Below you will find more information about the challenge including Challenge Overview, Challenge Details, About Supporters, FAQs and Follow Us.

CHALLENGE OVERVIEW

TELL US WHAT WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO SHARE YOUR ENERGY DATA!

Did you know that YOUR energy bill has a wealth of useful information?

Beyond simply showing how much energy we use, it can reveal patterns of use that suggest ways we can reduce consumption with minimal (or positive!) impact to our daily lives. If more of us share our energy use data, we can live more comfortably and sustainably!

With more energy data we could:

• Understand how different populations (seniors, families, college students) use energy differently in order to cater programs to different segments


• Drive better decision-making about programs and priorities


• Provide individualized strategies for cost savings (energy audits)


• Measure specific outcomes of programs to find the most effective solutions

CURRENT EFFORTS

There are current efforts underway to make getting and sharing energy use data easier, and to use that data to create more efficient programs. Some of these efforts:

Greenbutton allows users to download their energy usage information in an easy-to-understand format.

OPower delivers personalized information about energy usage in your home or small business, and offers energy-saving tips.

Apps for Energy Challenge offered prizes for apps that helped citizens make better use of their energy use data.

CHALLENGE DETAILS

We want you to tell us YOUR idea for how to encourage your fellow San Franciscans to share their energy data.

• What would convince you and your neighbors that this data is worth sharing?


• How can we encourage others to share their data?


• What innovative things could be done with the data once we have it?


• What creative ways could we analyze or use this data to reduce our energy use?

There are multiple ways to participate:

1. Submit an idea.

Click "Submit my idea" and tell us more about your idea, show us images, references, anything that you think will strengthen your idea. Please describe, in detail, a feasible innovation, strategy, campaign, message or program that will encourage as many San Francisco residents as possible to share their energy data.

2. Like and comment on submitted ideas.

For those who don’t submit but still want to contribute, you can help to shape ideas submitted by others by offering constructive praise and critique of the idea. Your 'likes' will determine the ideas that get shortlisted for review by our panel of judges. The top 15 ideas with the most votes will be shortlisted for review by our panel of judges. Each judge will also pick one idea from outside the top 15 to be added to the shortlist.

3. Share ideas for support.

Share submissions with your community via Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to further strengthen your support for the idea.

The Prize

The winner will have the opportunity at the Hack City hackathon to present their idea and be part of a team which will integrate the idea into a program or app! These teams will pitch their idea to a panel of judges for the chance to compete for cash prizes!

Judging criteria

A winning idea will:

• Be feasible to build as a program or into an app as a feature


• Effectively encourage SF residents to share their energy data


• Create innovative solutions to current energy data sharing challenges

Important Dates:

• Challenge opens: October 19th at the Challenge America Summit


• Challenge closes - last day for submissions: November 4th


• Judging (top 15 vote-getters plus judge's picks): November 4th-7th


• Winning idea announced: November 7th


• Winning idea integrated into Hack City hackathon: November 9th-11th

ABOUT THE CHALLENGE SUPPORTERS

ABOUT SFE

Learn more about the SFE at http://sfenvironment.org/.

ABOUT GREENBIZ

Learn more about the Greenbiz at http://www.greenbiz.com/.

ABOUT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Energy at http://energy.gov.

FAQs

For questions about how the ImproveSF platform works, visit the ImproveSF FAQ page.

Can I participate if I am under 14 years old?

Citing California law, you cannot submit a design online but you can ask a parent or guardian to create an ImproveSF account and submit on your behalf! You can also pick up a design form at your local library and return it to the librarian, or ask your school art teacher to help you!

Can I participate even if I'm not a professional designer or if I don’t have a design background?

Definitely! We believe everyone has something to contribute and are excited to have a diverse range of ideas submitted. If you don’t feel comfortable submitting an idea, you can also vote for your favorites, leave comments and share ImproveSF with friends.

You don't need expensive graphic design tools, you can use markers, crayons, paper cutouts … anything that best conveys your idea. But, the final design must be 2D so that it can be printed on the new library cards.

Can I submit an idea on behalf of a team?

Absolutely! Please choose one representative to register for the site and be the point of contact. When you submit your idea, be sure to include the names of all team members along with the description of your idea.

Can I submit an idea if I work for the city?

Yes! The goal of ImproveSF is to bring in the best ideas from all members of the San Francisco community to find the best possible solution for the challenge proposed.

What is the best way to get votes?

Submit your idea early! Early submissions will be seen by more people. And of course, share your idea with friends and family using Facebook and Twitter.

Who owns my idea?

All ideas submitted to this challenge will be under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Uported License. Please check our Terms of Use for additional information.

FOLLOW US

To get up-to-date info on challenge annoucements and answers to your questions, follow us on:

Facebook: facebook.com/improvesf

Twitter: @ImproveSF