Concord Conserves, a non profit started by Bartlett Interactive, launched a website application that allows individuals to calculate their footprint, make reductions and compare themselves to others, both locally and globally. The website application was created as part of a 2011 Conservation Challenge for residents of Concord and Carlisle, MA.

Web Application Dashboard

The web app includes a ‘dashboard’ showing an individuals total carbon footprint, comparison to others around the world and how many earths needed if everyone lived like that person as well as the amount of reductions that person has made. There is also a ‘groups’ section which shows how individuals compare to other people in their town and how many reductions each person has made.

“People in Concord are very conservation oriented but many don’t realize how large their footprints are” says Concord Conserves and Bartlett Interactive founder Harry Bartlett. “The web app shows how people compare to others both in terms of consumption and reduction. This type of peer-to-peer information has proven to be a powerful driver for people to change their behavior.” 

Bartlett Interactive developed the web application as well as a promotional strategy that included creating a 40’ sign and sidewalk messages that ask the question “What’s Your Footprint?”. The signage was created by local high school students Wyatt Burns and David Yanofsky and created using re-claimed plywood and paint.

40’ “What’s Your Footprint” sign at Emerson Field in Concord MA

The Challenge kick off event was held at the Harvey Wheeler Community Center in West Concord Sept. 27, 2011 and showcased companies and organizations that help reduce people’s footprint. The event included 14 exhibitors and music and art work by CCHS high school students. See a video and photos of the event on Facebook.

Harry Bartlett (Bartlett Interactive), Morwen Two Feathers (Concord Conserves) and Wyatt Burns (artist)

A poster campaign with large photos depicting the different aspects of sustainability such as oil production, local food, conservation land and drought were also put up around town.
To date about 140 people have made 300 reductions, reducing 106 tons or carbon. Many of the participants are high school students who used the web app as part of their Earth Science class.

See more at www.ConcordConserves.org/Challenge and the Facebook page.

Here at Bartlett we recently launched an online dashboard for GreenRay Solar, that helps consumers see the amount of energy their system generates in real time, as well as the environmental benefits.     A stream of live data is visualized through an animated and interactive display of statistics, charts, graphs, and icons. The dashboard helps the homeowner to measure solar power by the day, week, month, and lifetime of the panels. Taking into account the amount of sunlight available, it shows the amount of energy produced including an animation of the days and week’s solar activity and environmental benefits e.g. how many cars taken off the road.

  According to Suparna Kadam, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at GreenRay Solar, the dashboard becomes the "face of the product… The Dashboard is a key part of the sales strategy since it conveys the most important benefits quickly".

  As renewable energy becomes more viable and popular, being able to see actual data becomes a critical part of selling the product. According to Harry Bartlett, principal at Bartlett Interactive and founder of ConcordConserves.org, “There’s a great demand by consumers to see how much energy they are producing as well as any information that quantifies an environmental impact or benefit. The GreenRay dashboard is a rich source of data that consumers can easily understand and appreciate”.

  The dashboard is also useful as a diagnostic tool for GreenRay engineers and installers. Installers can access information for all of their installations and monitor the panels to make sure they are working properly. GreenRay's engineers also benefit from access to large amounts of actual data, which helps inform product development decisions as well as understanding how best to site solar panel arrays.

We recently launched an online carbon calculator for a non-profit we started called ConcordConserves.org (CCO). Since being introduced in January this year, 384,357kg of c02 has been eliminated and over 330 people have participated, far exceeding our expectations.

We first researched all the live calculators out there looking for the best features and platform for developing it. The calculator we came up with has 3 parts:

• Calculate: The ability to calculate your footprint based on transportation, food and home energy use
• Reduce: The ability to reduce your footprint by selecting actions from a list weighted towards local rebates
• Compete: The ability to compete with others to see who can reduce the most

After investigating several web development platforms we decided to use Drupal, the open source content management system since it gave us the functionality and flexibility we needed.

But what made the calculator appealing and how did we get so many reductions? Here are the 3 best aspects we think did the trick.

1. Compete: this feature has been far and away the most effective part. It’s implemented using groups. In this instance a teacher at the local high school decided to use it for the Earth Science department, where there are about 11 classes. Each class is a group and each competes with each other to see who can reduce the most.

2. Peer View: The calculator allows people to see what reductions groups have done as well as contact each other and post comments. Since peer relationships have shown to be one of the most powerful drivers when trying to influence and change people’s behavior, we wanted to emphasize this part. Adding community/social media features is a big plus when trying to get people to use an online calculator.

We also inserted a chart on the entry page showing how per capita emissions of Americans stack up to other countries. Don’t be surprised, Americans emit more carbon per person than just about any other country. This type of peer-to-peer comparison chart is a really effective way to get the point across and inspire people to act.

Note the above chart also shows how many planet earths would be needed if everyone on the planet consumed as much as the average in that country.

3. Go local: There are a lot of calculators out there so we decided to make ours as local as possible. Remember ‘act local, think global’? The list of reductions starts with programs offered by the town (e.g. $5 off compact fluorescent bulbs). We also targeted the schools so that the calculator could be used in their curriculum. CCO is all about local too, making it easy to promote it within the community. We also included a master “everyone’s reductions to date” feature showing how much carbon has been reduced by everybody. This feature is an easy way for people to feel a part of a bigger group as well as feel like they are making a more significant contribution.

We learned a lot from this project – about how to build online communities as well as how to engage people to improve the environment. Creating online communities is not easy but understanding what motivates people can make for a far more compelling online experience.

Note, a special thanks to the Concord Carlisle Community Chest for their generous grant, and the support of private donors as well as Fletcher Boland, Jessie Pearl, Christopher Lorch and Kitty Smith who built the calculator. Without their help it would not have happened.

10 Ways to Reduce the Impact on the Environment

Over the last several years, greater focus has been placed on environmental issues and individuals have realized just how unsustainable our lifestyles really are--on a personal as well as business level. Many companies have already taken the initiate to look into ways of reducing the impact of unsustainable business practices.

To find out how your business can reduce unsustainable business practices, visit our web site: Green Tips

SustainCommWorld The Green Media Show, a conference and expo
dedicated to sustainable corporate media and communications, will be
held in Boston October 1 and 2, 2008. Chaired by Don Carli of the
Institute for Sustainable Communication (ISC), the event's goal is to
provide a diverse, balanced forum for education and dialogue among
brand owners and others engaged in the creation, production and
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all areas of corporate communications, including advertising and direct
mail, collateral, books and magazines, emails and websites, and more.