USGS data.

For this challenge, USGS scientists are looking for your help in addressing some of today’s most perplexing scientific challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. You can see details on the challenge site. April 1 is the deadline (no fooling), so now is the perfect time to get started. This challenge is open to anyone age 13 and up, so if you know of anyone who may be interested, please pass this message along to them.

The webinars are running twice a week. The first webinar gave a brief overview of all of the datasets participating in the challenge and how to access them. Following that, the webinars cover one dataset at a time and allow USGS to discuss the data in more detail as well as how to access it. The webinars are recorded and they are available on the Core Science Analytics and Synthesis website.

For more information and to enter your submission for this challenge please go to: http://applifyingusgsdata.challenge.gov/.

For questions about EPA’s data and how to use it, contact greenapps@epa.gov.

The ELN described the apps they use to protect or understand the environment and why they use them. Some people don’t use smartphones so we heard why they don’t use green apps.

Here are a few of their favorite apps:

• EPA’s How’s My Waterway app helps people find information on the condition of their local waterways using data EPA has collected on healthy and polluted waterways that states and territories re­port under the Clean Water Act. This app lets people learn about their local waters, pollution problems, why they matter, and what’s being done to restore and protect them.
• The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch app helps consumers make choices for healthy oceans. The app provides recommendations for which seafood items are “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should “Avoid.” Scientists research government reports, journal articles and white papers, and contact fishery and fish farm experts. After a thorough review, the Monterey Bay Aquarium applies sustainability criteria to develop an in-depth Seafood Watch Report.
• The Good Guide app makes it fast and easy to find safe, healthy, and green products.  There are over 120,000 food, personal care, and household products, from baby shampoo to bathroom cleaner. A barcode scanner makes it easier than ever to retrieve product ratings and information or browse and look up products with just a few “taps.”
• Waterkeepers’ Swim Guide app gives people original descriptions with photographs of more than 2,200 different beaches across the U.S. and Canada. The app is integrated with Google Maps, which enables people to get walking, transit, or driving directions to a beach. It also lets people report any pollution problems or environmental concerns while at the beach. It covers Alabama, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Charleston SC, Connecticut, Florida, the Great Lakes, Greater Boston MA, Maryland/Chesapeake Bay, New York, the Ottawa River region, parts of Oregon & Washington states, Saskatchewan, and the Shenandoah River Valley.
• EPA’s AIRNow app provides real-time information on air quality information that people can use to protect their health when planning their day. People can get location-specific reports on current air quality and air quality forecasts for both ozone and fine particle pollution (PM2.5). The air quality maps from the AIRNow website provide visual depictions of current and forecast air quality nationwide, and a page on air quality-related health effects explains what actions people can take to protect their health at different AQI levels, such as “code orange.”

These are just some examples of how the ELN uses green apps. Please tell us you use them. Just jot down a few thoughts below.
Remember that you can see 170 green apps on the My Green Apps website. And you can tell us what ideas you want developers to convert into apps.

• Environmental groups could bring attention to apps that support their causes.
• Journalists could write about apps for specific uses, like at home, transportation, and purchasing.
• People could share their favorite apps using social media, like Facebook and Twitter.

There must be more ways. Tell us what you think!

USGS Challenge: App-lifying and Enhancing USGS Earth Science Data

USGS (United States Geological Survey) scientists are looking for your help in addressing some of today’s most perplexing scientific challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Through the Challenge.gov platform, the USGS Core Science Analytics and Synthesis (CSAS) is inviting the Nation’s premier application developers and data visualization specialists to create new applications centered on CSAS datasets.

Submissions will be judged on their relevance to today’s scientific challenges, innovative use of the datasets, and overall ease of use of the application, with prizes awarded in several categories. Submissions are due by April 1, 2013. To learn more, visit http://applifyingusgsdata.challenge.gov/.

Robert Raskin Mashup Mapping Competition

Here’s a Dynamic Web Map Design Competition sponsored by Association of American Geographers Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group. Hosted by San Diego State University and the AAG Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group (CISG).

It’s open to all full time college students and the goals are to promote research and awareness of web-based GIS and Mashup applications, encourage spatial thinking and the development of geospatial cyberinfrastructure in colleges and universities in the United States, and to inspire curiosity about geographic patterns and web map representation for students and the broader public. The deadline is February 11, 2013. See the details at http://mappingideas.sdsu.edu/mashup/.

Apps4VA: Design an app about the impact of education

The Apps4VA program challenges the public to develop apps that will use or analyze educational information to make a great app that helps understand the nature or impact of educational reach and help us to plan for the future. Apps4VA supports the development and implementation of a data system, the Virginia Longitudinal Data System, that would link teachers to their students and provide educators and policymakers with aggregate data on Virginia public school students’ progress toward college and career readiness. The program is sponsored by the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). Two challenges are open until January 31:

Apps4VA  Open Competition.  Build an application using at least one dataset from the VLDS K-1 Data Catalog.  The Grand Prize is $5K!  Submit as many apps as you would like.

Apps4VA High School  Competitions. This competition is exclusively for Virginia high school students, who can enter an idea for a theoretical app or develop an actual working prototype to win cash for themselves and for their sponsoring schools.

For your convenience, here are the apps people suggested recently (they’re not from EPA):

HabitatMap.org is an online mapping and social networking platform designed to maximize the impact of community voices on city planning and strengthen ties between organizations and activists working to build greener, more sustainable cities. On the web at http://www.habitatmap.org/.

AirCasting.org is a platform for recording, mapping, and sharing health and environmental data using your smartphone. Each AirCasting session lets you capture real-world air measurements, annotate the data to tell your story, and share it via the CrowdMap. On Android at http://www.aircasting.org/.

Recargo is a website and app for Plug-In Vehicles. Find electric vehicle charging stations, search for food and activities on your trip with Yelp, and stay connected with the community and news from PluginCars.com. For Android and iPhone at.http://www.recargo.com/.

Lexicon of Groundwater and Water Well Terms is a useful tool for students studying hydrology, hydrogeology, or other environmental fields as well as those already working in groundwater-related professions. On iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lexicon-groundwater-water/id445591710?mt=8.

Water1der is an educational trivia based game about groundwater, pollution prevention, irrigation, the water cycle, aquifers, and more. The game uses features of smartphones, like “spinning” a wheel to select a question and using drag and drop to label an aquifer. For Android and iPhone at http://www.groundwater.org/water1der.html.

Spare the Air shows the daily air quality forecast for the five regions in the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. On iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spare-the-air/id423478300?mt=8.

Wateropolis is a water treatment app that has field conversions, calculations and look up information that is hard to find in one place. For iPhone at http://www.wateropolis.com.

A few requests:

• Please tell us what apps you want developers to make. Click on the “I Like” icon for an idea you like. Then we’ll tell developers what you want so they can make the apps.
• Suggest more green apps that are already out there.
• Share the site with your friends.

H-appy new year!

While you’re there, check out a few apps for yourself. You can even tell EPA what apps you want a developer to make. Green apps. Isn’t that a nice way to help someone make a difference this holiday?

Visit My Green Apps (www.epa.gov/mygreenapps/) to get an app that makes a difference. And spread the word!