Background:

• There is a lot of data that is openly available to aid in consumer decision-making, including many energy saving smartphone apps.  However, the majority of energy saving smartphone apps provide information on available incentives, tax credits and rebates.  While this data and research is readily accessible for experts in the field who understand how to navigate valuable resources, the data is not readily accessible to most consumers, particularly as reliance on smartphones increases for informing on-the-spot decisions.
• This challenge will inform consumer’s decisions by providing them via mobile interface actionable evidence about energy efficiency methods, available incentives, applicable policies.  Thus, a homeowner in Florida could spend several minutes at Home Depot reviewing home energy efficiency recommendations and rebates that would reduce the cost of a dishwasher.  Ultimately, providing actionable information to consumers making purchases will affect energy consumption and incentive and policy utilization across the country.

Challenge Description:

Create a mobile application or website that would easily help consumers identify relevant incentives, tax rebates, and savings for energy efficiency and renewable energy products. 

Functional Specifications:

1. The goal is be to develop a consumer-friendly mobile application or website that pulls from openly available data in order to:
2. Identify and leverage high-value datasets with open licensing, and information on incentives, savings and tax rebates relevant to energy savings
3. Build an application/website that allows simple and quick access to the dataset using query terms provided by the client, such as the current location, and other relevant data
4. complement existing smartphone applications and websites which generally only provide tools for energy saving behaviors, provides utility rates, and tracks consumption.
5. The consumer’s geographical location would be used to pull up the relevant information to make decisions.